You can beat a steel rack. The lowered mounting bar for my panniers was the main reason I chose this rack, and of course the durability of chromoly steel. Itll hold 2.5X more weight than my previous aluminum rack. I also have the Tubus Tara Lowrider rack for the front which has been awesome and I will continue to purchase Tubus if the need ever presents itself. These racks fit my Surly LHT like they were designed specifically for it!
I put this on my 2017 Budnitz No3 - it fit perfectly above the flat fenders and no issues with clearance with the fender hardware. I have pannier bags on it for my 44 mile round trip commute to work. would buy again. 4 stars on value only because I dont understand why all racks cost as much as they do.
I own two of these racks, with one on my Surly Disc Trucker road/touring/commuting bike, and the other on my Salsa Fargo bikepacking rig.
The build quality is superb, and at 21 ounces they are surprisingly light for a rack rated to carry 88 pounds, which is far more than I ever hope to have to carry. I like the lower side rails that let you mount panniers for a lower center of gravity and better stability. Tire clearance is excellent, even on my Fargo, which has a 2.3 inch rear tire and wide fender. I prefer tubular steel for its superior fatigue strength and durability as compared to aluminum alloys, which can be important on bikepacking trips in rough terrain when you can be several days from civilization.
I replaced my Surly rack with the Logo Evo and, so far, am happy with the decision. Also made of steel, I expect the rack to hold up to a long tour. The lowered side bars for panniers are great... this allows for my Ortlieb Back Rollers to go on the side without blocking access to the top flat part of the rack. In my case I am using an Ortlieb Rack Pack across the back... works great. The rack is much narrower than the Surly (where there's clearly some of the weight savings), but it makes no difference using the Rack Pack (might be worth considering for someone planning to bungee a bunch of stuff to the rack).
The main complaint I have is the hardware... all of the bolts are Torx instead of Hex, requiring that I bring a Torx wrench on my tour. Likely, I'll end up re-installing using Hex hardware so I can stick with just allen wrenches. Also, installing the stabilizing bars was very tricky on my Disk Trucker... actually had to use pliers to turn the Torx screws because the angles were impossible to fit a wrench.
I have a new specialized AWOL touring bike that was set up with an inexpensive rear rack. When the Ortlibe panniers were on, the bike would have front end shimmy over 15 miles per hour that was very annoying. This rack was noticeably stiffer and eliminated the shimming. Even though the price was also stiff, I am very pleased with the way this rack lowers the center of gravity and makes the bike handle better.
It looks really nice, very intuitive design, and sturdy. What initially drew me to the rack was the warranty. They'll replace it if it breaks no matter where you are. I also really liked I could attach the bags in a high or low position.
