Bike Rack

[OregonLC]

I've had SwingDaddy and it's way to heavy to put on/off frequently. Plus, I don't like hanging the bikes. Then I tried HighRoller on my Pathfinder, but as you noted a LC is too high.

So... when I get a rack for next season it will be one of these:

Kuat Racks

 

[Tahomatom]

Kuat price I could find was $495.00.

Guess I will be searching CL for a while

 

[1loudLX]

I call bs on that. Unless you're one of those "hard-Parkers" that ride 20 ft to the local coffee shop and head back 2 hours later.

Even in the dry desert here, I have dirt/dust galore after a ride (mostly mtn bike). Not as bad as muddin in some of the North Carolina trails, though.

EDIT: Read your post wrong. Please ignore.

One of the mountains I ride, in NH, has a high clay content in the soil....that stuff just glues to the bikes. Doesnt help that I have a custom wrinkle coat textured finish on the bike.

So If it's raining ... automatic wash with zero effort!

 

[OregonLC]

Kuat price I could find was $495.00.

Guess I will be searching CL for a while

Ya, but a SwingDaddy is around $400 on sale so it's not that much more and it looks like a very nice product with the added benefit of converting into a repair stand.

 

[uzj100]

Getting the swing daddy off of craigs. I will leave it on most of the time and it has in a built in bottle opener. ;<)

 

[hoch]

One of the mountains I ride, in NH, has a high clay content in the soil....that stuff just glues to the bikes. Doesnt help that I have a custom wrinkle coat textured finish on the bike.

So If it's raining ... automatic wash with zero effort!

I thought the Piedmont clay was bad. Leave it in the middle of your lawn with the sprinklers on full blast. ;p

 

[1loudLX]

I thought the Piedmont clay was bad. Leave it in the middle of your lawn with the sprinklers on full blast. ;p

That's not even NH clay! That's just New Jersey, yechh

 

[SmoothLC]

I've had SwingDaddy and it's way to heavy to put on/off frequently.

I agree. If I were in the market for a replacement that Kuat looks nice! Or a hitch mount with trays for the wheels.

When taking the road bike and driving offroad that red dirt sticks to the precision lube and carbon fiber frame. OTOH, don't mind so much when the hard-tail is on the back.

The one nice thing about the SwingDaddy is the high departure angle though... haha

 

[mtnracer]

I have several bike carry options I use depending on need:

1. Fold and tumble right 2nd row seat (3rd row removed). Remove front bike wheel and slide bike in backwards. You can easily fit two bikes that way and still have room for some gear on the left side.

2. Yakima Hook-Up 2 for the hitch. Easy to load but there is no lock and you cannot open the rear hatch or the tailgate with bikes loaded.

3. Yakima Mega Warrior with Boa fork mounts. I love this rack for camping / bike trips as I can carry three bikes on the roof and still have full access to the cargo area for camp setup, etc. Also, the bikes are secure on the roof at night.

4. Mega Warrior plus Hook-Up 2 for group trips. That way I can carry 5 bikes, 5 people and all the gear.

Opinion: Yakima makes all their stuff in China while Thule manufactures in the USA. If I didn't have about $1000 invested I would use Thule just for that.

 

[beantown]

That sound like you have all the options covered. I really would love to support Thule too, but my brother has had lots of problems with them, including a 5000 dollar carbon road bike just falling out of the fork mounts at 65 mph.... I have had good luck with Yakima, even though they are made in China.

 

[1loudLX]

That sound like you have all the options covered. I really would love to support Thule too, but my brother has had lots of problems with them, including a 5000 dollar carbon road bike just falling out of the fork mounts at 65 mph.... I have had good luck with Yakima, even though they are made in China.

my 5500$ DH bike hasnt fallen off my Thule T2, and if it did I doubt it'd get hurt.

 

[beantown]

True, i doubt it would get hurt. That thing looks like it should have a motor in there somewhere... How much travel do those DH bikes have?

 

[uzj100]

Just installed the craigs swingdaddy. Very nice rack. This is exactly what we needed for a bike rack.

 

[2000UZJ]

That's not even NH clay! That's just New Jersey, yechh

You guys ain't got sh^t on us. Quit your complaining. Unless you have been in GA Clay... You have no right!


That junk sucks!

 

[mcewan13]

+1 on using a hitch rack. I did a ton of research on the options a couple of years back and ended up going with the Kuat NV. It's similar to the T2 except all the extras are included at their higher base price. If you do get a T2, periodically tighten the cross-bar trays. There have been documented cases where they have rattled loose and dropped bikes on the highways.

My wife's UZJ100 was rear ended last week w/ the NV on the back, so I'm now in the market for another rack. Rather than buy another Kuat, I'm planning on either buying a North Shore or conning LT at Metal Tech into fabbing up my own version of the North Shore.

 

[4Peanut]

It's a bit of a pain for goofy kid bike frames but there's always a way to lash the bike on somehow.

I have two of these for our kids' bikes: Yakima › Shop › Bike › Bike Accessories › TubeTop

They make loading the kids' bikes super easy, and the bikes hang level which makes nesting four bikes on the back of the Softride that much easier.