Tubus v MEC or Blackburn

[d***@public.gmane.org]

On Sat, 24 Apr 2004 02:49:35 -0400 "Marty & Karen Schlosser"

While at the Toronto Int'l Bike Show earlier this spring I spied the

Tubus and order myself one on the spot. Now that I've had it on
for a few weeks and tested it with some weight to simulate a heavy
touring load (tent, stove, fuel, etc...), I'm happy to report my
complete satisfaction and would recommend it over the MEC
lowriders, any day.
Marty S

Can you say what you found superior in the Tubus to the MEC? If anyone
has experience with Tubus rear racks compared to MEC or Blackburn, I'd
appreciate their comments too. I do not know about the cost of Tubus
front racks, but I know Tubus rear racks are very expensive.

Demetri


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[Adam K.]

Demetri wrote.
<<snip>> Can you say what you found superior in the Tubus to the MEC? If
anyone has experience with Tubus rear racks compared to MEC or Blackburn,
I'd appreciate their comments too. I do not know about the cost of Tubus
front racks, but I know Tubus rear racks are very expensive. <<end snip>>

I've used all three front racks - well to refine that - a Tubus Duo (hoop
less) and the other two. The first one - MEC brand - broke on the lower stay
(dropout down to rack). I have to admit that I had crashed with that rack a
few years previously, but had used it many times after the crash, so who
knows whether it had a hairline crack or not?
I replaced that with a Blackburn low-rider, which was OK except that with my
larger front panniers (15 litres each) that carry my "heavy stuff," I was
experiencing a slight shimmy on fast downhills, just as I did with the MEC
rack.
I then bought and installed a Tubus Duo - no more shimmy!

I also replaced my rear aluminium rack with a Tubus Cargo - purely for the
fact that I didn't trust the aluminium rack after the break on the front
rack - which happened on a long tour across Canada.

Best price I found for Tubus racks was at Lickton's:
http://www.lickbike.com

I can recommend their service and fast mail order - even to Canada!


Adam K.
Sidney, BC
Canada

Email: adam-k-***@public.gmane.org
Website: http://www.adamk.ca

[Marty & Karen Schlosser]

Post by d***@public.gmane.org
Can you say what you found superior in the Tubus to the MEC? If anyone
has experience with Tubus rear racks compared to MEC or Blackburn, I'd
appreciate their comments too. I do not know about the cost of Tubus
front racks, but I know Tubus rear racks are very expensive.

My response:

The tubing of the Tubus is hollow chromoly, whereas MEC uses solid
metal. The hoop that goes over the front wheel is not nearly as solid on
the MEC as the Tubus and the bolts didn't line up nearly as well. The MEC
was not nearly as rigid, and would clearly not carry near the same amount of
weight. Speaking of weight, the MEC was nearly twice as heavy.

On a price comparison, however, MEC wins hands down; the Tubus was over
4 times as expensive.

I have, however, heard from another tourist who was quite satisfied with
his MEC front rack and had three trouble-free seasons with them

To my way of thinking, you get what you pay for, and I felt the $115
Canadian - including shipping - was worth the investment. Let's face it, a
breakdown in the middle of nowhere isn't a lot of fun.

Marty S

[Patrick and Stephanie Davis]

My wife has used the MEC front, low-rider style rack for too many years to
count and has had no trouble with it. I must note that she doesn't carry a
lot of weight on it- probably only about 20 lbs.

FWIW
pat

PS: Does anyone know the present whereabouts of the young Belgian couple
from Ghent who were cycling down Mex 1 in Baja and heading to Guatemala? WE
met them at the junction of Mex 1 and the road to Bahia de Los Angeles and
had a brief chat, and I'm wondering how it goes for them.

Piscor ergo mentior


Patrick and Stephanie Davis
Calgary, Canada

[d***@public.gmane.org]

Post by Adam K.
I replaced that with a Blackburn low-rider, which was OK except that
with my larger front panniers (15 litres each) that carry my "heavy
stuff," I was experiencing a slight shimmy on fast downhills, just as I
did with the MEC rack. I then bought and installed a Tubus Duo - no
more shimmy!
Adam K.
Sidney, BC
Canada

Were your Blackburn low-riders braze-on? I haven't used MEC or Tubus, to
compare, but haven't noticed shimmy attributable to my Blackburn braze-on
low riders. I routinely haul 30 lb or so in front panniers.

Demetri

________________________________________________________________
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[Adam K.]

Post by Adam K.
I replaced that with a Blackburn low-rider, which was OK except that
with my larger front panniers (15 litres each) that carry my "heavy
stuff," I was experiencing a slight shimmy on fast downhills, just as I
did with the MEC rack. I then bought and installed a Tubus Duo - no
more shimmy!
Adam K.
Sidney, BC
Canada

Were your Blackburn low-riders braze-on? I haven't used MEC or Tubus, to
compare, but haven't noticed shimmy attributable to my Blackburn braze-on
low riders. I routinely haul 30 lb or so in front panniers.

Demetri
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------
Demetri:

Yes, I used it on my Cannnondale T2000 which has a through fork tube
braze-on fitting.

I feel that the steel Tubus is a superior rack to the aluminium ones as it
did eliminate my slight shimmy problem.
As I mentioned, the shimmy was only noticeable on fast descents - approx.
over 55 Kms/hr. And especially so if my front panniers were not balanced. I
carry food in one front pannier, so the weight of that one can vary quite a
bit.

I probably haul about 20 to 25 pounds between my two front panniers.

Regards and Tailwinds,
Adam K.
Sidney, BC
Canada

Email: adam-k-***@public.gmane.org
Website: http://www.adamk.ca

[Michel Gagnon]

Post by d***@public.gmane.org
Were your Blackburn low-riders braze-on? I haven't used MEC or Tubus, to
compare, but haven't noticed shimmy attributable to my Blackburn braze-on
low riders. I routinely haul 30 lb or so in front panniers.
Demetri

I have a Blackburn lowrider (the original) on the touring bike, a
no-name on the commuter and the MEC on the tandem. I haven't done an
X-Ray of the three, but they are litterally the same design except for
the little engraved "Blackburn" name on the Blackburn rack.

There is some shimmy on the commuter when it's fully loaded, but I
attribute it to the relative lack of rigidity of that frame rather than
to a problem with the rack itself. The commuter is a 1980 Vélo Sport
Alpin, and you just need to look at the slenderness of the tubes vs
those of the Trek 520 to see the difference. With the commuter, I also
find the bike _very_ hard to steer if the load isn't equal in both front
panniers, whereas it's almost a non-issue with the touring bike.

Last Summer for our tour, my daughter and I were using the Trek 520 with
a Piccolo trailercycle, with the following weights on day 1:
- front wheel: 52 lb (so probably 30-35 lb in front panniers)
- rear wheel : 70 lb
- trailercycle wheel: 30 lb

No problem, except the bike was hard to steer on gravel: too stable! I
corrected the problem by shifting 5-10 lb from front to rear.
I haven't actually tried loaded front panniers on the tandem yet.

P.S., if you want real load, try 50 kg of groceries packed in 4
panniers. I wouldn't tour with such a load, but the ride is decent.

[d***@public.gmane.org]

Post by Michel Gagnon
P.S., if you want real load, try 50 kg of groceries packed in 4
panniers. I wouldn't tour with such a load, but the ride is decent.
--
Montréal (Québec, Canada) http://mgagnon.net

The most groceries I've hauled in panniers is 65 lb; the ride, in winter,
over ice sheathed roads, without studded tires, was more scary than
decent. I've hauled 125 lb, off road, in my trailer.

Demetri

________________________________________________________________
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Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER!
Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today!

[Jim Foreman]

PS: Does anyone know the present whereabouts of the young Belgian couple
from Ghent who were cycling down Mex 1 in Baja and heading to Guatemala? WE
met them at the junction of Mex 1 and the road to Bahia de Los Angeles and
had a brief chat, and I'm wondering how it goes for them.<<<<<

Not sure but I think this is their website. <http://go.to/dickenels>

Jim Foreman
jimfore-***@public.gmane.org
http://www.JimForeman.com

[alex wetmore]

Post by d***@public.gmane.org
On Sat, 24 Apr 2004 02:49:35 -0400 "Marty & Karen Schlosser"

While at the Toronto Int'l Bike Show earlier this spring I spied the

Tubus and order myself one on the spot. Now that I've had it on
for a few weeks and tested it with some weight to simulate a heavy
touring load (tent, stove, fuel, etc...), I'm happy to report my
complete satisfaction and would recommend it over the MEC
lowriders, any day.

Can you say what you found superior in the Tubus to the MEC? If anyone
has experience with Tubus rear racks compared to MEC or Blackburn, I'd
appreciate their comments too. I do not know about the cost of Tubus
front racks, but I know Tubus rear racks are very expensive.

I haven't used a MEC front rack, but since they appear to be clones of
the Blackburn front rack and I can compare one to that.

I find the Tubus Tara (note, I have an older model) to be much stiffer
than the Blackburn front rack. This improves handling, especially if
you are carrying a heavy load in front.

They are much more expensive racks, at about $80 instead of $40. The
Blackburn racks work fine, the Tubus racks just work better.

There is a major downside to the Tubus racks. They require a mid-fork
brazeon to work properly. Blackburn racks will work fine with clamps.
For this reason I now own (but have not yet used) a Bruce Gordon rack
for the front of my Heron touring.

alex

[t***@public.gmane.org]

Alex, you wrote, "There is a major downside to the Tubus racks. They
require a mid-fork
brazeon to work properly."

Does that mean that the brazeon for the Tubus front rack must be the type
that goes clear thru the fork as on my older Cannondale or can they work
with the kind of brazeon that is only on one side of the fork and does not
go all the way thru to the other side as on my new Cannondale?
---
Tom Hart
Waynesville NC
tomhart2-***@public.gmane.org

[SCutshall]

http://www.tubus.net/eng/index.php

Post by t***@public.gmane.org
Alex, you wrote, "There is a major downside to the Tubus racks. They
require a mid-fork
brazeon to work properly."
Does that mean that the brazeon for the Tubus front rack must be the type
that goes clear thru the fork as on my older Cannondale or can they work
with the kind of brazeon that is only on one side of the fork and does not
go all the way thru to the other side as on my new Cannondale?
---
Tom Hart
Waynesville NC
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[Chuck Harmon]

Post by t***@public.gmane.org
Does that mean that the brazeon for the Tubus front
rack must be the type that goes clear thru the fork

as on my older Cannondale or can they work

Post by t***@public.gmane.org
with the kind of brazeon that is only on one side of
the fork and does not go all the way thru

They make two models for both types of brazeons.
Peter White's web site spells it out pretty well. I
ordered my tubus from him. I have always had
excellent service from Peter. Give him a call and he
will confirm that you interpreted everything properly
and that the rack you choose will work on your bike.




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[alex wetmore]

Post by t***@public.gmane.org
Alex, you wrote, "There is a major downside to the Tubus racks. They
require a mid-fork
brazeon to work properly."
Does that mean that the brazeon for the Tubus front rack must be the type
that goes clear thru the fork as on my older Cannondale or can they work
with the kind of brazeon that is only on one side of the fork and does not
go all the way thru to the other side as on my new Cannondale?

The Tara works fine with a single-sided brazeon.

alex

[Peter Jon White]

Post by alex wetmore
The Tara works fine with a single-sided brazeon.
alex

Correct. And the Tara also works fine with a through braze-on; either
two threaded eyes, or a tube through the fork blade. If you use it with
a through hole style eye, just use a bolt extending throug the blade and
hold it on with a nut.

It's the Duo that can only be used with a through braze-on; either a
tube through the blade that you place a bolt through, or two threaded
eyes opposite each other. But the Duo cannot be used on a fork having
just single eyes on the outer side of the fork blades.
--
Peter Jon White
Peter White Cycles
24 Hall Rd.
Hillsborough, NH 03244
603 478 0900 Phone
603 478 0902 Phax
http://www.PeterWhiteCycles.com

Published reports that Peter Jon White
is being investigated by the CIA for
smuggling Teletubby videos into Guantanamo Bay
may not be exaggerated.

[d***@public.gmane.org]

Post by alex wetmore
I find the Tubus Tara (note, I have an older model) to be much
stiffer than the Blackburn front rack. This improves handling,
especially if you are carrying a heavy load in front.
alex

How was each rack mounted, both braze-ons?

Demetri

________________________________________________________________
The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand!
Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER!
Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today!

[Michel Gagnon]

Post by d***@public.gmane.org
How was each rack mounted, both braze-ons?

In my case:
- Trek 520 tourer : Blackburn, mounted with bolts going through hole
going through the fork
- Co-Motion tandem: MEC mounted the same way
- Vélo Sport Alpin commuter: no-name, mounted via u-bolts.