Review: Old Man Mountain Axle Pack: The Riding

 NOTE: Old Man Mountain sent over the Axle Pack kit, a fit kit, and through axle from the Robert Axle Project to Guitar Ted Productions for test and review. I am not being bribed, nor paid for this review and I always strive to give my honest thoughts and opinions throughout.

The Old Man Mountain Axle Pack was mounted a while back and with this wild and weird Winter I was off the bike it was installed on until recently. Hit this LINK for a look at the install, or read on further for my take on how the Axle Pack works with my riding and how I carry stuff. 

I chose the Noble Bikes GX5 carbon gravel racer as my test bike because it has no provisions for cargo or bottle cages on the fork. The Axle Pack allows me to carry a water bottle or a cargo cage on the fork now. I chose one of each. Why not?! 

For the riding test, I was curious as to whether or not the weight on the fork would adversely affect the handling of this light carbon gravel bike. I also purposefully used the different loads to see how an imbalance there might affect the handling. Finally, the question abut the front wheel removal with this rack on there needed to be answered, and I'll get to that in this review as well.

Rides were completed on various surfaces and terrain. I almost always kept a full load in both racks but I did also leave the cargo cage empty and used a full water bottle on one side as well. This will be a mid-term look at the Axle Pack and a final review will appear later this Spring. With that, let's get to the good stuff.

The Axle Pack is, first and foremost, essentially like having a fork built with Three-Pack bosses. At least functionally as you ride, it feels that way. You'd never know without looking that you have an add-on accessory rack. Bottle cages and cargo racks attach seamlessly, and even loaded the Axle Pack is rock-solid and steady on the bike. 

In terms of handling uneven loads and the effect of loads on the bike's handling, I saw no real issues there either. Yes, you will notice a little more inertia to steering inputs, but you most likely will adapt to this easily, as I did. After a few miles, it seems all normal. 

I did a steep descent with a need for very precise, controlled braking and also did not notice any detrimental effects to handling. Overall, this cargo carrier caused me no grief at all. Obviously, if you put a heavy enough load on the Axle Pack, it would begin to degrade handling, but most folks, hopefully, will have better sense than to put very heavy things on a fork that most likely was not rated to carry such a load. 

And furthermore; most racing gravel bikes don't make for great bikepacking bikes, but with Old Man Mountain's products, I suppose you could turn your race-rocket into an adventure bike of sorts if the need arose. 

The Axle Pack can be installed on many different bikes, obviously, but from a gravel riding standpoint, if we are limiting this to gravel bikes, the Axle Pack does come in handy for those events with long enough distances that you might require more water than your bike would normally carry, or gear that would make an over-night stay easier. 

There is one thing that is a bit of an annoyance with the Axle Pack and that is if you want to, or when you need to, remove the front wheel. Since the Axle Pack relies on the through axle, in this case, to attach the rails, you have to go through a couple more steps to get the wheel out. 

Remove three bolts to get a wheel out vs one.

There are the two attaching bolts that require a 4mm hex wrench and then you can get at the 6mm through axle bolt's hex pocket to remove the through axle and then the wheel comes out. You have to push aside the rails of the Axle Pack while doing this, and this also is another good reason not to put heavy cargo on the Axle Pack, unless you are okay with removing that cargo first. 

But besides this, there are no real negatives to using the Axle Pack that I have experienced. The wheel removal thing is a compromise for making your bike more versatile. I think it is worth the trade-off. 

Now as for temporary use of the Axle Pack, it may become a bit of a hassle if you go through a lot of those special Panduit cable ties because they are not cheap. Old Man Mountain does sell spares, so you always have those available, but this may be a hindrance to using the Axle Pack on and off for special occasions. My tendency would be to just leave it on there for extended periods of time, but not everyone will think like I do about this.

So Far... I think the Axle Pack is a well thought-out design that can make a bike without fork mounts a more versatile machine. Handling seems to be minimally affected in my case with the Axle Pack attached and with loads on it the stability of my bike was not adversely affected. 

There are a couple of compromises to the Axle Pack. Wheel removal being one. The special cable ties that are a bit hard to go through due to their expense, hindering, perhaps, off-and-on usage of the Axle Pack being the other. However; these are minor compromises in light of how effective the Axle Pack is and looking at how versatile this can make a bike. 

See the webpage for the Axle Pack HERE

Next up: A Long-Term Review.

Review Updates: OMM, Tumbleweed, WTB

The OMM Axle Pack

 I have a few review projects in the works here at Guitar Ted Productions. Two were put on hold by the weather and one just arrived Tuesday afternoon. This post will serve as an update on the ongoing reviews and a teaser for the new one that is coming up soon. 

Please keep in mind that all these items being mentioned in today;s post were provided to me at no charge for test and review.  I am not being bribed, nor paid for this review and I always strive to give my honest thoughts and opinions throughout.

First we have the Old Man Mountain Axle Pack (last updated HERE) This is a rack strip that you can mount to any fork that does not have bottle bosses or "Three-Pack" mounts and then attach cages or racks to that to carry more stuff. 

I have the one sent to me all ready to go on the Noble Bikes GX5 carbon gravel rig and I should be able to get some country rides in on that set-up soon with these crazy warm temperatures which are forecast. So, hopefully I can get finished up on that one real soon. 

Next up I have that Tumbleweed Big Dipper handlebar that I am reviewing. (Last update HERE) I have a very specific test and route in mind for this review and I need the weather to clear up and warm up before I can get that review put to bed. However; in the meantime I probably will be doing a mid-mid-term update. (Ha!) I have been riding the bike off and on that the handlebar is on. Plus, in light of the aero/narrow drop bar trend, I thought it might be a good idea to compare and contrast what super-narrow bars give you versus the mega-wide drops like the Big Dipper. 

The Big Dipper bars on my Singular Gryphon Mk3.

Finally I have news of a new review that will start on these pages in March. This one I cannot 100% say much about other than the products I received to review are from WTB. 

I will say that one of the products is pretty surprising, but it does make sense in a way. Yeah.....I better stop there. Look for this stuff to be revealed sometime in March when I will have already had several weeks of riding done on the stuff and will give a final review on the products. 

Oh! And the Honeman Flyer single speed should be finished up sometime soon and sent out to me to complete the build on. There's a LOT more to this whole project than just a bike, so stay tuned for more on that as well. 

And as always; Thank you for reading Guitar Ted Productions!

Review: Old Man Mountain Axle Pack: The Installation

The component parts of the OMM Axle Pack and fit kit.

 NOTE: Old Man Mountain sent over the Axle Pack kit, a fit kit, and through axle from the Robert Axle Project to Guitar Ted Productions for test and review. I am not being bribed, nor paid for this review and I always strive to give my honest thoughts and opinions throughout.

If you missed the introduction to the Axle Pack from Old Man Mountain, you can read that HERE. This post will detail the installation process and my first impressions of the Axle Pack.

OMM has an excellent step-by-step instructional for the Axle Pack which was very helpful. I will say that it lacks in imagery though, which may be a detriment to those who are more visual learners. Also, the instructions are found by scanning a QR code. Neat. Great stuff, but having to trigger your phone back on again and again gets annoying. One vote for paper instructions here. But I get it. I'm not against how OMM did this, but everything has its drawbacks and the experience I had was a bit tedious due to the way the instructions were implemented. Paper is wasteful, probably more expensive, etc. Like I said, pros and cons there.....

Now, as far as how things went together, this was seamless. All the parts were well made and I had all the fasteners necessary. There is a bit of a trick that I will share here that I think would make life easier for you if you should decide to get an Axle Pack and want to install it yourself. 

That would be to "mock up" the way it will go on first. You can read through the instructions and then get a feel for how the parts can be arranged, because you have options. Plus, you'll want to ascertain where the Mounting Pucks will go so you can clean up and apply the protective film precisely where it should go. 

The first step is to swap out your through axle for the specified Robert Axle Project axle for your particular bike. Then you can get to mocking up the set up and go forward with installation.

The special Robert Axle Project through-axle will protrude a bit on either side. (Those are Berd spokes, by the way, in case you were wondering.)

By mocking up the set-up I was able to ascertain where I needed to place my protective film on the fork blades.

Once you've gotten the Robert Axle Project through-axle in place, you can then grab the rails of the Axle Pack and see which orientation works best on your fork. The attachment at the wheel is offset so it will better align with your fork in one way than the other. Once you've determined that, you should take the proper bolts and pass them through the hole at the axle end of the rails and carefully screw them into the Robert Axle Project through-axle. The threads are fairly fine and the axle is aluminum, so you definitely want to take care in this step. 

Leaving those bolts loose enough that you can rotate the rails by the axle end, swing up the rail to be in line with the fork, grab a Mounting Puck, (I actually went ahead and attached mine first to the rails), and determine where you want to apply the protective film. Once you've gotten that figured out, everything starts to fall into place. 

Here I have the protective film in place and one of two cable ties started.

A closer look at those special cable ties.

As a bike mechanic with 30 years of experience, I have seen a TON of cable ties and I know the quality of them can vary from absolute garbage, useless ties to really nice and everything in between. However; I had not yet met the Panduit cable ties. Holy smokes! These are - by far and away - the very best cable ties I've ever laid hands on. Kudos to Old Man Mountain for sourcing those for their Axle Pack kits because I have no doubt these will last and I have full confidence in using them. 

Also, you get a few extras, so don't worry if you accidentally cable tie a spoke in with the Mounting Puck. (Be careful of that!) You have a "mulligan" with those ties since you have a couple extras. One other note on those ties. I found that a craft X-acto knife with the angled blade cut through the tie like butter, so you can trim back the extra ends after tightening them down very cleanly. OMM recommends using a fingernail clipper, and that would also work well. 

This is what it all looks like once it is all buttoned up.

All installed and loaded up.

I finished up the installation and loaded the Axle Pack up with a water bottle cage on one side and an Anything Cage HD on the other side with a Salsa Cycles Dry Bag which has a Thermos inside of it. This is going to be my test set up for the Axle Pack for the Winter. 

My thought being that if it is very cold but conditions are okay for a ride that a Thermos will keep a drink from freezing, or could hold a warm drink, like cocoa or coffee. Or I could use that bag to hold dry gloves and head gear, or.... Whatever! It just takes a frame and fork that is minimalist and makes it more versatile. And remember, I can always take the Axle Packs off if I want to go to a race, or use it on another bike. (Gotta get more of those Panduit cable ties from OMM though! See HERE) 

Next: The riding will show how the Axle Packs work out. Stay tuned....

Happy New Year! Now Let's Get Caught Up

Happy New Year! I hope that you all had a great 2023. So, with all that nonsense that I posted last month having to do with the past year, what was I doing in the meantime? This post will get you all caught up here.

There isn't a whole lot to say, because I had two over-arching things pretty much dominate the last half of December here. One was my wife's and my daughter's birthdays, and the other was getting sick. 

Yeah......fun times! 

The whole family got it too. Some kind of cold/flu thing. It was awful. I pretty much stayed in the house over Christmas because of it. So, no bicycle tales to speak of that I can share.

Well.....I did do something with bicycles. I commuted back and forth to work, but I also did install those Axle Packs I got in on the Noble GX5. The Introduction to those Axle Packs from Old Man Mountain was posted here last Wednesday. (See that post HERE)

The Axle Pack went on without too much bother and I have a ride planned once I feel good enough to do that. Maybe pretty soon... Anyway, I am hoping there will be soup involved. You'll see..... 

The Old Man Mountain Axle Packs mounted and loaded up.

So, there was that going on as well. But mostly it was a lot of home cooked chicken soup and water. Rest, and boredom, with a side of NFL football. I really was not surprised that I got sick when we had some of the best riding weather in December, ya know, par for the course and all. But hopefully we can stay out of the really frigid air for a bit so I can get in a few rides soon. 

 

I did get a last ride in for 2023 on New Year's Eve in the Green Belt.

Starting on Christmas Day I began to feel on the upswing. That said, it took a full week to be back to any semblance of myself and I rested a lot all week in between Christmas and New Year's day. I chanced a ride on the 30th at night for about 20 minutes and felt no worse for the wear. This emboldened me to try a longer ride on New Year's Eve, which I did. It was about two hours on the fat bike in the Green Belt. 

That sure felt good to do. Now it is time to start pedaling in 2024.

Review: Old Man Mountain Axle Pack

OMM Axle Pack on a bike. (Image courtesy of OMM)

NOTE: Old Man Mountain sent over the Axle Pack kit, a fit kit, and through axle from the Robert Axle Project to Guitar Ted Productions for test and review. I am not being bribed, nor paid for this review and I always strive to give my honest thoughts and opinions throughout.

The idea of mounting accessories, bags, or water bottles from a fork is not a new one. Touring cyclists have been using brazed-on mounts for racks to hold panniers from forks for years. I first saw water bottles mounted off a fork at the first Trans Iowa gravel race in 2005. A rider had hose-clamped two cages to the fork blades of his Redline Team Conquest cyclo-cross bike. 

Now days any "adventure" or bikepacking bike worth its salt comes with fork braze-ons, those little warts sticking out with bolts that can accept a Three-Pack style rack or water bottle cages. However; many "racing" style gravel bikes and older bikes do not have such accessories. What to do?

That's where Old Man Mountain's recently developed and manufactured "Axle Pack" comes in. It allows any bike to have "three-pack" style attachments on the fork - even suspension forks. What's nice about this is that not only can you add this accessory on your bike, but it is not permanent. So, you can use the Axle Pack for the over-nighter you've got planned and then remove it for the fast-paced gravel group ride the following week. OMM have made the Axle Pack versatile by way of their famous "Fit Kits", Mounting Pucks, and through axles which are available through the Robert Axle Project.

My Noble GX5: Great bike, but no fork mounts!

The Problem: I have a Noble Bikes GX5 which is a great bike for long gravel rides but for one detail. It does not have any way to mount a water bottle to the forks. This, to my way of thinking, is a handicap in that I have to find more creative ways to go long distances on this bike and have the hydration capabilities that my body requires on a hot, Summertime gravel grinder. 

I do have other bikes, and some of those do have the mounts on the forks I desire, but none of those bikes are lightweight carbon fiber machines that have the stiffness under power that the Noble has. What if I could add water bottle cages to this bike? 

Sure, there are other ways to solve this conundrum, but I happen to think that fork mounted bottles are actually easier to access while riding than even a traditional cage placement in the main triangle, not to mention any bottle in a bag, frame bag, or jersey pocket. Hydration bladders are also an option here, but again - I like my fork mounted bottles. Your mileage may vary there.

The Solution: The Axle Pack will easily mount to this Noble GX5 and allow me to use water bottle cages, or even a larger cargo cage that might hold a Nalgene bottle, or gear for a sub-24 trip. The through axle needed to be swapped and the Mounting Pucks ordered along with that to make it all work, but the solution is there. And as I stated earlier, I can easily remove the Axle Pack with no harm done. Suddenly, the GX5 just became a lot more versatile!

The Parts: So, as stated, I received the Axle Pack, which is two long rails with slots and threaded bolt holes in it. On one end is the receiving side that mates with the special Robert Axle Project through axle. The upper portion of the Axle Pack will be cable tied to the Mounting Puck using the heavy-duty cable ties provided in that kit. Those cable ties are a special design which does not "zip", (no teeth), and they are UV resistant. That's a great quality to have for peace of mind hauling. 

The Axle Pack retails for $60.00 USD and most fit kits, which includes the proper 12m through axle and Mounting Pucks, costs $80.00 USD.

Here is what OMM has to say about the Axle Pack:

"Old Man Mountain Axle Pack is unlike any fork mount adapter you’ve seen. Rather than trying to clamp to round or tapered surfaces and just hope it doesn’t slip or spin, Axle Pack is, you guessed it: Thru Axle mounted! Attaching to the axle makes it impossible to slip or spin.

Axle Pack is lightweight, reliable, robust, and rigid. With four mounting point you can also choose to run your gear higher or lower depending on your needs."

 What I Got: Referencing the image above, starting out in the center and then rotating counter-clockwise: We have a Robert Axle Project through axle for the Axle Pack, or any Old Man Mountain Rack as well (#1), then we have the two rails that make up the Axle Pack itself (#2). Following that we have two sheets of protective film to avoid scratching the fork legs (#3). Then in the upper right hand portion of the image you can see the two rectangular shaped objects which are the Mounting Pucks (#4). Then we have a handful of cable ties (#5) followed by the mounting hardware that comes with the through axle (#6) Finally we have the mounting hardware that comes with the Axle Pack (#7)

The OMM site has a nice step-by-step procedure to help you find the Fit Kit and axle for your bike, and they also offer "real people" contact via the phone if you have further questions. 

Next: In my next update I will go over that installation process on my Noble Bikes GX5 and show you how this will all go together to offer me a more versatile bike. I'll then go on several rides and see how the Axle Pack works in practice. Since it is cold I was thinking of strapping on an old Thermos full of chicken soup or tomato soup for a nice lunch stop on a ride. Mmmmm...... Soup! 

Thanks to OMM for the opportunity to review and try out these products. Stay tuned for an update soon.