Bike-Rack (strap-on, for the hatch)

John,
Thanks for the wonderful photos. I'm very interested in this product after seeing yours. My only concern is the metal buckles at the spoiler. I'll be very interested in reading your comments about these buckles and the spoiler after you've put some miles on the rack. BTW, love your site, too and I'm still using your fact sheet as my "de-fact-o" standard.

 

John, thanks for this post. i have the 2 bike version of this and was wondering if i should keep it or get a hitch setup. i was worried about such physical contact w/ my soon to be new car. i think it may not be as bad as i was thinking.

thanks again,
drew

 

I had the Saris Bones for my 2001. It's an excellent rack, and a much better design than most other strap-on racks out there from any company. It's very sturdy and very adjustable.

However, there were a few issues:

1) The metal buckles would sometimes rub on the spoiler. The solution was to wrap them with a towel.

2) It's a pain-in-the-@ss to put on and off. This was especially problematic on the 2001 since there is no access to the trunk except from the outside. If the rack is on then you're SOL.

3) The rack feet and the bumper had to be cleaned whenever you installed the rack if you didn't want micro scratches on the rear bumper. I suppose you could put a plastic sticky there to protect it though.

So, for my 2004 I went with Coastal Dave's hitch instead. It took me about an hour to install. I got the Yakima KingPin 4 to mate with it. Once the rack is assembled and the hitch is installed on the car, it's only a few minutes to install the rack on the hitch.

[Broken External Image]:http://rackattack.com/cart/product-images/202401.jpg

With the Yakima's arms extended for holding bikes, there are several centimetres of clearance between the rack and the trunk when the door is opening. ie. I can open the hatch with the rack installed.

With the arms folded down (when no bikes are attached), there is still enough room to open the hatch, but I have to be more careful since the clearance is less than 5 mm. However, even if there were no clearance, a pin can be removed to allow the whole rack to bend down, opening up space to open the hatch. (I haven't tried the Thule racks, but the guy at the store said there may be a bit more clearance with those, but YMMV. I chose the Yakima, because I preferred the design of the bindings and because it was cheaper.)

So the big advantages of a hitch + hitch-mounted bike rack combo:

1) I can open the hatch/trunk with the rack installed, regardless if bikes are on the rack or not.
2) It takes only 2 minutes to install/remove the rack.

Because it's so easy to remove the rack, it's easily stolen as is, but I just got a locking bolt for it. I also got a rack arm lock that will lock the outside-most bike to the rack. And to be doubly safe, I'll use cable locks to attach the bikes to the hitch. (I did this too with the Saris Bones. I ran a cable thru the middle tube, and then locked it to the ring on the bottom of the car frame.)

BTW, even though I got a 4-bike rack, I don't think it's appropriate to put 4 bikes on it, with Coastal Dave's Class I hitch. 3 bikes should be fine though. I just removed a set of attachments so I can only put 3 bikes on it anyway now. And if you want to save room, you can get a 2-bike version of this rack.

BTW, anyone in Toronto wanna buy a Saris Bones 3-bike rack?

 

wow 124.99 for a bike rack? man i got mine at a garage
sale for $10. i also had the metal clips too but i just put
two layers of heat shrink tubing on em. besides if placed
on there correctly, the clips dont slide around or
nothing. I used the same rack on my corolla for 3 years
and never got a scratch on it that i noticed. the shrink
tubing has only been on there since I got my Prius...

 

Well, $10 at a garage sale can get you a great rack, or utter garbage, depending on how lucky you are.

As for the $125 price for a new Saris Bones rack, I think it's justified. It is simply the best strap-on rack in existence IMO.

Also, while there are many good strap-on racks out there, there are some bad ones out there too. Some of the lower end racks do really suffer from shoddy build quality, and I wouldn't want to trust several thousand dollars worth of bikes to them, nor would I want to trust the safety of cars behind me to them either.

 

i really had no idea how expensive they were when i got
mine. it was in good shape. i have replaced the buckles
on it (they had little metal ones and i went with bigger
plastic ones that had better locks) but it works for me
and my bike weighs 40 lbs.