Great rack, lousy mounting hardware.
I received my Logo Evo from Universal a couple of days ago, and installed it right away. It's easily the highest quality and strongest rack I've ever owned. That said, as other reviewers have noted, there are some serious issues with the mounting system.
First, there is only one set of the straight stays included with the rack; if the seat-stay braze-ons on your frame don't fall within the width of the rack top, the stays will angle out and not mate flush to the braze-on, creating a stress differential when you tighten down the mounting bolts. In other words, you'll have to pay an extra $14 to buy the offset stays to get a good alignment of the stays to your frame.
Second, the mountings on the rack frame only pivot to the left and right; there is no up or down adjustment to them, so if you have a very large or small bike frame, the stays won't line up that way either. You'll have to spend another $25 to buy the extra strut clampset that allows the stays to rotate up and down, as well as move from side to side.
Third, the mounting bolts provided with the rack are a torx 25 head, instead of the standard 4 or 5 mm head found on 90% of all bikes, so you'll need a T25 wrench to install this rack. I understand this should be considered an anti-theft feature as most bike thieves aren't going to be toting a T25 wrench with them, but if Tubus is going to use these bolts, they could at least include a little wrench to go with the mounting bolts.
In sum, this is an incredible rack; sturdy, made out of quality materials, and nicely manufactured. However, for the price, the better strut clamps, and at least one additional set of offset struts should be included with the rack. All told, I had to pay an additional $50 for appropriate mounting hardware to get the rack to properly fit my bike, and I don't think that is right. While I really like this rack, and feel it was a good investment, I do NOT feel I should have had to shell out an extra $50 to make it fit my bike, and because of that I will NOT be buying anymore Tubus products.
Pros: Strong, well made.
Cons: Absolutely abysmal hardware, and incredibly expensive to purchase additional hardware that SHOULD BE INCLUDED with the rack to begin with.
Would Buy Again: No
Would Recommend: No
Reviewed on: May 08, 2014
Reviewed by: Paul T.
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