pannier racks- any recommendations?

Rothsay

Hi. I have a Massload rack with the lower pannier mounting bars,on my mountain bike and wanted another similar one for my new bike but black not silver. I bought the Massload from Halfords and it has been excellent but they do no stock them anymore and Massload say that it has been discontinued. Can anyone recommend a similar type rack up to about £35?

Thanks

dilemna

Rothsay wrote:

Hi. I have a Massload rack with the lower pannier mounting bars,on my mountain bike and wanted another similar one for my new bike but black not silver. I bought the Massload from Halfords and it has been excellent but they do no stock them anymore and Massload say that it has been discontinued. Can anyone recommend a similar type rack up to about £35?

Thanks

What is you new bike? This would help.

Avoid Blackburn racks as crap.

Rothsay

Hi Dilemna, the bike is a Merida Crossway 20. It has 700c wheels
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andrew_s

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=32817
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=22653 (there's a stainless steel version of this £50, fatbirds)
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/TorTe ... 300003805/

Rothsay

Thanks for the recommendations. I think I may go for the Tor Tec as the top locking clip on my panniers is positioned centrally and the central upright on the Tor TEc is off set which will give a certain amount of lateral play - this could also help prevent clipping the bags with a heel!

Rothsay

Forget the above - I saw the Madison at the weekend and will be getting one of those. Really light and the clip will lock on fine

beverick

I've had two Tor-tec expedition racks fail on me, the weld at the bottom of the rack has failed on both of them. I've swapped recently for a Topeak DX.

I've got a Topeak DX (disc wheel) rack on the MTB but the side profile seems odd and the pannier (Altura arran with R&K clips) keeps leaping off.

I have a Blackburn ? on the touring bike. It's now in its 8th year of work with no problems so far.

The Topeaks have light brackets on them. It's of little use on the MTB because of the crud flying off the back wheel.

Bob

cyberknight

Check ebay , i picked up a rack for £7 and just sprayed it the colour i wanted

Rothsay

Reading beverick's post I am glad I made the decision. The Madison is lighter than the Massload and seems as strong - looks better too. I am going on a tour in May so will put it to the test

CapriciousZephyr

I've got that Madison rack on an old Specialized Rockhopper that I use for commuting. I've been using it with Altura Dryline panniers which have Rixen & Kaul fittings. Only thing I would say is that I had to adjust the clips on the pannier to extreme positions to get it to fit. Also, the fit was initially very tight (black paint might add a bit to tube diameter) and it was bit fiddly to put the panniers on, but this quickly got easier with use/practice.

I've had it for close to two years, and although I haven't ever loaded it up heavily it's always seemed rock solid, even over a somewhat off-road portion of my daily commute. It's also withstood hitting the pavement when I flipped over the handlebars once and the bike followed me. Good luck on your tour, it seems to me that it should hold up without a problem.

Oh, and if you can figure out something useful to do with the little cylinder that comes with it, let me know!

dilemna

Madison Summit - good rack. I have one on my Kona Kula. Fitting wasn't a prob except reversing the lower mounting brackets so they face inwards attaching to the inside edge of the rack legs so they don't foul the pannier bags if they were on the outside causing rubbing and eventually a hole to appear in the pannier. But apart from this it seems a pretty good rack.

Blackburn racks are seriously crap as the welding is pretty poor. I s'pose if you have one welded up properly then it would be ok, but that would cost a bit and perversely void any warranty. Mind with mine I didn't want a replacement under warranty with more crap welding, just one that was welded properly. Read the comments on Wiggle.

Rothsay

Well, finally mounted the rack to the bike. I took one of my bags in to check the fit when I bought it. Very pleased with it, though I think there may be a part missing - no cylindrical light mount. Going to enquire about that as there is very little to attach a light to at present.

trooper.42

The little cylinder to mount lights on no longer comes with the madison(I've had 2 of them) but to be honest it's no loss as it was pretty useless & got in the way almost anywhere that you could mount it.
Its a shame that the rack has not been redesigned to include a light mount,its a neat little rack otherwise,although in the end I found it a bit small for all my work gear & had issues with it conflicting with my mudguard struts.

dilemna

trooper.42 wrote:

The little cylinder to mount lights on no longer comes with the madison(I've had 2 of them) but to be honest it's no loss as it was pretty useless & got in the way almost anywhere that you could mount it.
Its a shame that the rack has not been redesigned to include a light mount,its a neat little rack otherwise,although in the end I found it a bit small for all my work gear & had issues with it conflicting with my mudguard struts.

I didn't have a problem with the cylindrical light attachment thing. I thought it was quite clever 8) .

Rothsay

Well, I have had the rack for a year now and went round North Devon with full panniers last year and have just come back from a tour round Abergavenny- Forest of Dean area. The rack has been great but would agree that it needs a decent light bracket at the rear. The cylinder is now an extra and does get in the way a bit.

dilemna

Rothsay wrote:

Well, I have had the rack for a year now and went round North Devon with full panniers last year and have just come back from a tour round Abergavenny- Forest of Dean area. The rack has been great but would agree that it needs a decent light bracket at the rear. The cylinder is now an extra and does get in the way a bit.

Cool. Thanks for the update. People seldom update.

North Devon area and Abergavenny to the Forest of Dean nice cycle touring areas. Some steep hills, but very senic.