Rear Racks for Touring

[dminden1]

I'm considering buying a Tubus Logo Evo stainless steel vs a Nitto Campee silver, which has low rider pannier racks. This is mostly for touring, though I do shop with the bike most of the time in town. The Tubus is lighter, but the bags ride higher. The pannier racks on the Nitto are removable. Any opinions?

[John Nettles]

I use a rear blinky light mount that uses the same (fairly European standard) rear light mount bracket so I would probably not use the Nitto.  Plus some of my packs would not fit on the Nitto.  However, standard rear Ortlieb bags do wobble a bit over bumpy roads/gravel (side to side, not front to back) and I would appreciate Nitto's pannier supports (I assume that is the "square" on the lower part of the rack) to prevent that.  If using Ortlieb rear bags, I do not know if the bags would drag on the ground if you mounted them to the top cross member of the pannier support. Without a doubt, it would hit a curb.  I am somewhat confident you would mount the bags to the rack it self and not the lower pannier bracket due to this. 

I would definitely consider the pannier mounting system to ensure the rack would work because some packs won't fit the larger Tubus tubing (I have no idea as to how thick Nitto tubing is) and the amount of weight carried.  Nitto's 16kg is not nearly as robust as Tubus' even if you do not carry the extra weight. 

I have a Tubus Cosmo and enjoy it. As a side not, like everything else in my life, I have way too much biking stuff.  I probably have 12 racks and I like the Cosmo or an old Bruce Gordon rack depending on what packs I am using which is determined the type of tour I am doing.

Tailwinds, John

[davidbonn]

I like the double-decker style racks like the Tubus Cosmo.  That gives you some flexibility on placing panniers high or low and also makes it much easier to strap stuff to the top of the rack.

My blinky uses a clip to mount on the rear pannier or a bag on top of the rear rack.