BlackburnOutpost Front and Rear World Touring Bike Rack

Extremely well built! Great rear rack on my Masi Giramondo. Easy to install after watching the video on the Blackburn website. I have one of the early Blackburn racks from the 70's, and it's still in use today by my son in college. This rack is every bit as well made as that one and expect the same kind of longevity. Overall I'm very happy with this rack.I would have given it a 5 star rating, but there are a couple things about the design.. 1) I have Axiom panniers that use Rixen/Kaul fasteners (Hook & Bungee) but had to modify the length of the bungee to above the lowest stabilization strap on the bag in order to hook the bottom hook onto the rack. If the rack had a lower place to hook the bungee onto it would be better. 2) the top rack is only 4 inches wide (OD). If you plan to use a rack-top bag or trunk bag, you may want to measure the bag's width - especially if you use panniers that extend above the rack top.

Unless you are requiring some very large clearances I would avoid this rack.The sides bow outward so much that panniers hang at an angle and the small securing bar at the bottom bumps out even further making for a very small area for weight to rest on. As a another reviewer mentioned the rearmost vertical supports don't offer enough support for a loaded bag and it can slide back and hit spokes. It also sits very far back on the wheel making centering weight with the rear axle impossible.I'll give it an extra star because after a year of use caring some heavy loads none of the welds broke but I will emphasize that it does a very lousy job keeping either ortlieb classics and very well made Swift panniers straight and secure.

I only had it for about 250 miles before it broke. The weld connecting the vertical tube to the horizontal tube at the top broke when I was remounting it to the bike. For a $125 rack, that's an unacceptably short life.Another reviewer mentioned that it bows the panniers out a lot. This is true. This ends up putting a lot of pressure inward toward the bike frame, rather than hanging down off of it. Additionally, grocery bags (or anything that uses a hook/strap to keep it down) don't work on this rack for this reason.

My husband is still installing this rack so I can't report on function yet but wanted to report it is NOT BLACK. It's kind of a bronze/gold color. Unfortunately we can't return it because we bought it to use on a trip next week so I guess we'll just deal with it.

I have used Blackburn products since the 1970sAlways high Quality