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TECH NEWS
Bristol company launches carbon fibre bike rack on Kickstarter
A Bristol-based company has launched the Tailfin, a carbon fibre rack and pannier system that aims to be a modern alternative to the traditional bicycle rack. It launches on Kickstarter with a production date of October and a starting price of £132 for the rack and £45 for the pannier.
The key benefit of using carbon fibre is that it is lightweight. The company claims the rack weighs just 275g, about half the weight of a regular rack made from aluminium.
To fit a conventional rack to a road bike requires a frame with rack mounts, but the Tailfin has been designed to fit any road bike - it doesn’t use traditional rack mounts. Instead, the top of the rack connects to the seatpost with a quick release lever, and the main supporting struts are connected to a longer skewer, which replaces the regular quick release skewer in the rear wheel.
The rack can be fitted and removed in seconds, and being made from carbon fibre you’re probably going to want to remove it if leaving the bike outside. The company has thought of this, and locking screws can be used to deter easy removal.
As well as the rack, the company has also developed its own panniers, though regular panniers are also compatible with the rack. The panniers, like the rack, have been designed with weight in mind and come in at a claimed 600g.
The panniers feature a rigid backbone to provide support, with a roll-top opening and made from a waterproof material. Each pannier has a 24-litre capacity and is large enough to take a 17in laptop, making them ideal for commuting.
“Creating a light and elegant product was important, but it was critical that the product function was as also better than existing racks & panniers,” says Tailfin founder Nick Broadbent, a cyclist and mechanical engineer. “Fundamentally, I wanted to enable every rider’s journey to be effortless, by designing the most advanced rack and pannier system ever. The aim is to ride fast, with more.”
Interested? Head to the Tailfin Kickstarter page to see more. The company is looking for £50,000 funding to make the product a reality.
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
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17 comments
For daily commuting, panniers were overkill in my experience. Since buying a Carradice SQR Slim, I've wondered why I bothered with panniers in the first place. I can get laptop, office clothes, towel etc in easily and it all removes easily for weekend rides.
I've always wondered about those and having the weight so high up compared to panniers. Is it not that noticable?
Carbon or whatever... nothing ruins the handling (aesthetics) of a half decent road bike better than a few pounds of luggage attached to it at the back
there are better, cheaper, solutions out there. this offering is a silly carbon for the sake of it .
There are not that many 'quick release' systems though. I can only really think of a seat post mounted rack. I know it doesn't take that long to remove a rack but it would still be a little tiresome if you wanted to do it every weekend.
So a cheaper, non-carbon QR version would be a good product I reckon.
So you shouldn't leave it on permanently, it takes seconds to install/remove.
But you're willing to spend £150 to save a couple of hundred grams when carrying a load of luggage?!
No, make an aluminium quick release version for £20 I maybe interested.
If you're running a lightweight carbon seatpost, I wonder if the additional weight of having a rack fitted to it would do any damage?
It looks good. It's a shame they didn't build a rack light bracket into the design but I am all for making things nice a light for the daily commute. Obviously it is a pricy system but it could still be a worthy investment if you are using it every day.
18kg weight limit sounds sensible. You wouldn't want anymore than that swinging about on a race bike geometry with a short wheelbase.
I personally wouldn't clamp around a carbon fibre seat post (despite the clamp being carbon-friendly). I'd feel more comfortable using a metal post so it could be worth swapping that out if required if anyone invests in this.
But I'm going to carry on with my 'Oakley Factory Lite' rucksack, which is super light, £15 and can fold up into a jersey pocket. It is still sturdy enough to carry my laptop for work (I've been using mine for 2 years so it is durable). Fortunately laptops are not the bricks they used to be and I also remove the battery to really bring the weight down. I appreciate people don't want a sweaty back but I'm not finding this too much of an issue. I used to use a rack and panniers but it was harder work.
I’ve seen comments like this a few times, and I have to say I am a little confused by them, after all the seat post is designed to be clamped into the frame at any point along its length, and to support a rider of significantly more weight than a rack and panniers in doing so.
I don’t see why a carbon seat post should not be able to support a carradice SQR type mount, let alone a more traditional rack for panniers which should normally translate the load down to the fixings near the wheel axle, and not to the seat post.
Would like to see other conventional panniers fitted as claimed, good idea though.
Loving it but after Kiwi's comment I'm not sure if it will fit my bike or the other half's. We're both in the market for rack and panniers at the moment. Neither of us have touring bikes yet, though are looking to get some for 2017 so would want racks that would fit our current bikes and futures bikes - guessing that's probably not going to happen. I'm using an Infinito CV for everything at the moment (using Alpkit saddle and handlebar drybags when touring with the other half), and she's learning on a Nirone 7 aluminum frame.
Looking at Cinelli's HoBootleg as future purchases which come with racks, but would love to lighten them with something like this when doing lighter day/two-day trips.
Either way, these look amazing. Would be really surprised if this doesn't smash its funding goal.
Sounds like one of these might help you out in the meantime:
https://goo.gl/15Q3GO
I've found them to be rock solid.
Simple but brilliant. Cheers!
Salsa also make a very nice seat clamp with screw eyes for racks:
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/salsa-rack-lock-seat-clamp-with-integrated-ra...
And with a Tubus Fly coming in at just 340g and taking any type of pannier, I wonder if the Tail Fin will really take off.
http://www.tubus.com/product.php?xn=9
If I ever need to carry anything on the Canyon, I have these set up so I can put the rack on in a minute with the QR and a single screw into the Salsa clamp. SO easy and carries any kind of pannier or even something flat on the top of the rack.
I'm on a Sempre Pro and would love to do the sort of touring you describe. Just a 1/2 day ride so I need a bag that would just fit a few bits in. Are you using the Koala? https://www.alpkit.com/products/koala It seems like it's out of stock at the moment.
Something like this bike rack for using my racing bike as a light tourer (eg that overnighter or weekend ride) would be superb.
Koala was out of stock in the colour I wanted when I was ordering so I just got two dry bags, these two:
Airlok tapered 13l
Airlok dual 20l
https://www.alpkit.com/products/airlok-xtra-tapered
https://www.alpkit.com/products/airlok-xtra-dual-20-litre
The dual 20l bag just clips over the bars, no problem at all. Just tighten the straps to avoid is scrubbing against the wheel.
The tapered bag on the seatpost is trickier. Had to order Velcro one wrap 2cm wide, to get it stable. Some guys use bungie cord. I'm going to get some too and try it, I think it's probably a litte easier to work with being stretchy.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VELCRO-velcro-Hook-and-loop-ONE-WRAP-double-si...
I'd like a black Koala bag but for now this is perfect for us. I can take her camera gear, lunch, down jackets squeezed in (chilly up here) and more. There's a Roo Pouch which attaches on to the handlebar bag, which I think would be brill for the phone and wallet. Out of stock too though so just got to keep checking their site.
Anyway, whole setup cost about £36, and the bags look great (got some army green khaki colour) and are quality. Way less than I expected to pay to get started touring with the other half. When she's more confident I can load her up the same, could even get a tent going then.
For clarity: 18kg limit.
"To enable the Tailfin rack to fit any road bike, including carbon and those lacking rack mounts, it ships with a custom made quick release skewer, with built-in mounting features"
That would be "any road bike" so long as it has trad QR's. Through axle? Nope. That's a fair few new bikes out.