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Hi all,
Gearing up for some summer cycle touring.
Going to be camping over several days, want some comfort so bikepacking gear isn't going to cut it - I need a touring setup.
I've not decided whether I'm going to use hardtail MTB with slicks on, or gravel bike , but neither has rack mounts 🙁
The options I seem to have are as follows. Any opinions?:
1) P Clips + normal rack
- Cheap
- Might not be very good at taking a lot of weight and snap at an inconvenient moment
- look like A bit of a faff to fit
2) Get braze ons + normal rack
- Not sure how much it would cost. Probably expensive, all in
- Would only be easily possible on my MTB which is steel (Gravel is Ti - I assume that is more specialist)
- Would knacker the paint, so I'd need to at least prime and touch up. More likely respray.
- Lots of faff to get it done
3) Thule Pack & Ride
- Reasonably priced (<£90)
- Looks fairly easily swappable between bikes
- Doesn't hold as much weight as options 1 & 4 however I think there will still be ample capacity to play with
- May limit choice of panniers (I need to buy these also, so no biggie)
- Probably the cheapest except for P Clips
4) Old Man Mountain Divide Rack
- Spendier than Thule (approx double)
- Can hold more weight than Thule
- I might need multiple fixing kits for different bikes which would increase costs further
- looks like it would take a wider variety of panniers than Thule
Any views on the above or other options?
Particularly, anyone using P clips - are they more robust than I think they will be? If I can get away with it then that would be preferred as it's by far the cheapest and I think I have an old rack lying around somewhere that I could use..
Beyond that I am undecided between OMM & Thule
Any other options?
Another option - Aeroe Spider
https://aeroe.com/products/spider-rear-rack
I had the same problem as you, looking at a rack for some adventures on my fatbike. Normally I'd just take the bikepacking kit but I want a bit more space. The fatbike doesn't have rack braze-ons so one option was the OMM rack and an axle from the Roberst Axle Project - that was looking very expensive.
The Thule rack doesn't accomodate fat width tyres. I've seen some clever bodges to modify it though so it remained an option.
Aeroe do a fatbike-specific version of their rack so that became an easy choice. I've only done a couple of short test-rides so far, just to make sure that I'm not getting heel-strike and that everything stays in place. So far, so good.
I've had good results with the Tubus version of p clips and a seatclamp adapter.
(And less good results with p clips)
Just to add, ime the problem with p clips isn't that they snap, it's that they slip. You might be okay if your seatstays are a constant diameter, but every bike I've thought about it on they taper a bit - so once they slip a little bit you're in a bad place really quickly.
In case you've not considered it, any kind of bodging might be annoying if you've got a seatstay mounted disc calliper.
Axle mount and seatclamp with mounts is the best solution. tubus do axle mounts as do others
Thanks @scotroutes I quite like the look of that spider rack.
Looks a bit better mounting system than the Thule and also would come in not too far off the same price (with 3 cradles) if I get some cheaper podsacks dry bags rather than the spendy aeroe ones.
Also look like they have plenty of heel clearance.
Thanks also for the Tubus P clips idea @Aidy. Yes this would be to go on a bike with e seat stay mounted brake caliper. I will need to measure up to see if it could work.
Any idea how much weight you have been able to use with those @Aidy?
the spendy aeroe ones
The Alpkit 13L bags fit well and the Aeroe straps line up too.
a lot cheaper and more versatile to buy several different sizes of dry bag to tune luggage volume also (compared to panniers)
I don't think they look quite as convenient as panniers for getting on & off though.
Hmm
Thule and Aeroe neck and neck at the moment in my head
Tailfin. Quite expensive though. Not tried it myself.
Any idea how much weight you have been able to use with those
Honestly, I'm not sure. Always felt solid enough that I never worried. Certainly two panniers, packed full, but not stuffed.
Oh, and I've done bags strapped to racks before, and panniers, and panniers every time. If you want to strap bags to things, ditch the rack and go bikepacking.
Ive been looking at an Ortleib quick rack. Doesn't need braze-ons (with mounting kit),reasonable weight, platform and pannier only option. Not too expensive
N+1
I've seen jubilee clips with M5 eyelets brazed on, that looks stronger than a p-clip.
Anyway, axle mount for the rack foot as that's where the load is, p-clip or similar for the seatstays to stabilise? Will work best if your stays aren't tapered where the p-clip fits. Use good rubber strip under the clip and it should be fine.
Or, one one these if your ST is 31.8mm?
Ortlieb quick rack looks useful too.
Thanks for the info all,
Ortlieb quick rack looks decent. You can also get a mudguard that attaches to it for £20 which is a nice addition.
Seat stays on both bikes are pretty uniform along their length. One bike is qr135 and one is boost syntace 148. Whatever I get I'd like the option to use it in both bikes
Old man mountain do a rack that uses the axel. Some company has bought the design and also sell though axel kits.
I've been using OMM racks for 15-20 years. I've got one on the do-it-all bike now, 135qr axle mount and struts going to the V-bosses.
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Good solid piece of kit, but I have reservations about the shape of the rack - straight V tapering down to the axle mount hardware which, coupled with short chainstays (on MTBs compared to tourers) means you have to push the panniers waaay back to get heel clearance. I'd prefer some kind of rearward support, and would be looking for racks with that. Random pic copied in from the SJS site:
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I treated myself to a Tailfin and hope to add the mini panniers this year once the bank balance is healthier.
I got the universal through axle which is a genius bit of design, my gravel and two MTBs all have different axle widths/thread pitch/end cap shapes and the axle converts to fit all of them, confident it will fit my wife's bike too.
It's rattle free, waterproof, comes off in seconds and doesn't touch any paintwork. I got the one where the bag is integral to the rack.
How much are you taking? Topeak MTX and Beamrack is a nice option for light touring. Add a bar bag and/or something in the frame. Tubus axle mounting options with one of the seat post clamps above for a proper rack. I've used that clamp for years. That spider rack looks awful for rotational fretting to remove your paintwork but is clearly a solution for a FS rear triangle.
3 of us here using d-i-widened Thule Tour racks on our fatties. All going strong still. We all survived things like the Corrieyairack descent to Melgarve and we're back again in May.
I've some of the side pannier frames and Ortlieb front (smaller) panniers to match, but I prefer using the largest Topeak MTX bag with fold-out panniers which don't need the side frames. Topeak do an MTX adaptor plate you can use on any rack.
Dropper friendly too.
I wouldn't worry too much about weight limits.
Actually finding 25kg worth of gear to carry would be a challenge, as would then pedaling up a hill with it.
It's slightly harder off road where you might want a sensible margin of say 50%, meaning you've only got 12.5kg of actual capacity, but that's still easily do-able as long as you don't go for deliberately heavy stuff and make a few compromises (i.e. you can take a Trangia, but have to eat out the pots rather than taking plates. And take a tent, but it needs to be a sensible <2kg backpacking one, not a 5kg one with standing room and a vestibule).
If you really want to carry 25kg+, get a trailer, it's a much nicer experience as it feels more like drag than actual weight. Hills are just as hard, but the bike doesn't want to fall over every time you stop on a slight slope.