Topeak TetraRack R2

The Topeak Tetrarack R2 is a solid way to carry up to 9kg on the rear of your touring/gravel/road bike without needing rack mounts. There are a few caveats, but overall it's a class bit of kit.

Topeak has a well-earned reputation for solid racks – if you've done any cycle touring or commuting, chances are you've used a Topeak rack or bag at some stage. With the evolution of frame designs and changing use cases for commuting, touring and bikepacking, the company has developed the Tetrarack series to allow the quick fitting and removal of a rack capable of a fairly hefty load.

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The R2 road version reviewed here is for seatstays steeper than 40 degrees. The M2 mountain bike version takes an extra 3kg and fits flatter stays above 30 degrees. There are versions for road and mountain bike forks too.

The differences in angle come about because the Tetraracks' load-bearing surface is adjustable – it slides back and forth on the curved rails, allowing it to be adjusted horizontally. The flatter the chainstay, the longer the curved rails have to be to allow a horizontal load – hence having two models for different angled rear stays. The difference between the road and mountain bike fork models is for the width of the fork itself.

Topeak advises the rack is good for stays spread between 75 and 105mm apart, and of at least 15mm diameter. They don't have to be parallel either, as the rack body itself is adjustable. You do need 200mm of clear seatstay, so check there aren't any cable bosses in the way. It's easy enough to pass the straps under any brake or shift cable occupying the stay.

Topeak says the rack is for tyre sizes up to 1.5in/38mm – but I ran it over 47mm tyres no worries, and there's 3in/76mm between the sides of the rack.

Topeak cautions that the Tetrarack is not recommended for carbon stays or forks – due to their often being very thin, and not great at handling compressive forces or anything out of the specific plane they were designed to flex or be rigid within.

Fitting

After loosening off all 10 adjustment bolts, you attach the Tetrarack to your bike's seatstays using four thick, non-slip Velcro straps. Six of the 10 bolts allow you to splay the rack out to perfectly match the width and angle of your stays. Once the dimensions are correct, wrap the straps around the stay, using the chunky slotted metal loop at the end. This loop secures over a hook, then the Velcro is pulled tight and loops back on itself through the other side.

The party trick of the Tetrarack fastener is that the whole assembly – the hook, and the other side that the strap loops back through – is then pulled upwards, away from the frame, thus tightening the now-fixed Velcro strap further.

This tightening is achieved by a bolt that passes through the sliding metal assembly. The bolt stays still as it rotates, winding the assembly away from the stay. It's a clever system, and gives about 5mm of tensioning. The bolt is treated with a Loctite-looking substance, and never shifted during the review period.

The instructions call for a 3mm Allen key, but the actual bolts are all 2.5mm – and there's a 2.5mm L-shaped Allen key with a ball head included in the box. I'd highly recommend using a ratcheting driver for this, as doing the tightening by hand with the provided key gets tedious real fast as there's no room to freely spin it.

I found you really want to be pushing down on the rack as hard as you can when doing the Velcro strap pulling-tight phase of installation, or you can too-easily max out the subsequent tightening with the bolt. Again, the application of force in a small space makes using a ratcheting tool almost essential. An important point is the recommended torque – 1.5Nm is 'not very much at all'. A 2.5mm bolt is very easy to strip if you get excitable with the welly.

> Beginner’s guide to carrying stuff on your bike

Once the straps are tight, you can tighten the six rack-dimension bolts, and then finally loosen the two bolts holding the load plate, slide the plate to horizontal and secure, again with a 2.5mm hex. Like the others, these bolts are treated with Loctite, so only minimal force is needed – 2.5Nm max.

Topeak doesn't mention this, but I seriously recommend using helitape or electrical tape on the stays before installation – it is inevitable that grit will get in between the rubber mounts and the stays, and over time, even with imperceptible movement, this grinding paste will eat your paintwork and, if left long enough, the stays themselves.

Also in the box is a small plastic bracket that fixes to the rear of the rack, to accommodate the optional Topeak Redlight Aura rear light.

Load up...

Once everything's installed properly, the Tetrarack is solid. I maxed out the 9kg load capacity by strapping a kettlebell to the rack and then seeking out the very worst farm and estate tracks plus some riverbed for a few hours of really unpleasant 'riding'. Didn't budge a millimetre.

The load plate is designed to accept Topeak's widely established QuickTrack bag system (full review of the new MTX Trunk Bag DX coming up). The Tetrarack has two adjustable sliding hooks on the lower legs, which can be used to secure panniers. The QuickTrack system is good, but for off-road use you may want to duct-tape a short strip of inner tube down in the centre of the load plate, to prevent any rattling of the plastic bag base against the alloy load plate.

Over two months of riding, battering about rocky estate tracks, singletrack and gravel roads, the Tetrarack was a solid performer. I only struck one issue, where one of the Velcro straps came loose after snagging on something and needed retightening mid-ride.

Opting for Velcro gives pretty much infinite adjustability and allows for a fast removal – or a fast install if you are doing a quick run to the shops and don't need to cinch things down super-tight. But it does then mean that if the Velcro strap end gets snagged on something, it can pull loose. For long, adventurous rides or where you want a semi-permanent installation, I'd recommend using some electrical tape or even a zip-tie to hold the end of the Velcro down against itself.

Once you're happy with your install you can also trim the Velcro straps short – there's a pretty generous amount spare when new.

> Buyer’s Guide: 17 of the best racks and panniers

The R2 rack adds 880g to your bike, but then can hold ten times its weight without swaying at all. Topeak is known for its 'beam racks', which clamp around the seatpost, weigh about the same and can hold similar weights. Being quick release they are easier to fit and remove – but then also easier to nick if you're parked outside a cafe or in a bikeshed at work. If you're on a full-suspension bike a beam rack adds the weight to the suspended part of the bike (which is good if you're riding really rough stuff as it is sprung weight vs. unsprung weight) but also means it's a lot higher up all the time to afford tyre clearance under full suspension compression as opposed to a seatstay rack which isn't suspended. If you're riding a smooth-ish trail or road, particularly with fat tyres, having the weight lower down is likely of more benefit than having it suspended.

The Tetrarack also gets the mass lower on the bike, which aids performance by reducing the pendulum effect of having mass secured higher up. And if you run a carbon seatpost, clamping a rack is out anyway.

Yes, the standard Topeak racks are only one third the price of the Tetrarack – but they are reliant on your frame having decent rack mounts that may well be missing from your bike. And if your bike has suspension, a traditional rack is ruled out by the need to accommodate rear wheel travel.

> Buyer’s Guide: 17 of the best bikepacking bags

An alternative to the Tetrarack is the Thule Pack'n'Pedal Tour Rack – it's heavier, doesn't have the QuickTrack mount, and needs additional side frames to support panniers.

Conclusion

The Topeak Tetrarack is a great bit of kit that can fit to pretty much any metal bike and will hold a hefty 9kg load without moving. There are some caveats to be aware of when installing, but overall it's a great option if you need to swap regularly between bikes, with or without rack mounts, or to a suspension frame.

Verdict

Excellent way to carry luggage on pretty much any metal bike – stable, removable and adjustable