Originally Posted by
veganbikes
Tubus, Tubus, Tubus and Tubus would be my top option. However a frame not designed for racks might not be an ideal touring bike with racks. However depending on the frame and material and abilities of people in your area you might be able to get someone to add some braze ons or use the Tubus Clamp Set or if you mount to a seatpost collar like the Axiom Trekk just know you will want to carry less weight but the nice thing is Tubus racks are among the lightest and are also some of the strongest given their lightweight a rack that is 12.7oz but can hold 57.3lbs and was tested to more than that is pretty ridiculous granted I wouldn't recommend the Airy for touring because it is narrower than I would want. My rear Surly Nice Rack weighed more then my current Tubus Cargo Evo and Duo front racks and the Cargo Evo holds more weight though they have the actual recommended weight down to a more reasonable 57.3lbs for normal usage which is more than I want to carry touring anyways.
In addition to being light and strong and really well made they have a 3 year mobile warranty and they will send a new rack to you wherever you are as quickly as they can once you have sent in the damage report and I believe they have a 30 year warranty on the rack just not with that mobile component.
Topeak and Planet bike make fine products and I use some of those products but in terms of touring racks aside from full custom jobs Tubus is the way to go.
Thanks very much for the feedback! So the frame is designed for a rack - it's just not designed to hold a substantial amount of weight (technically 15 pounds each rear and front.) I figure I can push that a bit but don't intend to push it significantly. It's a Felt Breed gravel bike and it comes with integrated rack mounts built into the seatpost clamp from the factory. For upper mount it's that, or there's a bridge between the upper seat stays that allow for a single center mount (the braze ons are on the underside of the stays and the metal piece is screwed onto these.) The eyelets at the rear dropout are also Felts standard attachment. The Broam 30 is coming out later this year and I may upgrade then - fortunately anything I do with the current bike would easily port over so I don't want to let that stop my planning.
Anyhow - I'm on board with Tubus for sure if I can just figure out how it would mount in my current situation (the Broam would be easier as it has braze ons on the side of the stays already.) I like the Logo Evo and I didn't know about the will send you a new rack wherever you are so that is definitely a selling point!