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| My first car rack. A Thule T2. Circa 2007 |
It was immediately apparent in those comments that you all had very passionate feelings about your car racks. There was some advice, but mainly a sharing of those feelings and experiences. I learned a lot and went back and looked at a few things after reading some of your feedback.
Let me also say that I don't think there would have been any "wrong" decision to be made between the One Up, Saris, or the Kuat racks. It seemed apparent that there were enough positive experiences to recommend any of those brands. However; it did come down to a few important details, to me at any rate, and I made a decision.
I decided on a Kuat Piston Pro.
Now, based upon a few comments, and on some outside research, here is what made me go in this direction, just for the record:
- There were some customer service concerns from some of you regarding One Up.
- There were some wear related concerns with One Up racks, which wouldn't have been too big a deal, except none of the other choices did not seem to bring up any wear related concerns at all.
- Saris isn't well represented here in my area, and their design (of the rack I was most interested in) lacked ground clearance when going up driveway inclines, and the like. It was mostly the ground clearance issue which finally made me look at Kuat instead.
- Kuat seemed to get high recommendations in terms of customer service.
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| Kuat Piston Pro |
While the Piston Pro model was a bit more than I was wanting to spend, it has features which I found to be attractive, and its ease of use seems to be at least on par with One Up and maybe even better.
And let's be honest, while one Up did their design which caught on and was/is successful, now every rack manufacturer has a version of this design out. Some have improved on this design, and I think Kuat has made some advancements which make using their version of this design a little more user friendly.
Plus, the shopping experience online was much easier and more pleasant in the case of Kuat, which helped me navigate my options. One Up's site - at least for me - was not fun to get through to a point where I understood what I needed with regard to options to satisfy me. That and the price was no better, apples to apples, with Kuat.
One more thing: I don't have any chance to see a One Up rack locally, but my friend N.Y. Roll has a Kuat rack, so this was influential, I will admit.
Okay, that's it, really. Now for the actual rack to appear and then I'll get into my thoughts and impressions of it. Again - thank you all that commented in the previous "Rack Me" posts. You did make a difference.
8 comments:
Any decision you made is fine. I have had good luck with the Kuat racks i have owned. 1UP is not a bad brand, if Yakima was in scope, I would have disowned you if you had gone that way. I had their Big daddy Swing rack or something like that back in 2009 time. It had a tilt swing mechanism in it. It dumped the bikes due to the bevel/chamfer on the locking pin. Yakima told me it was my fault. They did not have a secondary locking mechanism on their pin.
Piston Pro, nice rick, liked it when i first saw it in 2020 at BT Epic.
I hope it works out well! Please report back after some time of use. I also liked that 1UP design, but their website was as easy to navigate as a corn maze on a backwards bike.
Good choice. I was leaning towards the Saris version until I realized that a 2-bike rack would weigh over 100 pounds. The Kuat is all metal and weighs considerably less. I've never weighed my Thule, but I am able to lift it above my head and hang it on the wall of my garage.
That looks like a great choice. I was considering it when I bought my Kuat Transfer v2 but I passed on it because of the price difference and the Transfer for my needs and was on sale. I forgot how expensive the Piston Pro is! No wonder you kept mentioning the cost. Though everything has gotten more expensive. It’s a good reminder to really maintain my current stuff so it lasts as long as possible.
Wow, good choice. Just two weeks ago a local here, whom I think works at our LBS part time, had one on the back of his truck. So having never seen anything like that before I asked him about it and he was jazzed to show it off and how it worked. It was top line Kuit Piston Pro X complete with the down low LED tail lights, brake lights, turn signals. Fantastic, amazing outfit especially the light thing. I say this because I have noticed some times bike racks somewhat obscure the rear lighting of the vehicle. A couple of years ago I met a guy coming back from snow birding in Arizona with two bikes on a rack with a heavy duty BBQ grill cover protecting them. I thought what a great hack for long distance travel, but you could not see the rear lights of his vehicle. Thought you maybe might interested a little extra wiring job on that new rack. Anyway I think you made a great choice....
@Tyler Loewens - LOL! That's an apt description of the experience!
Look for a full review to come.
@baric - The light thing is cool, and makes a ton of sense. I just won't be doing a ton of travel and this is really more for me to get my bike to starting points of rides semi-local to me that are just a bit too far to ride to. Also for times when I am pressed for time and want to dispatch the distance to get out of town and save that time for a 100% gravel ride
But will it fit a 32er?
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