Just bought a Yakima Holdup hitch mount “tray” rack for my car.
The question I have for those that have these type of bike racks - can you use them even with a rear disk wheel on your bike? Looks like the rear wheel strap is small enough to fit through the disk’s hole for the tire stem, but does anyone do it this way?
Sure seems like a pain in the ass to get to a race (especially if running late) and have to change out wheels on your bike? But I also don’t want to screw up my disk or have my bike go flying down the interstate!!
I think that rack would be really easy to use in the way you’ve described. Easier than removing the front wheel! I don’t understand what you problem is?
the problem is that I want to make sure by running the strap through the disk hole for the tire stem is not going to damage the disk in anyway. plus even though the bike is drafting being the car per se, want to make sure it’s not going to cause too much wind resistance by having the bike just sitting there if that makes sense.
IMO, If you don’t want to screw up your bike, don’t haul it around behind your car. Take a look at your trunk after you drive down a gravel road. Where do you find the most dust? That’s right, on the back of the car. Now the amount of dirt that accumulates while driving down the highway is less, but it still ends up in the same place.
Do your bike a favor and haul it inside of the car.
To actually answer your question, I regularly drive at 80 mph with my bike on the tray-style hitch rack, with a 50 mm front wheel and a 101 mm back wheel (not a disc, but pretty close). No problems yet, though I do see it bouncing around a bit more than when I haul bikes with low profile rims.
I have the yakima hitch mounted rack as well. I have 808’s and not a disc. The potential concern I see is that when you run the strap through the hole in the disc and then wratchet it down you are putting stress on a portion of the wheel that really isn’t designed to be stressed in that manner. As I don’t have a disc I’m not sure how “sturdy” that hole is, but essentially if you hit a bump in the road that strap is 100% responsible for bearing all the weight on the back end of your bike, plus any torque that comes with twisting and turning. As much as I like my hitch mounted rack, if I had a sub 9 or something like it I don’t think I would strap it on the back. Maybe an over-abundance of caution, but my cost/benefit analysis tells me that it is worth the extra 1-2 mins to swap out the back wheel after getting to the race.
I would definitely not recommend putting a disc on the tray and strapping it down, the wheel is not meant to take that kind of pressure in that one area.
I always leave my training wheels on my bike and keep my race wheels in the bags. The night before I set up everything how I want it for the race wheels, then just put the others back on while I travel. If you don’t have to put your bike outside I wouldn’t, especially behind a car, that is where all the junk you kick up will be and you bike will get filthy.
Perhaps too obvious I’m missing something, but if you were to try and strap it down through the valve hole, wouldn’t the valve stem get in the way? Or if the strap were narrow enough to clear the stem, then it seems it would be more likely to ‘cut’ through the carbon panel as it rubs back & forth with the vibration of the wheel as you drive.