Originally Posted by
sdn40
Hey guys
I spend all my time over in Classic and Vintage but coming over for the expert advice. Thinking about building a tourer but initial research has my head spinning a bit. Is Blackburn still a go to as far as racks ? Is being brand specific for clip ins important ? I know there are a million ways to build a bike, but just wondering what's hot, what's not. What's in, what's out from your point of view. So far it seems that cantilevered seat post bags are hot which is what sent me over here. Maybe racks in general are not so hot anymore ? I'm off to spend 8 days straight in the loaded rigs thread !
not sure if this was asked, but have you ever done any bike touring before?
Have you ever done any self supported camping activities before, ie hiking, canoe camping--as opposed to car camping?
blackburn still make racks, but there are tons of reasonably priced, well made aluminum racks out there in the 30-50 buck range that will work perfectly fine if you are disciplined and dont take too much stuff.
heads up, the traditional blackburn front lowrider racks or knockoffs, work fine, but some panniers dont work on them, specifically Ortliebs, but standard "two upper hooks" and "lower hook on a bungee" system will work.
also, do you have panniers already to use?
simply put, panniers are the easiest to use for a given volume of stuff, and used or borrowed panniers will work fine for you to try out touring without spending much.