Mark worked on this for most of a year, working closely with Nitto's Mr. Yoshikawa until all the bugs were gone and there was nothing to add or take away.

It is not a stand-alone rack. It works only for sure with either Mark's Rack or the Nitto Mini-Front. It won't work with the Nitto M-12. The front part of that rack (which on first glance looks nearly identical to our Mini-Front)--the front part is round, with no way to attach this baby.

The idea from the get-go was to use the small Mini-front and Mark's rack as a platform for a broad extension that would triple the surface area, and thus allow you to carry bigger and ganglier loads; and that is does.

It also had to mount and unmount easily, so you could put it on in a couple of easy minutes, and remove it even faster. It does that, too.

And it had to be a backwards-compatible add-on rather than a stand-alone rack, so you don't have to undo your Mark's or Mini to put this one on. We also want it to be forward-compatible with a future Sackville, and that's being worked on right now, with delivery about the same time as the bag.

You lay the load onto it and strap it down. For tours and S24O bike camping trips, it'll fit a tent, sleeping bag, and pad. The rest of your gear can fit in back. Around town, zip-tie a basket onto it, and it's ready for groceries. It's just one more way to carry a commute load, either in a basket or a nifty new Platrack bag made just for it called the SlickerSack.

It weighs 17.5 ounces. So, when you add the weight of the necessary Mark's rack or Nitto Mini front, it's still under 2lb. And it's tubular CrMo.  If you're a rack person, this is a good one.