Tubus Cosmo Rack = Expensive Crap for Posers

The good quality ali rack which came on my Utopia Kranich sacrificed
itself to protect my bike when it was twice attacked by a carelessly
driven Range Rover. Once I managed to straighten it but the second
time it was crippled forever.

On the principle of buying good gear once rather than cheap gear
repeatedly, I ordered what was said to be the best rack, the Tubus
Cosmo. This is a stainless steel rack. Mine cost well over a hundred
euro landed from the British bike component discounters, Wiggle. The
stainless steel is a dull gray, not polished. The rack gets it
lightweight spec from being undersized. It is meanly narrow and
shortarsed too. It looks like a toy on my balloon-tired bike.

The worst thing about dealing with Tubus is that, even after I asked
their service department if their rack would fit, and was assured it
would, it still wouldn't fit. You have to buy an extra fitting kit for
another ten or twelve Euro. Not that the original fitting kit is
complete either. In fact, between the original fitting kit and the
extended fitting kit, there still were not enough nuts and bolts to
fit the rack, so I reused some that were in my old rack. Also, there
was an absence of the necessary nuts -- Tubus apparently assumes every
frame is tapped at all points. Also totally absent were spring
washers.

It's just as well that after a year the Tubus rack started creaking,
or I would not have discovered all the loose bolts on it.

I'd put up with this sort of crap, and go buy my own spring washers,
if the rack were actually useful, but it isn't. It is admirably stiff,
but the stiffness is achieved by triangulation that makes it very
awkard to impossible to use for carrying luggage. For instance, the
lower rail on each side angles in under the top rail, so that I can't
hang a common Basil pannier basket without mangling the hooks.

I cannot recommend the Cosmo. It is a poseur's rack, of little
practical use. The makers charge a huge amount of money for it and
don't even give you all the necessary fitting parts. It would probably
be a good rack if it were bigger, in which case the clumsy angling of
the lower rails might not matter, and if it came with enough fitting
components and spring washers to keep it on the bike. As it is sold, I
am decidedly unimpressed.

Coolmaine wrote:
The good quality ali rack which came on my Utopia Kranich sacrificed
itself to protect my bike when it was twice attacked by a carelessly
driven Range Rover. Once I managed to straighten it but the second
time it was crippled forever.

On the principle of buying good gear once rather than cheap gear
repeatedly, I ordered what was said to be the best rack, the Tubus
Cosmo. This is a stainless steel rack. Mine cost well over a hundred
euro landed from the British bike component discounters, Wiggle. The
stainless steel is a dull gray, not polished. The rack gets it
lightweight spec from being undersized. It is meanly narrow and
shortarsed too. It looks like a toy on my balloon-tired bike.

The worst thing about dealing with Tubus is that, even after I asked
their service department if their rack would fit, and was assured it
would, it still wouldn't fit. You have to buy an extra fitting kit for
another ten or twelve Euro. Not that the original fitting kit is
complete either. In fact, between the original fitting kit and the
extended fitting kit, there still were not enough nuts and bolts to
fit the rack, so I reused some that were in my old rack. Also, there
was an absence of the necessary nuts -- Tubus apparently assumes every
frame is tapped at all points. Also totally absent were spring
washers.

It's just as well that after a year the Tubus rack started creaking,
or I would not have discovered all the loose bolts on it.

I'd put up with this sort of crap, and go buy my own spring washers,
if the rack were actually useful, but it isn't. It is admirably stiff,
but the stiffness is achieved by triangulation that makes it very
awkard to impossible to use for carrying luggage. For instance, the
lower rail on each side angles in under the top rail, so that I can't
hang a common Basil pannier basket without mangling the hooks.

I cannot recommend the Cosmo. It is a poseur's rack, of little
practical use. The makers charge a huge amount of money for it and
don't even give you all the necessary fitting parts. It would probably
be a good rack if it were bigger, in which case the clumsy angling of
the lower rails might not matter, and if it came with enough fitting
components and spring washers to keep it on the bike. As it is sold, I
am decidedly unimpressed.


I would have thought Tubus Cargo for your bike:
http://www.vlerickfietsen.be/bagaget.../cargo_big.jpg

Wald #215 is also nice:
http://waldsports.com/index.cfm/racks.html

among many others

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Jun 3, 6:13*pm, Coolmaine wrote:
... there still were not enough nuts and bolts to
fit the rack, so I reused some that were in my old rack. Also, there
was an absence of the necessary nuts -- Tubus apparently assumes every
frame is tapped at all points. Also totally absent were spring
washers.

It's just as well that after a year the Tubus rack started creaking,
or I would not have discovered all the loose bolts on it.

I'd put up with this sort of crap, and go buy my own spring washers,
if the rack were actually useful, but it isn't.

I sympathize. That's a ton of money for a rack.

This is beside the point (and won't fix your main problem), but I've
long since given up on spring washers for bike attachments. They just
don't do as well against vibration as anaerobic thread locking
compounds. Loctite or equivalent, and be sure to use the strength
that can be undone without heat. That's usually blue, at least in the
US.

- Frank Krygowski

On Jun 3, 11:35*pm, AMuzi wrote:
Coolmaine wrote:
The good quality ali rack which came on my Utopia Kranich sacrificed
itself to protect my bike when it was twice attacked by a carelessly
driven Range Rover. Once I managed to straighten it but the second
time it was crippled forever.

On the principle of buying good gear once rather than cheap gear
repeatedly, I ordered what was said to be the best rack, the Tubus
Cosmo. This is a stainless steel rack. Mine cost well over a hundred
euro landed from the British bike component discounters, Wiggle. The
stainless steel is a dull gray, not polished. The rack gets it
lightweight spec from being undersized. It is meanly narrow and
shortarsed too. It looks like a toy on my balloon-tired bike.

The worst thing about dealing with Tubus is that, even after I asked
their service department if their rack would fit, and was assured it
would, it still wouldn't fit. You have to buy an extra fitting kit for
another ten or twelve Euro. Not that the original fitting kit is
complete either. In fact, between the original fitting kit and the
extended fitting kit, there still were not enough nuts and bolts to
fit the rack, so I reused some that were in my old rack. Also, there
was an absence of the necessary nuts -- Tubus apparently assumes every
frame is tapped at all points. Also totally absent were spring
washers.

It's just as well that after a year the Tubus rack started creaking,
or I would not have discovered all the loose bolts on it.

I'd put up with this sort of crap, and go buy my own spring washers,
if the rack were actually useful, but it isn't. It is admirably stiff,
but the stiffness is achieved by triangulation that makes it very
awkard to impossible to use for carrying luggage. For instance, the
lower rail on each side angles in under the top rail, so that I can't
hang a common Basil pannier basket without mangling the hooks.

I cannot recommend the Cosmo. It is a poseur's rack, of little
practical use. The makers charge a huge amount of money for it and
don't even give you all the necessary fitting parts. It would probably
be a good rack if it were bigger, in which case the clumsy angling of
the lower rails might not matter, and if it came with enough fitting
components and spring washers to keep it on the bike. As it is sold, I
am decidedly unimpressed.

I would have thought Tubus Cargo for your bike:http://www.vlerickfietsen.be/bagaget.../cargo_big.jpg

Wald #215 is also nice:http://waldsports.com/index.cfm/racks.html

among many others

--
Andrew Muzi
* www.yellowjersey.org/
* Open every day since 1 April, 1971

The rack that came on my bike was made by SL, who've since been taken
over Humpert, an excellent German component supplier (the superb stem
and the fine Cane Creek copy -- by Cane Creek - headset on my bike are
from them). Utopia then went over to fitting RackIt racks, which are
ali racks made by Tubus.

I think that, if I buy a new rack, I'll make an effort to find a
Madison Summit/Massload stainless rack in stock somewhere. It's less
than half the price and can't be worse than the Tubus.

Andre Jute
Visit Jute on Bicycles at
http://coolmainpress.com/BICYCLING.html

On Jun 4, 3:43*am, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On Jun 3, 6:13*pm, Coolmaine wrote:

... there still were not enough nuts and bolts to
fit the rack, so I reused some that were in my old rack. Also, there
was an absence of the necessary nuts -- Tubus apparently assumes every
frame is tapped at all points. Also totally absent were spring
washers.

It's just as well that after a year the Tubus rack started creaking,
or I would not have discovered all the loose bolts on it.

I'd put up with this sort of crap, and go buy my own spring washers,
if the rack were actually useful, but it isn't.

I sympathize. *That's a ton of money for a rack.

This is beside the point (and won't fix your main problem), but I've
long since given up on spring washers for bike attachments. *They just
don't do as well against vibration as anaerobic thread locking
compounds. *Loctite or equivalent, and be sure to use the strength
that can be undone without heat. *That's usually blue, at least in the
US.

- Frank Krygowski

I don't mind about the money, Frank, as long as I get value for it. I
don't keep a car, so it is irrelevant that my bike cost as much as a
pre-loved BMW -- the upkeep is virtually zero, and I'm very likely
alive because I cycle, so any likely and unlikely expenditure on the
bike or accessories for it is a trivial consideration. But I'm a
Calvinist, so I dislike being ripped.

Thanks for the tip on threadlock; I'll get a tube tomorrow. It would
be really nice of Tubus put the threadlock on their threads. Rohloff,
to cite just one instance, puts blue Loctite on the replacement
closure stud for their gearbox that comes with the annual service kit,
which is much appreciated and commented on.

Once a manufacturer gets into this price bracket, his goodies had
better be perfect because his customers are likely to be both
impatient with failure and articulate.

Andre Jute
Visit Andre's books
http://coolmainpress.com/andrejute.html

On 6/3/2011 3:13 PM, Coolmaine wrote:

snip

I cannot recommend the Cosmo. It is a poseur's rack, of little
practical use. The makers charge a huge amount of money for it and
don't even give you all the necessary fitting parts. It would probably
be a good rack if it were bigger, in which case the clumsy angling of
the lower rails might not matter, and if it came with enough fitting
components and spring washers to keep it on the bike. As it is sold, I
am decidedly unimpressed.

The Cosmo is a very short rack (29cm), not really intended for carrying
luggage, especially if you have big feet since you can't have the
panniers far enough to the rear.

The rack design I really like is the Massload CL-476
http://web.archive.org/web/20041108130532/http://www.cl-massload.com.tw/products.php?pid=78
which is very hard to find (gone from the manufacturer web site). In the
U.S. it's sold by (gulp) Landrider
http://www.landriderbikes.com/accessories_1.asp for .

Here's an account of someone that bought one:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/696989-LandRider-Rear-Rack-(Massload-CL-476)-Review.

To me it's rather incredible that there are so many poorly designed
racks on the market and amazing that a company that sells such a junky
bicycle is the only U.S. source for a rack as good as the Massload CL-476.

Personally, I would use thread lock compound on rack bolts.

On Jun 4, 7:42*am, SMS wrote:
On 6/3/2011 3:13 PM, Coolmaine wrote:

snip

I cannot recommend the Cosmo. It is a poseur's rack, of little
practical use. The makers charge a huge amount of money for it and
don't even give you all the necessary fitting parts. It would probably
be a good rack if it were bigger, in which case the clumsy angling of
the lower rails might not matter, and if it came with enough fitting
components and spring washers to keep it on the bike. As it is sold, I
am decidedly unimpressed.

The Cosmo is a very short rack (29cm), not really intended for carrying
luggage, especially if you have big feet since you can't have the
panniers far enough to the rear.

The rack design I really like is the Massload CL-476
http://web.archive.org/web/20041108130532/http://www.cl-massload.com....
which is very hard to find (gone from the manufacturer web site). In the
U.S. it's sold by (gulp) Landrider
http://www.landriderbikes.com/accessories_1.asp for .

Here's an account of someone that bought one:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/696989-LandRider-Rear-Rack-(....

To me it's rather incredible that there are so many poorly designed
racks on the market and amazing that a company that sells such a junky
bicycle is the only U.S. source for a rack as good as the Massload CL-476..

Personally, I would use thread lock compound on rack bolts.

Thanks, Steven. I believe the Massload rack you mention is the Madison
Summit stainless rack. I tried to find either for sale in Europe and
failed, which why I bought the Cosmo. Now I've tracked down a supplier
in England in case I decide to replace the Cosmo. I got the notion
about the Massload/Madison from you in the first instance, most
likely. -- Andre Jute

Coolmaine wrote:

Once a manufacturer gets into this price bracket, his goodies had
better be perfect because his customers are likely to be both
impatient with failure and articulate.

I'm sorry but that's just a ridiculous expectation on your part. Not
every purchase one makes "works out" - sometimes something that's worth
the price to most people isn't worth it to you, and that's just life.
Find a rack that you like or, if money is truly no object, go get
yourself a custom-made model that'll be what you want. Maybe you need
to go to a bike shop next time and pay for installation - they'll have
all the necessary hardware to make it work and they won't whine about
it.

-S-

On Jun 3, 3:35 pm, AMuzi wrote:
Coolmaine wrote:
The good quality ali rack which came on my Utopia Kranich sacrificed
itself to protect my bike when it was twice attacked by a carelessly
driven Range Rover. Once I managed to straighten it but the second
time it was crippled forever.

On the principle of buying good gear once rather than cheap gear
repeatedly, I ordered what was said to be the best rack, the Tubus
Cosmo. This is a stainless steel rack. Mine cost well over a hundred
euro landed from the British bike component discounters, Wiggle. The
stainless steel is a dull gray, not polished. The rack gets it
lightweight spec from being undersized. It is meanly narrow and
shortarsed too. It looks like a toy on my balloon-tired bike.

The worst thing about dealing with Tubus is that, even after I asked
their service department if their rack would fit, and was assured it
would, it still wouldn't fit. You have to buy an extra fitting kit for
another ten or twelve Euro. Not that the original fitting kit is
complete either. In fact, between the original fitting kit and the
extended fitting kit, there still were not enough nuts and bolts to
fit the rack, so I reused some that were in my old rack. Also, there
was an absence of the necessary nuts -- Tubus apparently assumes every
frame is tapped at all points. Also totally absent were spring
washers.

It's just as well that after a year the Tubus rack started creaking,
or I would not have discovered all the loose bolts on it.

I'd put up with this sort of crap, and go buy my own spring washers,
if the rack were actually useful, but it isn't. It is admirably stiff,
but the stiffness is achieved by triangulation that makes it very
awkard to impossible to use for carrying luggage. For instance, the
lower rail on each side angles in under the top rail, so that I can't
hang a common Basil pannier basket without mangling the hooks.

I cannot recommend the Cosmo. It is a poseur's rack, of little
practical use. The makers charge a huge amount of money for it and
don't even give you all the necessary fitting parts. It would probably
be a good rack if it were bigger, in which case the clumsy angling of
the lower rails might not matter, and if it came with enough fitting
components and spring washers to keep it on the bike. As it is sold, I
am decidedly unimpressed.

I would have thought Tubus Cargo for your bike:http://www.vlerickfietsen.be/bagaget.../cargo_big.jpg


That's the one I use - extremely satisfactory.

http://i54.tinypic.com/348slys.jpg

Wald #215 is also nice:http://waldsports.com/index.cfm/racks.html

among many others

On 6/4/2011 7:56 AM, Steve Freides wrote:
Coolmaine wrote:

Once a manufacturer gets into this price bracket, his goodies had
better be perfect because his customers are likely to be both
impatient with failure and articulate.

I'm sorry but that's just a ridiculous expectation on your part. Not
every purchase one makes "works out" - sometimes something that's worth
the price to most people isn't worth it to you, and that's just life.
Find a rack that you like or, if money is truly no object, go get
yourself a custom-made model that'll be what you want. Maybe you need
to go to a bike shop next time and pay for installation - they'll have
all the necessary hardware to make it work and they won't whine about
it.

The chance of finding a bicycle shop that actually sells good rear racks
is extremely slim, but I suppose that some shops would be able to
properly install the rack with lock washers and thread-lock.