- News
- Reviews
- Travel & Adventure
- Interviews
- Inside Industry Players
- Community
Bikes
Reviews
Components
Reviews
Cycling
Apparel
Next-level traveling with Tailfin racks
In the last years, and related to the appearance of the gravel, there has been a trend from bike touring to bikepacking and ultracycling racing. The way cyclists envision these adventures has led to the optimization of all aspects related to traveling. This is how the bikepacking bags that you can easily attach to any bike appeared, like handlebar, frame, or saddlebags. These allowed to get rid of the heavy old racks and provided enough space, more versatility, and better aerodynamics. However, not everything was perfect like the balancing of the oversized saddlebag. In Tailfin, they saw the opportunity to create solid rear racks with the benefits of both rigid racks and lightweight bikepacking bags, creating high-performance equipment for the most demanding cyclists of the world.
About Tailfin Cycling
From the first moment, Tailfin wanted to provide a design for all that allowed cyclists to create their own adventures with no limitations on the kinds of terrains and traveled distance. As cyclists, they understood the demands and challenges of cycling, from the daily commuter to the ultracycling racer. They had the engineering and design team with the right skills and knowledge to create solutions to those challenges.
Their main product is the rear rack, which comes in different models and materials. Though different, the basic principle is the same, a minimalist and functional component that you can easily attach to any bike (on the seat post and wheel axle or frame eyelets). This makes it especially versatile for a wide variety of practices, such as racing, bikepacking, or commuting.
The simplest rack is the S-Series rack, which has mounting options only on top. However, if your idea is to have more space, the X-Series rack provides lateral hooks for attaching side pannier bags (SL22 or UD22). For optimized lightweight, the AeroPack, a bag that is already integrated into the rack, will be the most efficient option for ultradistance racing. On the other side, the AP20 trunk adds extra weight but more capacity and can be easily removed.
All racks can be either alloy or carbon, adapting to everyone’s needs in terms of price, robustness, and weight. But in all cases, they are rigid and aerodynamic, so that their impact on your riding is minimal. The solid structure ensures a completely secure connection between bike and luggage, eliminates sideways movement, and imparts enhanced riding quality. The basic color of the racks and bags is black, with some reflective elements for the luggage, which is 100% waterproof.
New products
Alloy Arch update
Observing the increasing availability of accessories that utilize double or triple bosses, it was obvious that extra functionality could be added to the Alloy Arches of the rack. Therefore, now all Alloy Arches are fitted with triple bosses as standard.
The durable 6061 aluminum Alloy Arch was designed to be tough for all-terrain adventures, and the updated features as well. The added inserts are stainless steel, making them harder to damage and less likely to fail. Also, they have an electrophoretic deposition black coating, which inhibits galvanic corrosion, reduces seizing the bolt, and matches the rack color.
The triple bosses are separated by 64 mm, so that you can attach standard bottle or cargo cages (like the Tailfin Cargo Cages). These allow you to take a further 3 kg of load whilst off-road or 5 kg of load whilst on-road, per leg. This is available now for both X and S-Series rack systems as well as the AeroPack Alloy. For owners of existing Tailfin rack systems, the new Alloy Arch can be purchased separately.
AP Mount
The new AP Mount is an elegant solution to increase luggage holding capacity on all current AeroPacks and AP20 Trunk bags by simply bolting to the underside of the bag. The mount allows you to carry a water bottle thanks to its concave shape and guides for Voilé straps. Integrated triple bosses further increase carrying capacity and enable all standard bottle cages and cargo cages to be fitted. Its reduced size, black color, and low weight (34 g) make it an imperceptible fit for your setup adding extra space.
Tailfin Universal Thru Axle
The biggest problem when attaching a rear rack to your bike was to find a compatible system if your frame did not have mount eyelets. The new Universal Thru-Axle takes the guesswork out of choosing your axle and also future proofs you in case you swap bikes or indeed have different bikes with differing axles. The whole product can be easily installed with a couple of 5 mm hex keys. One neat feature is the ability to extend the width to accommodate the wider 148 mm rear wheel BOOST spacing found on most modern mountain bikes.
Tailfin x Voilé straps
There is nothing better than the traditional Voilé strap for attaching additional kits to your bike. In fact, the Tailfin Cargo Cages are designed to work perfectly with Voilé strap dimensions. For this collaboration Tailfin opted for the reliability of the heat-treated aluminum buckle in black and two lengths (15″ and 20″). Now you can match your straps to their Cargo Cages thanks to the custom genuine Voilé straps.
