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So! updates on this thread - I ended up going old man mountain for the back of my bike and keeping the thule for the front. The thule rack was primarily holding a one person northface tent, thin foam mat and little compression sack with some day layers. I have to say that it did a great job. The side racks improve load capacity as well as rigidity significantly. After a few days I ended up ditching the rack and strapping the tent to my top tube. I did this only to redistribute and drop weight, not because the rack was causing me any trouble. So big take aways - For the price, these are little beasts which can carry some shit down some chunky stuff without too much hassle. I did a fair amount of loaded riding with them before my trip so I had a sense of how they would perform. If I had a steel bike and wasn't overly committed to spending lots of racks, I'd probably have used this on the rear if I thought the load weight was reasonable and didn't want to stick too big of a tire in there. Old man mountain racks with the thru axle are far superior, but it also really matters how committed you are to the sport. Thanks everyone!

I've been using the Ortlieb Quick Rack for 2.5 years now, and am thrilled with it. Cheap, super fast and easy to attach/detach without tools, and rock solid at carrying (far too heavy) of loads. I'm anxiously awaiting the imminent U.S. release of the Quick Rack XL, that uses a thru-axle, for my full suspension bike. It's already released in the EU and should be in the U.S. any moment now.

Hey Jason, The Thule Tour rack accommodates up to 25lbs, or up to 55lbs if you add the side attachments (Pack N Pedal). While definitely not a light-weight option, it's best feature is how many bikes it can fit. I used one for a while on a hardtail for commuting and it was solid.

Thanks guys - Matt - I've installed the thule racks and doing quite a bit of loaded riding over the past two weeks. I have to say that they are pretty solid. I'm pretty impressed with them. I wouldn't do a single track / trail heavy trip with them, but for gravely, washboard, with some chunky bits, they have stayed very comfortably in place. However, I still don't get total peace of mind with them. I'm going to keep the thule on the front and install the divide on the rear so I can put a bit more junk in that trunk and drop some weight from the front a bit. My revel is such an efficient peddler, it just doesn't have the frame space to pack much in there.

I've used the Thule rack before on my full suspension giant anthem and it didn't hold properly. I think it's meant for touring, not mtb trails. I switched over to the Aeroe Spider rear rack which was great. Very adjustable to different angles of rear triangles. Only thing I caution for the spider rack is that the straps it comes with to hold a bag on the top do not hold and always loosen. I swapped those out with voile straps. I also bought two sets of king cage universal water cage bolts to attach to the metal side bars. This allowed me to mount an oversized bottle cage to each side and strap another two dry bags to the rack. Hope this helps.

Do you know how much weight you will be putting on your racks? Seems like a red flag that Thule doesn't give a weight rating for this rack. I would be prepared to walk your full sus bike some of the rough sections.