robow

I'm usually the last one to know what's new out there but for those that haven't seen this innovative line of racks from Toba, there are a dozen styles that might just fill a niche for tourers. Several with built in additional heel clearance.


https://www.tobapeople.com/en/product/robin/

Booger1

I wouldn't buy a rack that cantilevers it off the mount 1-2 inches,horrible design.That's a great way to tear the brazeon off of your frame though....

robow

Several models rated for 40kg, that's a bunch. Booger, not sure if you couldn't run your axle thru that extention, like Axiom's and OMM racks.

Not sure of all their distributors in the states but Modern Bike seems to carry their line.

https://www.modernbike.com/b_Toba/

fietsbob

I infer those front struts are movable . vertically, so will go on whatever seat stay fittings you wish.. Boog.

fuzz2050

Has anyone ever actually torn off a brazeon like this? I've heard lots of people talk about the risk, but never really heard of it happening. The tensile strength of a good braze is orders of magnitude above most peoples touring load, and far higher than the sheer strength of the M5 bolt holding the rack in place.

Those racks do look pretty nifty, and I do like the ethically sourced milk crate.

unterhausen

Brazeons do break off, but I think it's because they are overloaded. I am not really sure there is an issue here. I would think that the cantilever is going to rotate the rack around the fastening bolt.

Burton

Those racks come with a variety if optional mounting hardware that let the specially designed struts mount to either rack mounting points on the seat stays, or directly to the V-brake posts. Not sure what the concern is about the bottom offset being a risk to brazeons though. The lower rack mounting points on every decent new frame I've seen in the last couple years have been integrated (drilled and tapped) into the rear dropouts. And since the maximum rated load of 40 pounds is spread across 4 attachment points, I wouldn't expact any one point to have to deal with more than a 25 pound load - and if thats a load issue for your own brazeon - I'd say there was a design issue - and not with the rack.

The same company that designs and distributes those racks also distributes BionX here in Quebec, Canada, and a long list of other products.

robow

I'm with fuzz on this, before you break off a braze on, unless it was defective to begin with, that bolt is going to shear. I don't think that in itself would prevent me from trying one.

Tourist in MSN

The total weight and location of the center of gravity of the loaded rack is the critical factor for whether or not a brazeon would be broken off. The cantilevered rack design would not put more stress on the brazeon than would otherwise occur if the rack was not cantilevered.

But, that design would place a lot of stress on the cantilever itself and for that reason I would be hesitant to buy it unless I could inspect it first in the store and evaluate how robust it appears to be. Just looking at the photos, I would not trust it. I think the rack may be a metal fatigue failure waiting to happen.

I never bother to look at weight ratings, the better rack companies always appear to be more conservative in their ratings while the cheaper racks may be rated by the marketing departments.

Thorn used to rate their heaviest duty rack with a higher rating if you used 6mm bolts instead of the more common 5mm bolts. In other words, the bolts were the limiting factor. Unfortunately I do not recall the numbers that they claimed.

And, weight ratings do not take into account the potholes or other road hazards.

fietsbob

Their 'Roger' model is interesting a bit of a mudguard with a couple small pannier mounts, on the sides ..
'Roger the messenger' adds a slot to hang a U lock on one side

fuzz2050

The M5 bolts (grade 2, not stainless) are rated to something like 2000 pounds of sheer stress. It's been a while since I looked it up, but I'm sure it's orders of magnitude above touring loads.

Burton

What you're posting is completely in contradiction with information I get from manufacturers at the trade shows. Would you please site your sources?

PS: Based on your criteria - those OMM racks I'm using must e a disaster waiting to happen. Just don't hold your breath - they've been on the market for years and have an established reputation for reliability.

staehpj1

Hard to say what I think of these. There are some interesting features. I would want to know weights though and I did not see them listed.

Tourist in MSN

Static shear strength is quite different from the force a bolt has to hold when you hit a solid bump in the road. If an M5 bolt would safely handle the weight you propose, that suggests that I could safely replace the five large diameter studs on each of my SUV wheels with a single M5 bolt.

Tourist in MSN

Don't have a source for the weight ratings, but I have seen some cheap racks in the store with bad welds that were rated as high as some of the best racks. Have also seen some of those cheap racks in the disposal bin after they failed.

Jamoni

I'm with Booger. The cantilevers create a moment (leverage) that would tend to twist the braze-ons if the rack was swaying side to side. This would put the welds or brazing under alternating cycles of shear stress that could cause failure.
A rack that attached straight down also has considerable leverage, but this can only matter if the rack isn't very stiff laterally. So in general the shear forces would be taken by the bolts, and the braze-ons would mostly be taking compression, which they can stand pretty well.

spinnaker

Tubus has been selling cantilever extensions for their racks for years. They are a very reputable company. If extensions created an issue why would they sell them?

Why would the Toba extensions be any different?

robow

Axiom has also been using these for several years now as well:

Burton

So what exactly is in your opinion 'a cheap rack with a high load rating' ?
Please - be specific as to brand and model. And explain how that might be applicable to this post - where we're discussing a $50 to $60 rack(depending on options). I've personally seen a lot of racks fail - good ones as well as cheap ones. So far its always been from grossly exceeding the load ratings. Most were warranted in spite of that.

And I'll be down to the trade show in Toronto this weekend so I'll ask some specifics regarding various racks and get back to you.

Burton

In Canada Tubus is distributed by:
Ortlieb USA
1521-15th ST NW Ste.2
98001 Auburn, WA
customerservice@ortliebusa.com
ortliebusa.com

Yeah - I agree - they're a pretty reputable company.

Chris_in_Miami

I stumbled upon the Toba racks about a year ago, and I liked the adjustability of the the seatstay arms, but that component seemed overly complicated and I had concerns about their reliability. Now I see that they've expanded the line a bit, and the Ron rack has a more robust looking "T-Twist" attachment (which is available as a separate accessory,) that seems like a step in the right direction. Thanks to robow for starting this thread!

I'm loving the front rack & milk crate, will definitely be getting one of those

MassiveD

It obviously isn't an optimal configuration compared to less levered designs, but one assumes everyone knows that. They would just make certain things possible for compromise situations, and most people doing that will probably get by fine.

I wouldn't get too hung up on the sanctity of numbers, the literature often misstates stuff. I would imagine that few companies have done serious tests, are there any industry tests for rack weighting, and if there were they would be difficult to translate into reality.

djb

I was amazed a few years ago when my wife stood on her rear rack (nothing special brand) to attach something high while we were camping and not only did the bolts not snap off, she only managed to slightly bend the rack a smidge and the brazeons didnt complain either.... She is wont to doing things like this, I just shake my head sometimes.

rodar y rodar

That your wife`s rack didn`t fail really doesn`t surprise me much, djb. But I`m really impressed by her sense of balance, and what kind of kickstand gets the honors?

Booger1

Do these type of racks use the skewer and the brazeon to keep the the mount from rotating? I thought they just mounted to one or the other.Most of them don't look like they go anywhere near where a mounting hole is.