3speed

I'm just starting out on close-to-home, 3day weekend "tours" and don't have a decent rack yet, but have an old (80s?) Vetta aluminum rack in the storage closet. It looks like the one in the following link, only mounts to the brake/fender bridge with a fairly thick steel bracket. How much do you think I should limit the carrying weight to with this type of rack? Is 25lbs being optimistic?

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedi...rack-135418161

Burton

Your estimate of 25 lbs should be no problem. That was pretty much a minimum capacity for any direct mount rear rack I can remember from the 80's.

Caretaker

Lots of similar racks on the market today and typically they're rated to carry a maximum load of 25kg. or just over 50lbs.

Tourist in MSN

Look very close at the welds. There are significant variations in quality of that type of rack.

I have a similar rack on my grocery store bike. Although I trust it for the mile to the grocery store, I would never trust it farther than that with these poor welds.



But, there are other very good racks out there that would serve you well.

fietsbob

Yea the above rack was tack welded while upside down in the Jig. to keep the price down ,
there was no 2nd weld job on the other side.

I have friends that could get the aluminum welder locally, to do that extra step, so they did.

prathmann

It looks similar to the standard Blackburn racks. I've sat on one of those for short rides around town and it held up ok under my 150lbs. - although I wouldn't want to load it that much for an extended tour. But, as mentioned, check the quality of the welding to see that there aren't any obvious weak points.

3speed

The welds look perfectly great. Solid weld all the way through everywhere the bars meet. I think Vetta was supposed to make decent stuff back then, right? In any case, I'm gonna give it a shot and load it up with some camping gear in a week or two and do a 30mi trip camping. If it does fail, hopefully the worst that happens is I have to call my girlfriend to come drive my gear to the site.

seeker333

Vetta racks were well made and sturdy for Al (I had one once). I expect yours will be more than adequate for a short trip.

You may want to consider upgrading to a steel rack (Tubus, Surly) in the future, if you undertake longer tours with heavy loads, or tour off-road a lot.

Cyclebum

More no doubt than you oughta be hauling on tour. I cut the lip off my Blackburn so the compression sack end will slide unobstucted under saddle on df, against seat back on bent.