License2Ill

Thule wheel loader. If the top tube isn't flat, makes it much easier to deal with.

jkuper

I don't see how that's possible. I have had mine for three years and I got it used, outside all the time, no rust on it. And I think we get more snow and salt than NC?

uncrx2003

Sorry, I should've clarified. It's a different rack (the instagater). But the customer service part is 100% true. After owning the Kuat NV and now the 1up, there is no way I'd ever go back to Thule.

FLvector

Thanks all. I'm leaning toward the Kuat for now, but not in a big hurry to decide.

KantoBoy

Nice point, but in my opinion the fork would take a lot of beating instead of your tires/wheels.

I'm also in the market for a 2 bike hitch.

JohnJ80

Amen.

Using one of these style racks WILL cause damage to the paint on your bike. Any grit or will cause scratching. If you have any decals, and it is wet enough, they will destroy the decals. Been there, done that and have the top end Thule like this sitting in my garage as a boat anchor unused. That reminds me of the other problem - these are a bear to store.

The other problem with these is that they were designed for the days of old when ALL bikes had a flat top tube. Now, there are so many bikes that don't have a flat/level top tube, these racks have them hanging at all sorts of odd angles. Your bikes wind up in a daisy wheel of bikes on the back.

Back when we got this when there were few other alternatives, we put our custom Klein MTBs in there and it damaged the paint on two bikes. That was it. This thing was history. It did more damage to the bikes than the cost of the rack. The best racks, hold the bike by the wheels (1UpUSA and others). Second to that is roof fork mount racks of which the Thule Echelon is probably the best.


J.

Campag4life

A fork mount is the way to go...for me, the only way. I used a fork mount on a top tray for years. The fork takes very little abuse. The DraftMaster appears to be a 'master piece' in IMO...but it is $600 bucks. But if you are are bent or tandem rider, likely the best rack out there. Merlin is a very knowledgable guy and endorses that rack and looking at the design I agree. For my purposes, a transverse fork mount...two trays front and back of one another mounted to a hitch rack is the way to go. Hollywood has a good following for hitch mounts and I went to their site. They are working on a receiver hitch fork mount rack per their site pictures. They used to sell one called the Sport Rider. Most again conflate easy of on and off the rack with the best rack. Not me...I care about the bike and its movement on the car/truck when in transit.

Campag4life

You forgot perhaps the best rack which attached to a hitch behind the car aka the DraftMaster that Merlin showed. Heads up, I would take one over a wheel mounted 1UpUSA rack which has a loyal following here and elsewhere...nicely designed 'for a wheel rack'. But like you, I would never mount my bike on any rack that touches the top tube and btw as you likely know, these are the most prevalent hitch racks you see crashing and banging down the highway as you watch the bike paint fall off.

Greatestalltime

I have the one from nashbar that fits four. It is excellent. They have one that fits only 2. It's teh type that the bike stands up with the wheels fitting in slots.

rumrunn6

my 2 cents, I've seen so many hitch style racks and the distance between the back of the car and the rack itself varies so much. I would suggest the rack that doesn't stick out the most, but rather tucks in a close as possible to the back of the car. I don't recommend a Swagman Titan for a Subaru Forester. going to a "rack shop" might be helpful so that you can mount a few demo models to see what works best. buying online, as I did, may not be the best course.

matthewk459

You will never, never-ever, find someone who went from a Kuat to a 1up that would go back.

achance

My bf has a Kuat on his SUV and it's fantastic. Very stable and I love the extension so that we can mount the bikes on the rack to clean them/work on them.

oespinoza83

Yakima HoldUp

MattG42C

Very happy with the Thule Helium I purchased a year ago. Amazon Link

I think it was cheaper when I bought it, but in any case I think it is a good value due to the built-in locking mechanisms and the light weight. In the negative column, when putting two road bikes in place, it takes a bit of finagling to make them fit suitably to lock them down with the straps. The three bike version might have been worth the extra bucks to save this hassle.

JohnJ80

Boy, I'm not sure I see what's so great about this. I do agree that it's better than the heavy steel fixed bike versions with wide pitch that are out there and far better than the top tube holder bike destroyers but my concerns would be that it's a lot more fooling around with the bike, you have to have a place to put the wheels and I'd like to hear about how it breaks down for storage. I can see how this is better for trikes or for tandems but that is a pretty small market (unless you have one).

The big constant in bikes are the wheels - pretty much every bike has two wheels and the sizes are pretty much industry standard. The 1UpUSA has a pretty tight pitch on the bikes.

As for "swing down" bike racks - sounds great in the literature until you actually have to do it. Swinging down a rack with 4 bikes on it is something that means you have the weight of 4 bikes plus the rack - call it 100-150+ lbs to pick up and latch. In practice, it's just easier to take a bike or two off. So this feature from any supplier is one that doesn't do it for me. If the draftmaster does it differently, I'd be all ears on that one.

What I want (and have) in a rack are the following:

1. Modularity - only as much rack on the car as I need for the bike I'm intending to carry that day.

2. Easy of mounting on the car - it needs to be simple enough that my wife or daughter can do it - no heavy lifting.

3. Bikes need to go on fast, be secure and have no contact with the frame.

4. Nice if it's behind the vehicle - less windage and damage to the bikes. I'm not too worried about gas mileage, a trip over 2500 miles with 4 bikes on top was a 1-3mpg hit depending on elevation.

5. Easy to store. It has to be something that can be easily and compactly stored.

Other than that, I leave either 1-2 fork mounts or my 1UpUSA trays on my rack on one car all summer. The other car has the hitch and is not amenable to a roof rack because it's an SUV and just too high.

I'm curious about Draftmaster (website not all that helpful to figure it out) to hear how Draftmaster addresses this - those are the pieces that most racks miss.

J.

Campag4life

Good discussion and I understand your perspective. Like bikes and other things, it largely comes down to personal preference. I just prefer a fork mount all said. No doubt the 1upUSA rack is excellent. I believe Hollywood will have a fork mount hitch rack for 2 bikes available for about 300 buxs available shortly. I like the idea of two simple trays behind the SUV which I also drive. I in fact prefer to keep front wheels inside the car to further reduce rear bias weight on the hitch...but that is a small point.

JohnJ80

Agree - a good discussion, thanks. I like it better than fork mounts on the roof because its less likely to have a "garage incident. " and its certainly better than a rooftop mount on an SUV.

Tell me how you store this and about putting it on the car. Weight? My wife would see to be able to do it.

J.

MUZE

What don't you like about this rack?

Campag4life

Basically all a fork mount hitch rack is...a dual tire platform hitch mount only with one wheel converted to a fork mount. Pretty sure you could retrofit just about any dual tire platform hitch rack...say like the 1upUSA and Thule T2 platform racks and have one wheel be bound with a clamp conventionally and converting the other side of the rack to a fork mount where the wheel is removed...fork mounts alone are available for example for mounting a bike into a truck bed or tall SUV inside etc. In fact, it wouldn't take much to build your own fork mount receiver hitch bike rack. Basically all you would need is two fork/rear wheel mount roof rack trays and mount them transversely to a box section transverse platform like the Thule 2. This would be easy to build from pieces available off the shelf...with simply a platform receiver hitch rack. I am waiting for the Hollywood fork mount hitch rack which they will be releasing shortly per their website. They wouldn't be working on it if there weren't demand so there are others like me out there that prefer this rack system. The DraftMaster is fantastic for its versatility of mounting many different bikes and a lot of them to the back of a truck or SUV...but I don't need this elaborate a rack...but I wouldn't rule it out either because the design is so good.

I will share my opinion of why wheel mounts are so popular like the 1upUSA rack. Because they are so easy to mount the bike to the rack and take it off. This is how most people think. But this isn't necessarily what is best for the bike during transit. I know it isn't easy to prove what is best for the bike and no doubt many will ride thousands of miles with their 1upUSA rack with a couple of bikes without issue. For me, I like mounting the bike to a fork mount for the reasons mentioned previously. In particular it makes the most sense on top of the car to lower the center of gravity of the bike...wind resistance...but also side loading due to lateral acceleration around corners. Similarly, even drafting behind the car, I prefer the lower footprint of a fork mount. Again, this is simply personal preference. Again, most choose a dual wheel mount like the 1upUSA rack for convenience and why this is what most bike rack mfr's offer. They offer a rack based upon demand of convenience. When I travel with my bike inside my car on occasion, I take the front wheel off because the bike won't fit without that. Takes 10 seconds to put the front wheel on. A fork mount is more secure and reduces mass of the bike being restrained.

gsa103

You're grossly overstating the importance of weight reduction by removing the front wheel. The front wheel of a typical road bike is ~800g, which is less than a 1L water bottle. I'm assuming you also remove saddle bag before putting the bike on the rack.

These racks are designed for 40 lbs mtb bikes. Unless your road bike is a an old steel boat anchor the only thing removing the wheel does is make you feel better.

Flying Foot Doc

+1 a couple of times for the Kuat Sherpa, Light, solid, 1 1/2 years so far with no problems and lots of highway miles. Andy

PaulRivers

Ok, I **so** tried to avoid jumping into this, but I read the stuff on page 2 and couldn't resist...

In addition to what others have said about wheel weight being trivial, the thing is that the tire itself **is** a suspension system. An inflated rubber tire is designed specifically to absorb or reduce a certain amount of shakes, bumps, rattles, etc. That's it's function on the road, when being used for exactly what it's designed for.

If anything, mounting the fork directly to the car removes one layer of suspension and vibration reduction that the tire would otherwise provide. Providing a more direct mount, if anything, puts the frame under more stress than it would be otherwise with a tire providing some cushioning.

Now...this probably doesn't matter, as your car also has rubber tires. I see the direct mount as more of a possible-disadvantage than as and advantage.

To play a little devil's advocate, if I really want to jump into "what's best for the bike", I would take the view that you need to mount the bike on the car facing forward. The bike withstanding sidewinds for hours at a time isn't exactly how the bike (and wheels) are designed - they're designed to face into the wind, so it would make the most sense to always have the bike facing in the direction that the car is travelling which puts it into the wind. A fork mount sideways to the wind is especially weird, as you're putting stress directly on the fork in a way that the bike is not designed to handle for long periods of time (though it probably doesn't matter).

Grambo

+1 on the Kuat Sherpa. Holds two bikes securely with no need to remove the front wheel. I've had mine for ~ 1.5 yrs and love it.

FLvector

Thanks for all the great input and advice. I've researched each online and it came down to the 1upusa quik rack and Kuat Sherpa. I didn't want a rack that contacted the frame or one that attached at the fork. I pulled the trigger last night on the Kuat Sherpa, since it was about $100 cheaper, sufficiently met the needs, and was much lighter since I plan to frequently take it on and off. Both got equally great reviews so I don't think you could go wrong with either. I saw the Sherpa a few days ago and was impressed by the build quality, but didn't have a chance to talk to the owner. Again, thanks for the help.

consultauto

Thule t2