After I had to admit to myself that, firstly, I don’t necessarily have to have an exclusive winter bike (in my opinion, winter is not an ideal cycling season in our part of the world) and secondly, this winter bike is equipped with a Tubus Disco pannier rack (see top image in the article) it was it time to find a rack solution for my Ritchey Swiss Cross gravel bike.
The challenge is to build a rack on a frame that doesn’t have any rackmounts.
Ritchey Swiss Cross rackmount
Like so many racing bikes or cross bikes, the Ritchey Swiss Cross steel bike has no mounts for bikepacking racks or mudguards. This means that all classic racks are basically ruled out – at least if you want to mount standard panniers. Frame bags or seat post carriers are of course possible.
To circumvent the missing mounts, the small manufactory Tailfin from Bristol developed an ingenious thru-axle: a 12 mm axle with lateral bolts on which the Tailfin rack is supported. The mounting clip has a quick-release fastener that can be removed in seconds after installation. An absolutely perfect solution from my point of view.
The Tailfin Alloy Rack with pannier mounts
I opted for the standard aluminum rack with mounts for conventional (Ortlieb) panniers. A maximum payload of 27 kg is possible. The attachment is very simple and is realized with two quick-release fasteners on the thru axle and one on the seat post. The construction itself weighs a little more than 0.5 kg – so relatively insignificant compared to the payload.
The Tailfin Rack 2022 still has to pass the big practical test – but the entire construction looks rock-solid and makes a really good impression. So far a clear recommendation.
Hi Anton, I read your report about the first impressions about the Tailfin rack but I don’ t find your final impressions about it use with also ortlieb bahs. Could you leave me your experience ? Thanks, Nicodemo
Hi Nicodemo! The Ortlieb bags are a perfect fit and I like them a lot, if you are carrying heavy stuff. And a lot of it 🙂 The bags come in different types – I do own just the relatively cheap city version. But still: waterproof, easy to use and super rigid material. If you want to go more aero – maybe the Tailfin bag is appropriate. Cheers!
Hi,
My bike doesn’t have any frame eyelets, so that is why this Tailfin has caught my eye.
Do you really need the third party Pannier Adaptors for Ortlieb bags?
I wonder if you couldn’t just move the clamps on the panniers closer to each other in order to fit the Tailfin mounts?
Could you comment on that?
Thanks a lot for sharing your experience.
Jeroen
Hallo Jeroen! The adapters are provided by Tailfin as well. And I never tried it without these. I don’t think it’s possible to use classic panniers without these. Cheers