Category: Rear Racks
Rear luggage racks and accessories
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Salsa Wanderlust Rear Bicycle Rack
Recently I experienced some discomfiture when I realized the Salsa Wanderlust rear rack would not fit on a Surly Long Haul Trucker. Because the top platform was so long and extended so far forward it actually came into contact with the seat stays, making it impossible to mount the rack so that the top platform was level. Apparently the rack was designed to fit certain Salsa bicycles; those with pronounced top tube slope, short seat stays and lots of seat post showing. This implied a positive short sightedness on the part of Salsa. The expression of my discombobulation to the good folks at Salsa seemed to go unheeded.
More recently we restocked our Salsa Wanderlust racks and brought in one of the new Heavy Duty versions of the rack. Turns out somebody was listening! Both versions of the rack have been redesigned and now fit beautifully on the LHT and Disc Truckers as well as the Cross Check and, I imagine, most other bikes. (as of 12/9/2013 the Salsa site still says-“NOTE: Designed as a rear rack solution for Salsa Fargo and Vaya frames. This rack may not work well with traditional touring frames that feature level toptubes.”)
The new Wanderlust racks place the top platform well behind the seat stays, lower than most other racks. The middle pannier carrying rail is lower too. This means you can get your panniers low and out of the way of your heels if you have relatively short chain stays. (touring bikes will have chain stays in the 44 to 46 cm range, measured from the center of the crank to the center of the rear dropouts). The other thought that occurred to me is that there might even still be space for a capacious saddlebag; say the Frost River Caribou Trail for example, in addition to a bag on top of the rack.
This didn’t start out as comparison between these racks and the Tubus Logo but one is inevitable since the new heavy duty Wanderlust is in the same price range; $140 for the Salsa Wanderlust H.D. and $150 for the Tubus Logo. Both racks are made of steel but the Logo is lighter by almost half a pound or 195 grams. I weighed the Logo at 1 lb. 13 oz. (840 grams). The Logo also has a greater rated load capacity at 40 kilograms or 88 pounds, whereas the H.D Wanderlust has a rated capacity of 25 kilograms or 55 pounds. The standard Wanderlust is made of aluminum and weighs in at 800 grams or 1 lb. 12 oz.; close to the weight of the Tubus Logo, but it has less rated capacity at 15 kilograms or 33 pounds. In fairness it also costs $55 less than the Logo.
These new Salsa racks get the Bike Hermit™ Seal of Approval. For those who have bikes with shorter chain stays but still want to carry a pretty significant load, the Wanderlust H.D. is a good alternative. And the standard Wanderlust is a sturdy, well designed rack that should handle most bicycle touring duties with equanimity.
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Old Man Mountain
The Bike Touring News Store has Old Man Mountain racks! Designed and made in Santa Barbara, CA. Old Man Mountain has a rack for almost any bike including full suspension mountain bikes and fat bikes.
Here’s an Adventure Cyclist Story from 2004. It describes the genesis of the company, the owner’s background and some of the philosophy behind the designs.
Please check the offerings in our store and feel free to contact us if you have questions or need a rack you don’t see.
Made for use with Tubus racks, the Tubus Quick Release Adaptermakes it possible to mount a rack securely on a bike without threaded braze on tabs at the dropouts. The package comes with two brackets meant to be attached to the lower two bolt holes on Tubus racks. The supplied skewer is then threaded through the bracket on one side, a shim, (also supplied) the hub axle, and the shim and bracket on the other side and tightened down with the standard cam lever. There are shims provided of two different thicknesses, and the adapter will work on any rear dropout spacing.
Keep in mind that, if your bike doesn’t have eyelets at the dropouts, chances are it wont have eyelets on the seatstays and some sort of clamping arrangement will need to be made there. Tubus makes a stainless steel clamp with a thick and firm cushioning liner, in various sizes, just for this purpose.
As can be seen in this last photo, the brackets cause the rack to be mounted a little bit farther back than if it were attached to the braze on eyelets. This might also be a good solution for bikes with shorter chainstays when the pannier placement results in heel strike.
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Racktime Tour-It
We just received the Tour-It rack and the Travel-It front and Travel-It rear panniers from Racktime for the Bike Touring News Store. Ortlieb, Tubus and Racktime all come from the same company with the Racktime products intended for those who don’t want to pay Ortlieb and Tubus prices.
Naturally, as with any new gear, I had to fiddle around with it and I mounted the rack on Norm, my Surly Cross Check bike and installed one of the rear panniers. I wanted to see what the hardware was like and how well the bags mounted and also I was eager to see how the bags differ from the Ortieb back and front rollers.
The Racktime racks are made of aluminum as opposed to the tubular chrome moly or stainless steel of the Tubus offerings. This rack actually weighed a few ounces more than the Tubus Cosmo stainless steel rack even though the two have nearly identical configurations. Overall the mounting of the rack was simple and straight forward. Screws attach through a hole in the welded plate on the bottom of either side of the rack and into the dropout eyelets on the bike. The spacing was perfect for the 135mm rear blades on the Surly and I didn’t need any shims and there was no prying or spreading of the rack legs either.
The braces which secure the upper platform to the bike are meant to be attached to eyelets on the seat stays, but could be attached to clamps if no eyelets are provided. The other end of the braces then thread through an eyebolt which in turn is bolted to the rack platform. Even though this is a versatile setup, if I was going to make this a permanent attachment I would bend the struts in order to achieve a better alignment. Or else I would cut them shorter. As it was, the vertical sides of the rack interfered and I was unable to tighten things down completely.
I like theminimal hardware on this rack since the fewer pieces and bolts to come loose the better when on the road. The top platform is wide enough to actually be used to carry a sleeping bag or tent and the lower set of rails allow for the attachment of panniers in such a way that they won’t interfere with a load on the top platform. The little pump pegs on the left leg of the rack are a cool idea, but I am unaware of any pumps that will fit on them. I was told that this rack is made as original equipment on some bikes for the European market, and they have their own proprietary pumps. The rack also will work with the Racktime SNAPit components. The rack is rated to carry up to 30 kilograms and the suggested retail is about $65.00.