Racks that actually fit eMTBs!

[Good Times]

Just bought a Yakima Holdup 2 described as fitting bikes up to 29ers, tires 3” wide. My Trek Rail (29/2.6”) has no chance of fitting the wheel clamp over the wheel. It’s also very long, barely touching the rear wheel holder. It was one of the few rated for a good weight (27kg per bike).

And lastly the tilt doesn’t tilt enough to clear the boot.

In short it’s absolute garbage. Any recommendations for racks available in Oz? I only want to hold one bike!

 

[Swan]

1upUSA.. Here's my wife and My Levos on my Outback XT.. I have bounced down miles of trails with this rack on my lifted offroad car and had this Outback at 120+mph with bikes on it. Quick to load and unload, folds up nicely, and aluminum.

They are $$$ though.

EDIT- Saw you said OZ. Sorry..

 

[Good Times]

Man that looks perfect though, holding the wheels both ends. I should ask about exporting!

 

[Stan]

I have the saris super clamp ex. Holds my giant perfectly. Simple and quick to load / unload. Two wheel ratchet straps and ratcheted arms gripping both tires. Its a two bike carrier rated at 27kg per bike. However i removed one unit to make it a single. Available from pushys. Would have loved to get the 1up usa but way too expensive and no one sells it in Australia.

 

[Good Times]

Looks perfect, thanks for that. Great price too!

 

[gtaadicto]

I have a 2013 Rapidbike 3P+ bike rack i purchased from Norauto, and it is simply perfect. Have been using it several times a week for 6+ years and it has been rock solid.
Sadly it has been discontinued, but the Spanish manufacturer Towcar sells other racks with a fairly similar design, like this one: portabicicletas TowCar TR3

It fits my vitus E-Sommet perfectly, but it could have issues with bikes that have a wide top tube.

 

[ggx]

I´m using Thule EASYFOLD XT for S and M frame size. Wondering if with larger/longer bikes could be any issues.

 

[Softsand]

Just bought a Yakima Holdup 2 described as fitting bikes up to 29ers, tires 3” wide. My Trek Rail (29/2.6”) has no chance of fitting the wheel clamp over the wheel. It’s also very long, barely touching the rear wheel holder. It was one of the few rated for a good weight (27kg per bike).

And lastly the tilt doesn’t tilt enough to clear the boot.

In short it’s absolute garbage. Any recommendations for racks available in Oz? I only want to hold one bike!

View attachment 23586

View attachment 23587

I thought this was what I was going to have to get so I’m happy to read the feedback. I’m in AU too and soon will need to carry 2 emtbs. Following with interest.

 

[lumpy]

I have a Kuat Sherpa and it works great for my Levo. Not sure about availability on OZ however

 

[Softsand]

I have a Kuat Sherpa and it works great for my Levo. Not sure about availability on OZ however

Bit pricey but you can get them here. The Sherpa looks cool but is rated only for 40lbs. Looks like a NV would be suggested ?

 

[DrStupid]

Kuat nv2.0. I've got the add on, but without the add on, it's good for 2 60 lbs bikes.

 

[Good Times]

Another fail I might add for Yakima. It has a lock for the hitch pin, two locks for the bikes themselves, but they forgot to put a lock on the pivot pin. And so a single 19mm spanner and both bikes with platforms are off. The locks are redundant because of this!

 

[StevenM]

Mate,

the carrier will tilt more. It’s just tight when new.

i run a xl 29er on mine. Bike is long but it does work.

based in Brissy.

 

[hexagon]

Any roof mounted options?

 

[Farmernz]

I use a Thule easyfold with large and medium giant trances, it is a little tricky to load both bikes until you get used to it but I like it a lot, especially as you can put it in the boot when not in use and built in lights is good.

 

[Mcharza]

I have Thule EasyFold 3 XT and easy loading 3 emtb's

 

[Farmernz]

Easyfold works well , no rubbing but only way I’ve found to load it is by threading the arm through the bottle cage .

 

[Good Times]

Quick update as I've persevered with the rack.

So I managed to wrangle the wheel clamp on by inserting the bike from in front of the rack itself (not easy with 25kg!) then mashing it in. After a short drive to my destination, the clamp could be removed without doing this in reverse, ie in the way it's supposed to work. That was a small win. So in short, I've discovered I can get the clamp to fit by bringing it to the position shown in the pic, then just lifting the front wheel slightly and 'walking' the clamp (ie spinning the wheel backwards slowly. This is annoying, but it's a work around that is better than my first work around!

With the tilt, I found that the resting tongue was catching. Can't have been designed too well, but with some downwards pressure, I managed to get it to shift past this notch to another point. It's twice as far down now, but the door still overlaps by maybe 10cm.

One more gripe, if you do want to tilt it, you have to hold the back of the rack, but also reach to the front to pull the pin. It's a contortionistic position I'd prefer not to have to get into! I've seen some have the latch at the back. I think the Yakima Holdup 2 Evo now has it at the back, but insanely they also lowered the weight rating so it wouldn't work for my bike

Anyway, going to the store tomorrow, if we can get it to tilt enough to clear the hatch then I'll stick with it. To be fair, other than the points mentioned, it's well finished, folds up nicely, and is absolutely rock solid with the bikes once loaded.

 

[Farmernz]

Good you got it working. Have you seen the adding part yakama have , I think it’s called a backswing?

 

[Good Times]

Yeah I saw that. I’m going to try pushing a little harder, see if it’s still sticking or not (hard to see inside) and then go from there.

 

[Farmernz]

BackSwing | Yakima
Pricey though!

 

[ryturn]

iSi Advanced 4x4 Bicycle Carriers | Extreme Duty | Offroad | Cars | 4x4 | Caravans and Camper Trailers love this rack but there is some nice North Shore racks about.Lot of racks aren't up to eees
Got to load this one tomorrow usually means a roadtrip ,not this time

Aussie summer such fun this year , have to evacuate home in the morning

 

[Good Times]

I hear you, I’m in Sydney (north) and the Three Mile monster blaze is about 35km from home. I hope you have a safe trip and that your home is spared .

 

[Philpug]

I have a Holdup (1) and I did a hack in that I turned the trays around which puts the arms on the inside. This makes it much easier to get them on my 29x2.6 tires. I put the arm up first they put the bike in the trays verses trying to get the arm over the wheel.

I then took off the rear tire holders and swapped them so they clasp from the front.