OMM Elkhorn Rack: Checkpoint

OMM Elkhorn Rack: Checkpoint – by Guitar Ted

The Old Man Mountain Elkhorn Rack has been put through some paces, but not quite in the way that I was expecting. (More on that in a bit) First though, if you missed the intro to the OMM Elkhorn Rack, you can see that here.

My initial plan was to take the OMM Elkhorn Rack on a bit of an overnighter. That’s still the plan. Life has gotten in the way of the execution of that plan so far. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t have anything to share about the OMM Elkhorn rack. I’ve made a few test runs with a full load just to see what I should expect out on the gravel. This is what I will be sharing now. The trip report, hopefully, will come with the final update to this review later.

Ride Performance: The Elkhorn was easy to load up. In my case, I used a couple of different dry bags. One was a Outdoor Research bag and the other was a Salsa Cycles dry bag. My tent was attached to the Elkhorn on the deck. I used toe straps to lash everything on to the Elkhorn/Anything Cages which worked wonders. Toe straps. I know…… Old school. But those seemingly archaic, useless straps are really handy and cheap. Try some out sometime if you happen to come across them.

Soo…. Moving on! The load was secure and now the only thing I had to do was to see how this would travel. my first several rides were in town and I used a combination of dirt path, decomposed gravel, broken up pavement, and streets to see how things might go out on the crushed rock roads in the country.

That initial set of test runs emboldened me to hit the gravel, and it was pretty rough going from the standpoint of the state of gravel I had to deal with. Fresh, deep gravel isn’t easy on the rider, or the bike. Anything that can shake loose will shake loose. So, I was happy to see that the OMM Elkhorn Rack just took it all in stride. No worries about the fasteners or in how the rack held up. My load was really secure, and the weight of the stuff I had there did not affect the Elkhorn whatsoever. Stiff as could be. Not much, if any, “tail wagging” from weight, and what there was I can attribute to the frame of the bike and the wheels.

So Far… I’ve been really pleased with the way the Elkhorn Rack has performed so far under loaded conditions. I was able to relax and not be concerned about the load once I was accustomed to the extra weight my cargo had placed on my bike. The Elkhorn is stiff, and that’s important for load security, but also from a bike handling perspective as well.

I hope to get this trip in soon which should provide me, and you the readers, with more insights on the OMM Elkhorn Rack. I may also be swapping it to the front of a bike as I have gotten an opportunity to test something else for rear loads. Stay tuned for that coming soon.

For more details on the Elkhorn Rack by Old Man Mountain see their webpage here: https://oldmanmountain.com/product/elkhorn-bike-rack/

Note: Old Man Mountain sent over the Elkhorn Rack for test and review to Riding Gravel for test and review at no charge. We were not paid, nor bribed, for this review and we always strive to give our honest thoughts and views throughout.