Are AEROE Bike-packing racks worth the money?

so I bought the arrow spider rack and I tested on the road on the dirt in the water and in the air I spent my own money on it so I can say whatever I want wow nice rack okay I was wrong let me rephrase that I could say whatever I want about the rack this rack right here let's just start with the most mind-blowing fact in the beginning and that is just one word full suspension by mounting the rack to the upper swing arm you can actually use it on full suspension bikes traditionally rear bike racks have at least three or four points of contact with the bike two near the dropouts and The Others near the seat clamp the error rack has only two points of contact with the bike or so it seems at first glance the brackets to mount the rack are actually really wide and some might say it actually is like two brackets in one connecting the two brackets is the rack itself which is constructed out of anodized aluminum the full setup is completely adjustable and the rack is flexible enough to make up for any minor size difference in the frame they do offer a wider rack for fat bikes as well the rack alone weighs in at 1.4 lb and can be fitted out with up to three of these cradles to hold whatever you're strapping to them total low capacity is 35 lb Arrow does recommend an extra layer of protective tape for carbon frames the price of the rack which includes one cradle is $149 and each additional cradle would be another $79 per unit the company also makes some really heavy duty dry bags with built-in Loops that keep your bags from slipping [Music] out I got two8 L bags for $59 each which are a little Slimmer in case you're planning on riding through narrow single track or tight sections but they do offer larger sizes and even a pod okay now you know what I got so let's go right into the testing phase but before that let's begin with one thing I didn't like from the beginning I had just unpacked it the little corbo piece that it ships with and I was walking from the house to the garage and then G one of the little feet at the bottom vanished on me it took me 30 minutes to backtrack every step I took to finally find the little bastard so I'm not a big fan of these little rubber feet falling out so easily maybe some tape or glue to solve this problem or keep an eye on it they do sell extra spare parts for this because I think this happens all the time I first mounted the racks and bags loaded with roughly 10 lb worth of my stuff on my gravel bike to ride it for a couple days locally I am totally impressed on how rigid the rack is especially if you're standing up and moving side to side I couldn't feel it swaying or swinging at all what's not to like all right I'm a fan I mean I could feel the weight but not much flexing I started progressing to gravel still solid and somewhat rougher single track now I still didn't feel anything unusual but after looking at the footage I think I know now why they sell these straps on the website the bags didn't come loose but I can see myself owning some of these straps for future Adventures now let's get into what we all came here for mountain biking full suspension with the rack and bags what's that like is it still fun and can you ride like you usually do hit jumps get over trees rip through turns first off there was only one setup for me to get the two backs mounted to the rack I had to rotate the cradle and move it up on the rack all other position either interfered with my feet or legs it wasn't a problem it just took some time before I could hit the trail now besides the added weight I couldn't feel any Flex or flip-flopping of the bags the idea of bike packing on an amazing Trail and not being able to enjoy it because you have bike handles like a paper towel is one of the reasons why I never wanted to do it sure pedaling uphill was much harder but the fun Factor on descends and turns and jumps it was still there yes it was different but honestly I'm planning on riding the Arizona Trail next year and for sure I thought I was going to have to do it on a hard tail and sacrifice fun for functionality this is a game changer now I'm looking even more forward to the trip next year okay I still need to figure a bunch of stuff out for my trip next year the bag and the racks I think I I'm happy with it you know uh the little feet falling out keep an eye on it or tape them on uh I will definitely buy the spare parts What tent do I get do I need to get a handlebar bag I was thinking about a hub Dynamo to charge my GPS and phone because I'll be out in the Sticks no power couple more products I'm searching for if you guys have any clue what I should be looking at and what products I should maybe Test please put it in the comments down below I'll see if I can buy them so I can say whatever I want or maybe they can just lend them to me or I can test them and I'll say whatever I want so much to figure out I have the product the rack the cradles the bags all Linked In the description below see you when I figure out what I'm going to do next

Channel: Cyclingskills

Views: 17,629

Keywords: cycling, gravel bike, mountain bike, road cycling, bicycles, bike race, cyclo cross, ride your bike, aeroe spider rack, aeroe bikepacking, aeroe dry bag, mtb aeroe rack, handlebar rack aeroe, aeroe, bike packing, bike camping, mtb camping, mtb bikepacking

Id: CL1hBKTkNU0

Length: 5min 51sec (351 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 02 2023