After a couple years without a bike, I should be getting another one tomorrow. I should probably wait till I have it before asking, but my excitement can't be withheld.

I have a Zila 30L pack that I'd like to mount to the bike. It should never weigh more than 15 pounds. Can it be attached securely and lightly my bike without a rack? If not, are there seat post racks good enough to tour with that weight?

Later on I'll move to a frame bag while keeping the 30L pack in the rear, although with much less in it. I don't want to use panniers on the front or rear, or wear a pack while riding.

Just got home with the bike. A Jamis Coda Sport. Not an ideal touring bike, but it'll do for now. At least it's a steel frame and can fit front and rear racks if I really have to carry a lot, although I would like to carry very little.

I haven't used it, but a lightweight option would be the Arkel Randonneur Rack. I think they don't recommend over 25ish pounds on it. So, it might just work.

The sunlite or nashbar front rack also fits nicely on the rear. It mounts on the canti bosses and I have found it to be plenty sturdy and light at 10 ounces or so. It can be had for about $12. I used it with a 20 liter bag but your 30 liter one might fit OK.

Edited by staehpj1 on 10/01/2012 06:23:24 MDT.

That Nashbar rack is (IME) junk. The welds have a very short useful life. Ditto seatpost racks; they are simply a bad design.

Get a proper rack from OMM or Tubus and save yourself the bother.

I have used my Nashbar rack on a number of longish tours and it is still like new. It has done the Santa Fe Trail from Kansas City to Santa Fe, the Sierra Cascades route from San Diego to Reno, the Pacific Coast from Seattle to San Luis Obispo, and the Southern Tier from San Diego to Sarasota. In addition to that it has done a lots of around town duty, so probably at least 10k miles with a load and some without. It has been solid and never caused me the slightest concern.

I am not sure how much weight it will safely carry, but I have no concerns about carrying a light-ish load on it. That would include anything up to and including my full ultralight camping and cooking kit plus a couple days food and other consumables. That said if in doubt some weight can be moved to a bar bag, frame bag, bar roll, or even a back pack.

I have heard complaints that the bolts supplied with it for attachment at the canti bosses were inferior and prone to breakage, but I didn't use them so I won't comment on them. I find that the original bolts on the canti bosses are almost always long enough to accommodate the rack.

Even if it did fail, for the OP the worst that could happen would be that he would have to put his back pack on his back until other arrangements could be made.

Dave, I agree that most seatpost racks are junk. But, the 3-point attachment system on this new Arkel one is intriguing. So is the newish Freeload rack system.

In the end, your right, the most proven racks are going to be something along the lines of OMM and Tubus. With Tubus getting the edge in durability, and OMM, compatibility.

Edited by caseygreene on 10/03/2012 16:10:28 MDT.

Okay, so I won't do a seat post rack. The weight just doesn't seem worth it.

I'm not doing Tubus or OMM either as it's more than I want to spend, and would think a lighter quality rack should suffice with an ultralight load.

Pete got a big part of the reason I will use a pack. The worst thing that'll happen with a less expensive rack is that I'll have to carry a very light pack on my back. The other reason is so that I have an easy way to carry my gear away from the bike.

spam

I don't know why this thread doesn't show up in the forum. I can only see it in my posting history.

As far as this thread, I still haven't decided what I want. Ultimately it will depend on if I think I'll use panniers at all. With winter coming on, I might actually need to carry more substantial gear if I'm going to do a longish winter tour.


Edit: Now it shows up after bumping the thread. I wonder what other threads are lost.

Edited by leaftye on 10/16/2012 19:10:12 MDT.

Something weird happen with all the spam deletions? Are the spammed threads the ones that are missing?

It might be. It's a good thing Greg marked a bunch of the "spam" threads.

Bumping again to make this thread visible again after the latest spam attack.

uninvisibility bump

The nashbar rack looks like a good little contender for some drillium and trimming-like on the superfluous ends on the diagonal struts. I reckon there'd be scope there to remove an ounce with an hours work with a hacksaw and a drill :-)

The only welds that really look dodgy/minimalist on the rack are the diagonal support ones. Could easily beef them up with a lashing (3 or four times around) of wire with solded ends, or some dyneema cord.

First of all, I use this clip on, clip off rear rack on all my bike touring (i was able to buy just the rack). I put my tent, pad and sleeping bag and puffy jacket into a 20l dry bag under the rack and clip the buckle onto the rack near the seatpost. Then I put my clothes, food and stove into this 20l yellow bag on top of the rack (it usually only has 10l of gear, but is big enough for when I stock up)
http://www.exped.com/exped/web/exped_homepage_int.nsf/0/63AC7B8FB08A28B3C12579C60046413C?opendocument
Then I use a strap that goes from the back of the lower bag, cross it over the top bag, and clip it on the saddle rails.
I have toured for a total of 3 months with this setup without any problems.

The advantages are :
- it doesn't stick out into the wind, and actually improves the trailing edge of the aerodynamics
- it can be taken off the bike and carried with one hand to camp
- it makes it easier to pack the bike up small for train and plane travel (racks are a pain for that)

As for a cheap, light rack, I've used this Pletscher which can be stripped of it's spring and dremelled to get down to under 300g. IT works on front or rear
http://pletscher.ch/wEnglisch/pages/Produkte/index.php?IdTreeGroup=12&IdProduct=8&navid=10

I can only encourage you to go as light as possible on gear, I spent 6 weeks crossing Vietnam from N > S with a 9-liter handlebar bag and under 6 lbs (2.5kg), it was liberating.
takeC@re,
Tim

@Tim -- Thanks for the post on various racks and packing methods.

Thule are now selling the Freeload racks.

http://www.thule.com/en/nz/campaigns/thulepacknpedal/racks

They seem quite heavy, but have been very popular here in NZ and you wont break one in a hurry.