Anyone tried a TailFin

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Seatposts are designed to be clamped and to resist bending moments. It doesn’t matter much to the seatpost whether it is clamped by a clamp at the top of a seat tube or by an additional clamp 2cm above the top of the seat tube.

There is an additional bending moment imparted to the post by a cantilevered rack but that only matters if the rack is heavily loaded and the rider is too close to the max rated weight for the seatpost.

[L CC]

To be honest I think the biggest win for the Tailfin is how ugly the alternatives all are.

Even if you've got the mounting points for a standard rack there aren't many (high end Tubus is all I can think of) that are actually not-ugly.

Anyways, I took a bunch of pictures last night for anyone who's interested- and apologies to ElyDave as this won't work on a 'bent so is of no use to you.

You can see the angle between the rack and the legs is fixed. So the angle of the rack is determined by where the attachment fits on your saddle.

I realised afterwards that actually, hands are not a standard size and therefore this demonstration of clearance is singularly unhelpful. . Call it 10cm.

Rock Solid. Time stamp between the first and second pictures: less than 4 minutes.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Which reminds me of the existence of this abomination / work of genius which I'd be reasonably happy using on a carbon frame.

That's the luggage equivalent of butterfly bars; as ugly as a wet Monday morning in November, but potentially quite useful to some people.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Following on from that:

To be honest I think the biggest win for the Tailfin is how ugly the alternatives all are.

Even if you've got the mounting points for a standard rack there aren't many (high end Tubus is all I can think of) that are actually not-ugly.

You're getting confused, fboab; you're meant to be an athlete not an aesthete! 

[Frank9755]

To be honest I think the biggest win for the Tailfin is how ugly the alternatives all are.

Even if you've got the mounting points for a standard rack there aren't many (high end Tubus is all I can think of) that are actually not-ugly.

Anyways, I took a bunch of pictures last night for anyone who's interested

Thanks.  This actually might not work for me as I have loads of setback and don't have enough seat post to use the extenders, so not enough room to fit a decent sized bag. 

[grams]

Thanks.  This actually might not work for me as I have loads of setback and don't have enough seat post to use the extenders, so not enough room to fit a decent sized bag.

The lower part is telescopic, so the size of the bag it can accommodate should be independent of set back.

[Frank9755]

Thanks.  This actually might not work for me as I have loads of setback and don't have enough seat post to use the extenders, so not enough room to fit a decent sized bag.

The lower part is telescopic, so the size of the bag it can accommodate should be independent of set back.

Thanks, that would help a lot

[Kim]

You can see the angle between the rack and the legs is fixed. So the angle of the rack is determined by where the attachment fits on your saddle.

Does it not pivot around that upper bolty thing?  In which case:

The lower part is telescopic, so the size of the bag it can accommodate should be independent of set back.

Wouldn't this allow the angle to be adjusted?

[rafletcher]

That’s what I was thinking too.

[pumpkin]

I admire the design but they charge for it and everything is extra. I can see there are 2 sorts of rack,  X and S series with 3 variations in material so 6 choices but one series comes .without pannier  mounts. Why not just one series? Now they have brought the cage out so if you bought a while back I presume you need a new rack. Also the idea of aero on a rack is an oxymoron imo. Would I buy one? Yes but not at those prices and I would require optional mounts. Also the idea of leaving an expensive rack on without a lock is not good for me. Also the light mounts wouldn't work for me.

[quixoticgeek]

I admire the design but they charge for it and everything is extra. I can see there are 2 sorts of rack,  X and S series with 3 variations in material so 6 choices but one series comes .without pannier  mounts. Why not just one series? Now they have brought the cage out so if you bought a while back I presume you need a new rack. Also the idea of aero on a rack is an oxymoron imo. Would I buy one? Yes but not at those prices and I would require optional mounts. Also the idea of leaving an expensive rack on without a lock is not good for me.

The rack comes with a pair of "security" torx screws, so you can fix the rack if you wish, They go into the clip mechanism, and disable the QR removal.

In theory it's all modular, so you could swap things about. I have the S series with the 3 screw mounts on each side. But I could always get myself https://www.tailfin.cc/product/spares/spares-spares/x-rack-alloy/ if I wanted to be able to swap what I have to use panniers along side my bag.

J

[pumpkin]

So another £79. I just think make 1 series with mounts. But not my business model. Just seen.ems like ticking the options boxes for an Audi (other brands available). Do like the design but not the specificity of the seatpack
One on eBay atm for £399

[morbihan]

As Frank and a couple of others have mentioned, the tail fin has quite a following with the ultra racing crowd.
A combination of carbon frames without eyelets and weight considerations are what makes it so popular I would suspect.
Interestingly Chris White of Ride Far who writes excellent detailed reviews (Frank provided a link) is not really a proponent of weight saving on ultras. He does give a good review of the tailfin however so I guess it has other qualities/practicalities beyond slipperiness/weight considerations.

Speaking from a personal angle, I'm a big fan of a good old fashioned well made rear racks if the bike can accommodate it. I use a couple of flavours of tubus. My current touring bike that I intend to use for an ultra race is titanium. Any pretence of weight saving went out of the window with an onyx hub (blissful silence particularly for night riding) and a dynamo set up along with solid high count spokes. The rear light is hooked into the dynamo and mounted on the rear rack.
I'm with Frank too on the whole roll top thing. Although I do have a set of ortlieb roll tops when going full on HGV and expediting stops isn't an issue.
Its great that the tail fin is meeting the demands of what people are after and Im sure its a work in progress that will be improved upon down the road.  I'd wager that there will be an even higher percentage of them fitted onto rigs taking part in next years ultra racing calendar.

[Frank9755]

^ I'd agree with most of that.  Re Chris, I've swapped messages with him about it and essentially he likes the rack - mainly on aero grounds vs standard racks - but not the bag.

The other thing that I would want to know more about before buying a Tailfin is the failure that was reported on GBDuro this summer.  It was a long, off-road event so pretty demanding, but they do market it as being up to off-road use. 

It's the only one I'd heard of.  One failure doesn't make it a bad product, but I would just want to know more about how and why this one failed, and how the rider was able to fix it.  There might be an account up somewhere but I've not seen it.  What I would not want to hear is 'responded straight away, offered me a replacement, great service, etc.'

Edit, just did a quick search and found this:
https://dotwatcher.cc/race/gbduro20?reverse=true
Looks like it was carrying panniers, so more weight than a rack pack, and in a different place.  And the rider, Gail Brown, was able to tape it together and finish in third place.  Reasonably reassuring.

[JonBuoy]

https://images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/3hbaLzBfXJK3Ev9fcAQZRd/3169549459b98770396e24a4c841e9a5/Gail_Snap.jpg?&q=60

Not the clearest of photo's but I would have expected to see a fair bit more jaggy carbon at the break.

[pumpkin]

Carbon has it's limits - prob just a rogue one but your bike falls over (mine does) and that lovely carbon starts looking grim. Alloy racks are cheaper to replace and prob take the knocks better. Meh, you pays your money.....

[ElyDave]

As Frank and a couple of others have mentioned, the tail fin has quite a following with the ultra racing crowd.
A combination of carbon frames without eyelets and weight considerations are what makes it so popular I would suspect.
Interestingly Chris White of Ride Far who writes excellent detailed reviews (Frank provided a link) is not really a proponent of weight saving on ultras. He does give a good review of the tailfin however so I guess it has other qualities/practicalities beyond slipperiness/weight considerations.

Speaking from a personal angle, I'm a big fan of a good old fashioned well made rear racks if the bike can accommodate it. I use a couple of flavours of tubus. My current touring bike that I intend to use for an ultra race is titanium. Any pretence of weight saving went out of the window with an onyx hub (blissful silence particularly for night riding) and a dynamo set up along with solid high count spokes. The rear light is hooked into the dynamo and mounted on the rear rack.
I'm with Frank too on the whole roll top thing. Although I do have a set of ortlieb roll tops when going full on HGV and expediting stops isn't an issue.
Its great that the tail fin is meeting the demands of what people are after and Im sure its a work in progress that will be improved upon down the road.  I'd wager that there will be an even higher percentage of them fitted onto rigs taking part in next years ultra racing calendar.

IF being the biggest question here, particularly when you throw in a non-standard bike, and disc brakes.  I have one rack that "sort of fits" with lots of spacers, some stresses that I don't like and a bit of jiggling around the calipers

[quixoticgeek]

As mentioned previously, I have a tailfin with the 3 bottle cage mount screws on each vertical. A month or two ago tailfin released cargo cages to fit on these mounts. They are a bit like blackburn cages*, but twice the price, lower profile, and with a built in bottle opener

I ordered a pair of large and a pair of small, and after PostNL finally got their arse in gear, they arrived today. I have combined them with a Wolf tooth components BRAD mounting device and one and a half double bottle adaptors. This gives me space for a water bottle, and a dry bag.



The bag is a poorly filled 5l alpkit dry bag. It only arrived today, so I've not had a chance to test ride it, but I'm pleased with how well it's put together, and how well it's gone together.

J






* https://www.blackburndesign.com/p/outpost-cargo-bike-cage/350130000100000010.html

[Jack_P]

Thats some serious tyre clearance, the weight a lot higher than my Mk1 Tailfin rack.
The BRAD mounting device is interesting, I might make one of those

[quixoticgeek]

Thats some serious tyre clearance, the weight a lot higher than my Mk1 Tailfin rack.
The BRAD mounting device is interesting, I might make one of those

The BRAD stuff is great. I've used it in the past to bodge blackburn cages onto the front fork which doesn't have mounts for a cage, but does for a low rider rack.

And yes, it's positively cavernous around the rear wheel, if I wanted to run the 60mm tyres my bike will take max, then it would still work. I'm pondering using the underside as a place to strap my sleep matt, the only thing holding me back is that area is currently covered in mud from being effectively my mudguard, and I don't want to cover my sleep matt in crap.

J

[Cudzoziemiec]

In the photo above, what are the black wedges towards the bottom of each seat stay?

[quixoticgeek]

In the photo above, what are the black wedges towards the bottom of each seat stay?

Drive side: B&M Secular Permanent rear light
NDS: B&M Secular dynamo rear light.

They both have rear reflectors built in. I had them before I had the tailfin. The tailfin partially obscures the light at some angles. Which is why I have a pair of Cat eye Omni 3 lights on the back of the tailfin (and a cat eye reflex light on the seat tube). One of my jobs for this weekend is to add reflecty tape to the tailfin.

J

[Cudzoziemiec]

What a quick reply! I'm familiar with the Secula (have one of the dynamo versions) and can see it know. Looked odd from that angle though.

[quixoticgeek]

What a quick reply! I'm familiar with the Secula (have one of the dynamo versions) and can see it know. Looked odd from that angle though.

Might be marginally clearer in this picture. (taken before adding cages)



J

[salar55]

An alternate would be a Ti Tubus rear rack, quoted weight is 360 grams. That's just 30 grams heavier (are they including the fixings bolts, clamps etc) in overall WEIGHT. Tubus do a QR adapter but most lightweight bikes are bolt thro now.