Originally Posted by
robow
Just saw the specs and weight of this rack, 2.65 lbs, that is one heavy beast, considering my Tubus Tara comes in at just under 1 pound.
Seeker, I looked at that Axiom rack and the only thing I don't like about it, is there is no stabilizing bar between the two sides, hence I would not think it would be as solid, and I would prefer not to use U bolts to attach it to the fork if I don't have to. Years ago I had an Old Man Mountain front rack for my mountain bike converted for touring and it worked great, not sure what is going on with that company at the moment but they're not accepting new orders.
Yes, it is funny how those "lightweight" aluminum racks are often heavier than those "heavy" steel racks. Of course the reason is aluminum racks are all made from aluminum rod (solid metal), while Tubus uses steel tubing (thinwall hollow tubes, air is lighter than aluminum). AFAIK, there are no aluminum racks made from tubing, only rod, despite some aluminum racks described in ad copy as tubular (nonsense).
I get it, hoopless is hopeless, danger of rack moving into rotating wheel, etc. The Axiom was simply the only "universal mount" front rack I could suggest as an alternative to the Minoura you found. I've owned a few Minoura items, one is a decent inexpensive wheel truing stand I've used for >15 years, other was an accessory bar mount which broke under the weight of 2 taillights with 4 AA cells.
I think you know any universal front rack is going to pale in comparison to a Tubus in design, appearance and value. Also, it may be unreasonable to expect a $37/$61 Axiom/
Minoura rack to be as good as a $130-150 OMM. I had an Axiom rear rack and it was junk, eventually went into the Al recycle bin - which is partly why I recommended Amazon Prime, as it gives you the chance to inspect something which might be a dud, then undo the mistake for minimal cost.