Hillborne X Tubus Tara

[Jeffrey Zelevansky]

I am zeroing in on how I want to set things up for the maiden (multi-day) voyage on my 60cm Sam Hillborne. I ordered a Tubus Tara rack that arrived today. I was wondering if any others had experience with this rack and if it looks like it's installed correctly. The horizontal struts are very close to level. I used spacers between the rack and the frame and it seemed to be a bit of tight squeeze, though nothing crazy.

It feels very sturdy, but I don't yet have my panniers to try it out. I'd appreciate any input on this combo.

[Will Boericke]

I've been using mine near daily for 4ish years - works great.  Yours looks like it's installed correctly - the top bars look good.  It's a very secure setup; I was advised by the framebuilder who added mounting barrels on my fork to loctite the bolts if there's a lot of spacer needed (which there is in my case).

Will

[Nick Payne]

I've had the same Tara rack on my touring bike for more than 20 years. I have mine mounted to the rear/lower dropout eyelet, so that the bottom section of the rack is more horizontal and more towards the centre of the bottom of the pannier when it's mounted on the rack. With the way yours is mounted to the upper/front dropout eyelet, only the front part of the pannier will be supported at the bottom.

As for how the rack performs, extremely well. I use Ortlieb panniers with it. This is the only photo I could find of the rack without panniers attached.

Nick Payne

[John Bokman]

I have had a set of Taras for years. They are great on Sam! Unfortunately I can't upload my pictures (message too big). They are great load carriers. Light, super stiff, strong, no problems with mounting. You can pay more for fancy carriers like Nitto, but you certainly don't have to if functionality is your priority.

@ Nick: Do your panniers jump on the rails at all? If so, do you shim them? I have only used hook and bungee style front bags on my Taras but need to make a switch to different bags now, so considering options.

What brakes are on your Lightspeed, BTW? Nice looking setup.

John

[Will Boericke]

Ortliebs on the Tara are rock solid.    They do not bounce off.

Will

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/TVFLI8sB8ME/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/4f5a8a14-9609-484b-b899-3e95874e165an%40googlegroups.com.

[Jeffrey Zelevansky]

There was only one mounting position I could use that would keep the rails level. Hopefully this will be ok.

[Will Boericke]

I can't honestly imagine you'd notice the difference, handling-wise, among those three mounting points.  I definitely would not

On Thu, May 8, 2025, 8:01 PM Jeffrey Zelevansky <jeff.ze...@gmail.com> wrote:

There was only one mounting position I could use that would keep the rails level. Hopefully this will be ok.

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/TVFLI8sB8ME/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/4dc078e4-3290-4394-b950-372e4f04dca1n%40googlegroups.com.

[Tim Wood]

I‘ve run a Tara on a few loaded tours and they are a great rack for front loading. I guess technically the sam fork isn’t equipped with low rider mounts commonly used for the Tara. Rather, it has rando/mini rack mounts which are higher up on the fork.  Your bags will sit a bit higher with this setup but it looks like you achieved a level perch and the bags shouldn’t slide forward so in theory it should work! Unless I’m missing something. Tubus does sell mounts for eyeless forks but I’m not sure if that would be a more secure option or improvement things.  

[Nick Payne]

On Friday, 9 May 2025 at 9:16:12 am UTC+10 John Bokman wrote:

@ Nick: Do your panniers jump on the rails at all? If so, do you shim them? I have only used hook and bungee style front bags on my Taras but need to make a switch to different bags now, so considering options.

What brakes are on your Lightspeed, BTW? Nice looking setup.

Ortlieb mounting hooks actually lock to the rail, so the pannier can't jump off. And the bottom of the pannier has an adjustable hook that fits on the inside of the bottom of the rack, so the panniers can't flap outwards at the bottom if going over rough terrain.

The front brake on the bike is a Shimano V-brake and the rear an Avid with the parallelogram setup intended to stop the pads trying to dive under the rim wall. Levers are the Tektro drop bar levers for V-brakes. Both brakes squeal a bit, which I've never been able to cure.

Nick Payne

[John Bokman]

Tubus makes accessory clamps for just this purpose. (I use them for the Tara, because the braze ons are higher up the fork blade than optimal for the Taras rack, and because I use those eyelets for my Nitto mini front rack.) They are excellent, like everything Tubus:

[John Bokman]

Accessory clamps in action:

[John Bokman]

Maybe this is a better photo?

[Franco Rinaldi]

Jeff - or anyone - are special parts needed to fit the Tara to the same assuming you were using the kid fork eyelets?

Franco Rinaldi 

c:  646.403.0661 

-Pardon any typos, Siri typed this message-

On May 7, 2025, at 8:32 PM, Jeffrey Zelevansky <jeff.ze...@gmail.com> wrote:

I am zeroing in on how I want to set things up for the maiden (multi-day) voyage on my 60cm Sam Hillborne. I ordered a Tubus Tara rack that arrived today. I was wondering if any others had experience with this rack and if it looks like it's installed correctly. The horizontal struts are very close to level. I used spacers between the rack and the frame and it seemed to be a bit of tight squeeze, though nothing crazy.

It feels very sturdy, but I don't yet have my panniers to try it out. I'd appreciate any input on this combo.

<IMG_3755.JPG>

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/7c4ac230-9c40-4ca3-ac75-2bd7d0580609n%40googlegroups.com.

<IMG_3755.JPG>

[John Bokman]

Concerning the Ortliebs with the Tara: I understand that they don't jump off due to their locking mechanism. However, I have heard through the grapevine (not from actual use as I have never used them) that they are prone to rattle while on rough roads. Can Will or anyone comment on this? I assume one can shim them to mitigate this potential issue?

Thanks,

John

[Jeffrey Zelevansky]

I didn't need any hardware that wasn't included in the Tubus Tara packaging. There was only one way I could fit the rack to my fork with the rails level so I assumed that was the way to do it. I purchased a used set of Back Rollers (the 20L version) that I am planning to use on the front but still await delivery of those. Will update when they arrive!

[Kainalu V. -Brooklyn NY]

Hi Jeff and friends,

I emailed this awhile back, might’ve gotten lost, or maybe I’m just mistaken in my Tubus use. Anyhows, I am curious how my thoughts fit in on this topic. 

When I used a Tara, I liked its load zone a little behind the axle, as you have it. And, out of concern for the possible  hooking on random growths, I had the hooks at the bottom turn to the rear instead of forward. It looks to me like you could rotate the vertical (hooked) support 180 degrees and get better centering on your pannier rail, and not have the hookiness I so feared. 

However, the top rail might end up slightly off level, which is mainly an aesthetic concern, but style counts 🙂. 

Off plumb

-Kai

On Wednesday, May 7, 2025 at 8:32:34 PM UTC-4 jeff.ze...@gmail.com wrote:

[Eric Douglas]

To my eyes the Tara looks fine, especially if you use Ortlieb bags.

I've used the Taras on a couple of month long tours with pretty heavy weight up front.  They're great.

Eric Douglas