Nightmarish Multi-Modal Failure of the Kuat Transfer 2 Bike Rack -- R.I.P. Omni

Triathlon Forum
1

Not sure what I did to offend the velo Gods, but I have been cursed recently with bikes, and now this: a series of misfortunes occurred coterminously and the like-new TriRig Omni – which was secured to the back of my car by the Kuat Transfer 2 bike rack – was launched onto the road behind me while I was driving. Naturally the bike landed drive side, taking a solid chunk of carbon off the Alpha X and all but destroying the pedal, extension shifter, brifter, rear derailleur, skewer, and saddle. The frame itself suffered no visible damage, but it’s not something that can be resold after an incident like this. And the bike isn’t even mine.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41Y2mQfUTGL._SX300_.jpg

This post serves three purposes: to warn other consumer/owners of this product or products like it of this potential liability; to discuss failure points of bike racks and which solution best strikes the balance between ease of use, method of attachment, etc. and security; to solicit advice on insurance coverage protection of this and other car/bike related accidents; and most importantly, to blame the manufacturer for the failure and jeer at them. The last one is pink. Sort of.

The articulating arms of this bike rack and of others with similar mechanisms extend over the front wheel and secure the bike by the tire close to the head tube. If you’ve used this type of rack, you know that it can be tough to place this arm in the perfect position such that it doesn’t scrape up or put undue pressure on the front brake, while also placing it aft enough on the tire/wheel to lock it into the ‘base’ of the rack. I usually push this arm down very hard so that the tire actually compresses, for security, and I did that here. The rear wheel is secured by a thick plastic strap that you put around the rim.

The issues were several fold. The first is that I made the inexcusable mistake of using the Vittoria Corsa Speed tire on my 808, and the VCS shitbox tire went flat during the two hour drive. My suspicion is that a small piece of debris was picked up during my ride and a slow leak developed, which was accelerated by the pressure of the articulating arm.

Then, the flat allowed play to develop, and the small rocking to and fro put pressure on the plastic strap that secures the rear rim to its base – the plastic strap eventually gave way and totally snapped. This plastic strap is obviously a piece of crap.

The articulating arm placement exacerbated these risks. Because the Omni has a plastic cover, I placed the arm slightly out from the head tube so as not to dislodge or scratch the cover.

Had this incident occurred during the 95% of my drive that I was on the Turnpike, there would be no Omni to speak of. I was driving 20 mph 2 blocks from my house, and yet despite the speed, the garbage city streets shook the bike loose. I had the windows down, and it sounded like a crane dropping a heap of scrap metal from three stories high. It took me half a block to consider that the sound could be Omni. That feeling when I looked back and saw only one bike…the worst.

Any system has failure points, and any system that involves consumers likely has drastically higher failure risk. But what in the actual fuck? These are $10,000 bikes I’m carrying around through different terrain in all kinds of conditions. This particular system cannot have a failure. It just can’t. So which system has the least potential for failure with external carriage of bikes? Is the solution a 1up-usa rack…or is it a 1up USA rack? Sprinter van?

What about insurance? Sundays insurance and veloinsurance are outrageously expensive, with rates no actuary could justify. My homeowners has a low cap on sports equipment, but that’s one insurer: does anyone know which homeowners policy allows very high caps for sports equipment? Is there some way to get a rider on car insurance that protects against accessory goods? My car insurer is my homeowners insurer, so they kicked me right to the curb.

What about Kuat? Do they deserve any blame here, and if so, should I seek damages in recompense? I honestly don’t think so, but I’m sure not buying one of their racks, or any racks like this, in the future. Right now I’m still using this rack but wrapping a tube around the rear and smashing the front brake/brake cover. Better dinged than lost
https://i.imgur.com/YpmNvTm.jpg

rack strap.jpg

2

Wow that sucks. Part of the reason I never feel comfortable with my bike being strapped to the outside of a car. Always just flip the seat of my Civic down and feel a lot better with my bike on the inside not outside.

3

Wow that sucks. Part of the reason I never feel comfortable with my bike being strapped to the outside of a car. Always just flip the seat of my Civic down and feel a lot better with my bike on the inside not outside.

Totally. And I very often do this if my bike is sufficiently clean (not filthy) and I’m only carrying one bike. But I so seldom carry one bike. When I drive, I’m going away for several days, and I can’t survive several days without at least two or three bikes.

4

I have a Kuat NV, & have driven with a bike attached to it for thousands of miles on interstates in excess of 70 mph. I have never had a problem with it & I would never drive that far & at those speeds without using the cable lock that is integrated into the NV.

5

I believe many insurers will let you put a rider on… I had one for a while for my p3 with Aetna until I got an ia and switched to velosurance… But i was always a little unsure if they would cover something… I felt much more comfortable with velosurance

6

Another possible hypothesis is that Omni just wanted to kill itself because it is so ugly compared to it’s friends…

7

Not helping you but i have a saris superbones and its amazing. Repeated alpine trips involving highway and hundreds of miles on hairpins and no movement carrying road and enduro bikes - so under a serious load.

8

RIP Omni. I nearly lost my Felt IA this summer from a “hanging” type Thule rack. It was on the very last space of the 4 positions and secured with 4 rubber straps. I was going 65mph in early morning darkness heading to a race. I glanced in the rear view mirror and saw the back of my saddle instead of the normal side profile. When I got pulled to the side the bike was dangling by a single strap around the seatstay. Yikes!

I also had a Thule t2 that I passed down to my college kid for his mountain bike. So I wanted a new tray style rack and considered the Kuat nv 2.0. I tested a Rocky Mount splitrail that could expand to a 3rd and 4th tray (with some significant wrenching). but could not get it to stay wobble free no matter how much I cranked on the tightening knob.

Enter 1up-USA and the heavy duty 2 bike with add-ons (2+1+1) for either a 2. 3, or 4 bike configuration with a few turns of security screws. This thing is extremely well built with no plastic parts anywhere. No assembly required. The loading and unloading of bikes is a 10 second process.

My only complaint is the release lever is a PITA without the EZ pull handle so I would recommend adding that to the purchase. Also the Velcro retention backup is an afterthought for such a great design. I don’t know why they didn’t drill out the tongue so a simple hitch pin could be included. I got the lock set which blocks the expansion bolt but could have been elimitated with a proper locking hitch pin.

Overall it’s a 9 out of 10 due to the minor issues above. Yes it is Expensive as hell, but for the price of the bikes I am hauling it is worth it.

9

I have said it on a past thread. When my wife and I are dividing up the possession after she leaves me for a younger fun non-tri guy, the first thing on my side is the 1-up rack. They should solve the rest of the world’s problems, it genius and worth the extra cost.

10

I have said it on a past thread. When my wife and I are dividing up the possession after she leaves me for a younger fun non-tri guy, the first thing on my side is the 1-up rack. They should solve the rest of the world’s problems, it genius and worth the extra cost.

What’s funny is that the NV 2.0 is just as much if not more than the 1UP and just as susceptible as what Kiley had. That being said, I run my Time Trial bike backwards and I was scared as shit (after I found out about Kiley’s experience above) driving my bike around since the front end moves back and forth since it’s not locked down. I use a secondary strap to secure the wheel to the HT giving two points to try and combat the movement, but it still does move some. I’m hoping because I do lock in the rear wheel instead of the front that it will be a touch less likely to fall off if the tire flats. I highly recommend something with two bars like what Saris has or 1UP. I just wish one of those looked half as good as what KUAT has in the NV and Sherpa. Form before function, I know, it’s a disease.

11

I have a Kuat Sherpa and have always been happy with it but still think the best tri investment I’ve made is trading in my car for an SUV, a 2x4, and 2 Saris Traps. Now for anything other than a short trip, I just pop off the front wheel and the seat post, load them inside and have the peace of mind that they’re much safer inside. The whole process only takes a minute and its time well spent IMO.

12

Wow, sorry bout that - those are some sweeet bikes, though.

No joke, I would NEVER allow bikes that expensive to be racked to the outside of my car, no matter how good the rack system is. It’s not hard to remove both the front and rear tire, but for those bikes, if I had to just to fit 2 bikes into my compact, I’d see if I could remove the handlebars via the stem (at least I def can do that with my P2, not sure about those bikes).

I mean, even one mild rear-ender from an otherwise good driver behind you, and bye-bye 10k bike.

13

Of course you can go after Kuat-or at least rattle the cage and threaten to. The purpose of their product is to safely transport bikes. It didn’t. You’re lucky it didn’t fail in a place that could have caused more than just some personal property damage. Spend half the time you did writing this post to write a nasty demand letter and see what happens.

14

Solution is bike must go in the vehicle … period. A couple of years ago my wife was on the interstate and witnessed a Felt tribike launch off a bike carrier. A semi was right behind the guy and the bike … in my wife’s words … exploded into small pieces as the 18 wheeler ground it into carbon … fibers.

My 2010 Honda Element is getting long in the tooth but whatever I buy to replace has to hold a bike inside.

Sorry about your loss!

15

Wow that sucks!

Funny thing, just last week as we were driving to Savageman, just two miles short of our campsite (on a 3.4 hour drive) and I hear a noise - it is my wifes bike dragging behind our car!

Somehow our Kuat NV rack had allowed the front wheel on my wife’s bike to come loose. Luckily we were going fairly slowly, so it was not damaged except for the (brand new) bar tape and a couple of minor scratches. We got the bike ready to go and she got her brick the next day, but I was very annoyed - it should not be possible for bikes to come loose like that!

16

Sorry to hear about your bike and rack issues. I’ve had a Kuat Sherpa for years, maybe 6-7? and never had an issue. The arms have come loose before, but those have been my fault. For long drives, I’ll wrap a bungee cord around the rear wheel and tray a couple of times to give it some added security should the arm come loose or the strap fail.

17

Back when I had my Kuat NV, I’d always supplement the rear wheel with a velcro strap for this very reason. I’ve since switched over to a 1Up rack, the dual (front/rear) arms did it for me.

18

Sorry, but this sounds like complete operator error to me. I use a Thule Sidekick which is essentially the same design and just can’t fathom how a rear flat tire would be enough for the bike to come entirely loose IF you properly secured the front arm, which you clearly didn’t. I do always lock the core in my front wheel arm just to ensure the lever doesn’t accidentally release, but if the arm is on the front tire tight then you don’t even need the plastic rear wheel strap to secure the bike to the tray. I’m sorry for your misfortune, but I find this no different than someone forgetting to close the quick release on a conventional roof rack and then blaming Yakima/Thule/Rocky Mounts for poor design.

19

why does this stuff always happen to you? another vote for ruling out operator error here.

also, you might want to blur your license plate # in the photo, just in case. . .

20

I have nothing of use to add just to say sorry to hear of your misfortune that really sucks. I once and only once was dumb enough to put my TT bike with disk on the roof using my thule rack. Solid cross winds picked up and I could honestly see the saddle swaying by 30degrees+. Never again.