Nice Rack!!!

[Tharg2007]

Anyone recommend one?

What should I be looking for? could do with getting a used one from ebay to keep costs down. I know nothing about racks so some tips would be most welcome.
It will be used for some winter commuting and carrying of stuff to and from work. I have 2 delta waterproof panniers to go on it. I may also use it to rest a child seat on to take my son to nursery school.

Should I be looking for steel tubing or alloy?

 

[Crankarm]

Don't buy a Blackburn rack as they are CRAP. The welds break. Tubes are not welded all the way around. I have had two Blackburn EX racks where the welds have broken. AVOID.

Madison Summit racks are ok. I have one of these on my MTB. The best are Tubus but they are ££££.

 

[Browser]

I've just fitted a Topeak Super Tourist DX to my old boneshaker, as my last ali one broke three times due to being (a) cheap and ( crap, with the aforementioned not-fully-welded-tubes being a contributor to this. The old steel one I had weighed a ton by the time I'd added the bars I needed to carry my Altera panniers, so I got the Topeak. It looks very well engineered, is relatively lightweight and has attachment points for lights on it.

 

[John the Monkey]

I went for a Tor-Tec Expedition rack on my tourer - good so far, with a good quality fitting kit. Also has a rear light plate, which is handy (can stack stuff on the rack and not worry about obscuring seatpost mounted lights etc).

£30 at Ribble, currently. http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/productdetail.asp?productcatalogue=TORTRACK250

 

[Piemaster]

Topeak super tourist DX for me as well. The bars a couple of inches down on each side give me a useful wide level platform across the full width of the bike when the bikebins are on them.
Incidentally I found the normal rack was wide enough for my disc-braked Giant Escape with very little 'adjustment' in a vice. Didn't fancy the disc-specific one as the lower mounts seemed very long to have much weight on - just a 5mm bolt screwed into an ally frame. Shorter bolt puts it more in shear then a bending moment on it.