+1 on the 1upusa. From tri, to 29er’s this thing is the bomb. Expensive but worth it!
great report and great car, just bought a 14’ mazda3s touring hatchback. same white color too.
Thanks
My wife has an 07 mazda3 and I would like to talk her into the 14 3.
Kuat all day long! I use my Kuat to haul everything from roadbikes, to full suspension 29’er, long travel 27.5" and Trek Speed Concepts without any worries!
Another vote for Kuat NV.
1up racks is awesome. Just read up recently on a thread like this and it came highly recommended. Purchased recently, although it is a bit pricier and heavy it is well built and solid. And takes like 5 seconds to put the bike on and off. The most important part to me was, the rack does not touch your frame ever or your wheels. It literally just touches tires only. So you can have your race wheels attached and not worry about Velcro and all the straps and other crap
- whatever to 1up. They’re awesome and worth the money
- a gazillion on the 1up USA. They are also modular, so I use the single rack often, but when I need a two bike holder I just add on another attachment. They are solid, well built and fold down quite small when not in use to store in my small garage. It is an expensive rack but worth the money.
Here is what I have: http://www.amazon.com/Hollywood-Racks-HR1400-Platform-Receiver/dp/B000QJC4AY/ref=sr_1_4?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1396477413&sr=1-4
It is the least expensive 4 bike rack I found, comes with a lock for the hitch mount and a cable lock. You can easily take off the 2nd set of racks and it is a 2 bike rack most of the time, but if you ever need/want to transport friend’s or family’s bikes you have that option easily. It is “industrial” looking, but it is also very, very stable and secure as long as you remember to tighten it down and have the wheel holders adjusted to the bike.
- a gazillion on the 1up USA. They are also modular, so I use the single rack often, but when I need a two bike holder I just add on another attachment. They are solid, well built and fold down quite small when not in use to store in my small garage. It is an expensive rack but worth the money.
1 more 1-Up ho here… been very happy w/ mine. Only ding I can come up with is it doesn’t work well w/ fenders if you try and use it for a touring bike or commuter also, but that situation hasn’t come up for me. Very easy to work with, super solid & secure, fits a wide range of bikes/wheel sizes, and folds/stores nicely in the shipping boxes.
1upusa. end of story.
I’ve owned 3 of the above, sold two, of them and will never sell the model I currently have on BOTH of our cars. The grades are given comparing them only to each other- not other racks. Also, mtbr.com, the most popular mt biking forum has an extensive forum and user reviews that score products. 1up USA wins the “best hitch” on their website hands down from users. There is even an 85 page forum posting with over 2100 replies discussing the merits of the 1up product and people showing off their purchase attached to their vehicle. If that isn’t fanatical love, I don’t know what is…
http://forums.mtbr.com/car-biker/1up-quick-rack-quick-review-602461.html
Saris Thelma- C minus
I give it a C minus, if it holds your bikes, if not- it’s an F. It seems a little flimsy- lots of plastic, not that easy to take pin out (necessary to move it from stored position to lowered position), and if you have many of the newer aero bikes or any bike with tight clearance behind front wheel, it won’t work at all! Works fine on a P3, does not work on a S3, super tight on a S1, and I would imagine it would NOT work on most (all) sizes of P5, P4, S5, etc. Harder to lock down super deep dish wheels with rear wheel system- you might need to jerry rig something (like velcro fasteners, etc.) Once my wife and I bought our S3s- we ditched the thelma.
Thule T2. - B minus
When we moved to this- we spent a bit of coin- hoping for the holy grail bike rack. Well- it’s good initially… and has a nice handle that does a quick release to raise and lower the rack- much nicer than the Saris Thelma. But it is HEAVY… and then if you need to carry more than 2 bikes, it is so heavy that often you need two people two raise it up into the upright stored position- 1 person pulls the release lever, the other person picks up the probably 70 pound empty rack. My wife of 105 pounds was never able to lift the rack up- she was okay when just two bike kit was installed. It started to rust in areas- even though we always store the cars and Thule in the garage, never in the elements. I give this beast of a rack a B minus. Harder to lock down super deep dish wheels with Thule rear wheel system- you might need to jerry rig something (like velcro fasteners, etc.) Supposedly there’s a youtube vide of the trays falling off a guys car. The rear wheel holder was broken when we received the rack in the mail. Thule’s customer service was very easy to deal with and the sent out the free replacement parts promptly, without me providing any proof of anything. We never felt uneasy with the bikes on the rack- it held them solid.
1 Up USA Quick Rack- Solid A
It’s not cheap if your hauling a lot of bikes, but dang it- it is worth every penny. It’s actually comparable in price as the above Thule model. We now have these installed on both of cars- we always keep at least the single tray on each, so at a moments notice we can go somewhere carrying our bike or pick someone up that has a bike. It is very light weight- about 17 pounds for the main unit and then about 15 pounds for each add on. If you need to add an additional bike or two, it literally takes 20 seconds to add another tray. If you are slow- maybe it will take you 25 seconds. No exaggeration here, with lots of youtube videos showing the ease. With the single unit in the fully stored upright position- it does not go above our bumper- which means the rear tailgate can always be accessed- great for families with strollers/kids/junk that has to come from the trunk/grocery shopping etc. The other racks above, all make you tilt them down, access the trunk, and then tilt them back up- a royal pain. If you have more than one tray- there is a 45 degree option or so- that is not fully upright, but allows you to drive with the rack nearly upright, yet still access the trunk lift. It only holds the bikes by the wheels- so if you have 808s, 1080s, Jet 9s, whatever- this racks works. If you have expensive carbon frames or wheels that should not be clamped on- this is for you. You have mt bikes, kids bikes, etc, this is for you. Aluminum- won’t rust, very nice engineering (patented), tilt down option- allows you to access trunk with 4 bikes installed, etc. My wife loves it, and so do I. Plus, I think it looks sporty and sharp for a rack. It takes, literally, 10 seconds (if you are slow) to load or unload your bike. I give it a solid A… Check out ebay and completed listings, there’s a reason you never see this rack for sale used (only sold by 1upUSA on ebay)… people don’t sell these used- because they are that good! Knowing how good they are today- I would have gladly paid more if I didn’t have to go through the other two racks above to figure out the best.
I’m in need of a hitch mount too. My problem is I have a Jeep with a wide spare tire on the back. Do any of these have an extension to get past the big tire? Anyone else have this problem or have a solution?
You can buy hitch extensions. Check out a online hitch store or amazon for ideas.
I use the 1up and love it. As others have said, it’s expensive. If you’re looking for something cheaper, Inno offers one that racks bikes similarly to 1up. I’ve seen it used by the Jelly Belly Pro Cycling Team.
Yup, + one more for 1UP!!
Shouldn’t be a problem for the 1up rack
.
I’m in need of a hitch mount too. My problem is I have a Jeep with a wide spare tire on the back. Do any of these have an extension to get past the big tire? Anyone else have this problem or have a solution?
1up has a bunch of hitch extension options on their website. Not sure if pricing is good on these, but a good place to get ideas.
I’m in need of a hitch mount too. My problem is I have a Jeep with a wide spare tire on the back. Do any of these have an extension to get past the big tire? Anyone else have this problem or have a solution?
1up has a bunch of hitch extension options on their website. Not sure if pricing is good on these, but a good place to get ideas.
http://www.1upusa.com/accessories.html
Hitch extenders at places like Northern Tool or Harbor Freight are much cheaper and typically are rated for towing (Class II/III etc).
I am now tempted to sell my T2 and pay the extra coin for the 1UP as I didn’t realize it was expandable (when I first saw it).
Going from a T2 to a 1up is like going from a tricycle to a P5. No comparison. There is a decent T2 resale market, at least we were able to sell our old T2 easily when we upgraded.
I’m a big fan of the Kuat NV I have, it’s worked out quite well. I don’t use the work stand a whole lot, but it’s come in handy a few times. I also like the built-in lock to keep the bikes “safe”.
As for the 1Up, without having used one, it seems to be a great alternative. All else aside, the one reason I’d say it’s worth it, and wouldn’t consider anything else, is for carrying a bike with a disc/disc cover on the back. While I can put my bike with a disc on the back of the NV, I have to carefully run the strap through the disc valve hole. When I had a disc cover, this wasn’t possible. This alone may be worth picking the 1Up depending on intended use.
Finally, I know a lot of these are expensive, but a lot of us are carrying bikes that are $3.5-$12K. It’s money well spent.
I use the Kuat NV2 on the back of my Wrangler with spare tire mounted, no problems.