trailmix

Anybody touring with Nitto racks?

I currently am riding a Long Haul Trucker with Nice racks which are fine. I bought a second LHT when I learned that it was going to be discontinued (I prefer the geometry of the rim brake frame) and I am thinking of using a Nitto MT-Campee on the back and a F25 up front. They are much more attractive than the Surly ones and the nickel plating should hold up better. Anybody have experience with these, or Nitto racks in general?

indyfabz

Only since 2011. Super strong. I’ve carried bundles of wood on both. Still look nearly new. But the Big front and rear are hard to find these days, and they have never been cheap.

Tourist in MSN

The only Nitto rack I have is a small rear one (R-14) that is only rated for 13 pounds, so my experience with Nitto is not applicable to touring loads. Very expensive, but I got mine used at a swap meet for a great price.

I bought the Surly racks soon after they came out almost two decades ago. But after a few years I decided they were just too big and too heavy for just using panniers on them. I replaced both with Tubus racks over a decade ago.

The front Surly was replaced with a Tubus Ergo (now discontinued). On another bike I have a Tubus Tara. As a pannier carrier, I find those are great and much lighter than the Surly. I donated my front Surly rack to a bike charity. On one of my bikes I have a decade old Nashbar tiny rack that mounts on the canti brake posts, so I have a tiny little front platform rack too.

The rear Surly, that rack was big and not as stiff as I wanted. I also wanted to put my panniers lower. I replaced it with a Tubus Logo EVO. The Tubus is half the weight and stiffer. The Logo is a great pannier carrier, but the platform is too narrow for rack top bag use without panniers, so the Logo is only used for touring, when I get home I put a different rack on the bike that has a wider platform for rack top bags.

My point is that you should also consider Tubus racks. And the tour I did last month, my rear rack was a Racktime Addit rack. Racktime has less capacity than Tubus, but they make good racks too.

Both Tubus and Racktime recently reduced their rated capacity for rear racks, on a different forum I learned that the reason for that has to do with liability for child seats in Europe. Old ratings, my Logo EVO was rated at 40 kg and my Racktime Addit was rated at 30 kg. Racktime racks are aluminum, Tubus are steel, stainless or titanium.

trailmix

I looked into the Tubus racks and most of them are painted steel, like the Surly racks. I was looking at Nitto because they are nickel plated which would last much longer than paint. The stainless and Ti Tubus racks are even more expensive than the Nitto stuff.

Tourist in MSN

If you lived on an ocean coast, I could see the concern about steel and paint. When I wear through the paint on one of my black racks, I use a small bottle of nail polish (brush built into the cap, very convenient) to touch up the wear spot. Takes no more than a couple minutes.

For touring, I put clear plastic hose slit lengthwise on my rack wear spots where the racks and panniers rub together, but I do not use my touring racks for around town riding near home. Near home, I use different racks. If I used the same racks near home for every day use that I use for touring, I would probably just use the nail polish, not use the plastic hose.

HelpSingularity 

I have been using a Nitto rear rack for 20 or so years, purchased from Rivendell.
Most of those years the bicycle it was on was stored outside under a carport near Seattle, next to Lake Washington, fairly humid.
All the other metal items stored there were in various stages of corrosion.
To this day the rack still looks almost brand new, almost zero rust.
It is also fairly light weight for its carrying capacity.
Nitto products are a little spendy but you get what you pay for.
If you enjoy and appreciate quality and superb craftsmanship you won't be disappointed.
There is no better joinery, brazing and nickel plating on any rack anywhere.
I am also using the little Nitto front rack that supports my handlebar bag, also a fantastic piece of kit.

phughes

My Tubus rack is 12 years old so far and still looks good. I believe it will still look good in another 12 years. Buy a rack that has the load capacity you need, the shape you need, and the mounting options you need. A Tubus rack will last longer than you most likely.

indyfabz

A good summary, though I must confess that one of the little CroMo stickers has started to peel a little after more than a decade of touring and commuting.

The other nice thing was that, at least as sold by Rivendell, the racks came with all sorts of hardware, including at least two different length rear rack stays and two different size p-clamps for the front rack. Was able to fit them to my LHT with no problem and nothing else to buy.

irc

The Logo rack now comes in stainless. Costs more but I'm guessing less than Nitto?

https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m5b0s79p4215/TUBUS-Logo-Classic-Stainless

My front and rear Tbus racks are painted steel. Still good 15 years on. I have two newer Logo racks on my local use bikes. Picked up on sale for about £25 each. Think the shop was discontinuing it's touring range or something.

HelpSingularity 

I also purchased a stainless steel Tubus Nova low-rider front rack about 5 years ago.
I must have bought the very last one because it was discontinued shortly thereafter.
After receiving it I noticed it was designed in Germany but actually manufactured in China, not that there is anything wrong with that.
It has a good performance to weight ratio, i.e. it's pretty light.
I have zero complaints concerning performance.
One thing that did concern me was the quality of welds (probably MIG).
I remember my first reaction was: "Wow, they must have trained monkeys doing the welding".
The welds were amazingly rude and crude when compared to my (loverly ) brazed Nitto racks.
Also the steel has discolored a little bit due to some very minor surface corrosion.
I only mention it because my 20 year old Nitto, nickel plated, cro-mo rack, which spent most of it's life outside,
but covered, in a humid environment still looks almost brand new.
In contrast, the Nova rack has lived in a relatively low humidity environment, i.e. SoCal.
Having said all that, the Nova rack fits my 1992 Trek MultiTrack 750 very well.
I have used and abused the rack for 5 years now with zero issues.
I would purchase another one if I could.
I wish Nitto would make a low-rider rack like this.

Tubus Nova Low-Rider Front Rack (discontinued)

HelpSingularity 

The link above says the stainless steel rack is "currently unavailable"
The Tubus site only mentions the "Logo" rack is available in "silver", no mention of stainless steel.
The "Cosmo" rack page is prominently proclaimed to be available in stainless steel.
So I don't think the "Logo" rack is available in stainless steel anymore.
But that "Cosmo" rack is looking pretty cool.
I like that "second mounting level"
That leaves the top shelf free from any interference from the panniers.

irc

Tubus stainless low rider in stock here.

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/carriers...wheels-silver/

Very blingy. The difference in price is low enough I would buy one if I was buying a front rack.

Tourist in MSN

The black painted version of the above was called the Ergo, also discontinued. I found it to have more adjustability in mounting to get the horizontal bar horizontal because you had two choices of where to mount the horizontal bars on the hoop, but only one choice with the Tara.

I have an Ergo and it is a great rack. Shown below, plus I also have the small Nashbar canti brake post mounted mini-platform rack on that bike too. Bummer that the Ergo is discontinued.



Disregard the fitting on the top of the hoop, I had a battery powered headlamp that I could attach there. Photo is over a decade old.

pdlamb

You call it interference, I call it lateral bracing for the tent/sleeping pad.

HelpSingularity 

Yup, if it all fits in between.