Here's a rundown of my experience, which I hope is singular.
First, the box arrived and the rack had punctured through the side of the box scratching some of the powder coat off of it. There was also no mounting hardware.
I am lucky that I ordered through AF1. They gave me a $50 refund to get a small can of enamel paint and hardware after I told them I wanted to keep the rack. I thought that was fair ... it was a 20% discount for my hassel. Picked up the hardware and paint and will address that issue shortly.
The rack itself is well made (the fabrication and material was good enough, maybe not $300 good but certainly I am happy and confident in its construction), but QC could use some help. One of the mounts was not welded perfectly perpendicular and the angle of attack for one of the forward mounting bolts was off by a few degrees. Some careful washer/spacer work fixed that (as the rack is capable of flexing a bit).
The rack has a bit of welding slag rattling around in it ... good thing the red goose is noisy or I'd have more to complain about
Overall a net positive addition to the bike. It's only 7 hours old and already been on two grocery runs. Really nice to get the backpack off my back. Now for a National Deflector when riding season starts back up next year.
