Hey everyone,
I have a few questions regarding rack materials, weight capacity, and reliability. I have this aluminum Pelago Commuter rack on my commuter that I love. Very functional and a fair price point.
I have another bike that I plan to use to ride the Pony Express bikepacking route next summer. I plan to run a front rack with two small panniers and a rack bag on top (similar to a wald basket bag). That bike can only mount a rack at the fork crown and near the dropouts, just like the photos above. So the Pelago rack is an ideal rack for mounting purposes.
I plan to run the medium size, more narrow than above. The aluminum model weighs 720 g (~ 1.5 lbs) , while the stainless steel option weighs 1kg (~ 2.2 lbs). The aluminum has a max carrying capacity of 10kg (~ 22 lbs), the stainless has 15kg (~33 lbs).
I’m posting here in hopes for opinions on which rack to run. Obviously lighter is nicer, but is 10kg so low that I’ll risk breaking the rack during my trip? Is the extra weight of the stainless model worth the durability and carrying capacity? I would guess I’d carry right around 10kg on the rack. The route is relatively mellow gravel roads, especially since I am riding from St. Joseph, MO to Salt Lake City, UT. I will not be riding the more intense western section through NV and CA.
Lastly, I know there are lighter setups, but I already have panniers and a rack bag, and prefer the stability of this setup. I’ve run frame/bar mounted setups before and always felt like they were more wobbly.
by ZeroFrmHoles
3 Comments
Aluminum is not any less useful or durable than SS. SS is just beautifully shiny, especially when nickel plated, and especially when it has such clean brazing as Nitto does.
I don’t think there’s a big difference between the 2 and would probably look at price/availability.
Can I ask you how you mounted your light to your front rack?
Aluminum is lighter and usually cheaper. It will likely *eventually* break. Aluminum doesn’t have the infinite fatigue life of steel, so thousands and thousands of flexes will eventually result in a crack. But it’s so uncommon I wouldn’t worry about it.
SS shouldn’t break without trauma, but it’s more expensive and heavier. Theoretically steel only fatigues when it bends (i.e. bends into a position and doesn’t return to the original position).
In terms of strength of material I wouldn’t really worry about it. The tubing material isn’t the issue. Rather, I’d focus on the amount of mounting points and the rigidity of the design itself. For instance, my aluminum Soma Lucas 3 is stronger than a stainless steel randonneur rack because it has 5 mounting points (vs. 3) and the load applies less leverage on the struts.
Also, 33 lbs on the fork is a LOT of weight. I’d probably investigate bikepacking bags for the frame and saddle before loading the fork so heavily.