BlueRidgeBoy
New Member
- Region
- USA
I’ve run into a weird issue with my Kuat hitch rack that I’m wondering if other folks have dealt with. And if not, this may be cautionary advice:
I have a 3-bike Kuat Transfer V2 with the +1 bike add-on (so 4 bikes total - yay math!) It claims to be rated for 40lb per tray, so naturally like any self respecting ebike owner, I’ve pushed this a bit and put my 45lb Aventon Soltera.2 on it. Here’s the weird part: I’ve been putting the bike on the rear or outermost tray, for ease of access. And every time I drive somewhere, I notice the bike hanging down worryingly close to the road in its front basket. This happens regardless of how tight I crank down on the tray straps and keeper arm (and I really crank it down). After a while of this happening, I’ve figured out that the steel arm holding the front of the bike is actually twisting along its axis, causing the rack basket to pivot downward, and the bike rolls with it. Because the metal itself twisting, there doesn’t seem to be anything I can do to prevent the bike from shifting forward (luckily I haven’t had a total failure yet). Yes, I’m exceeding the per-tray weight limit, but only by a few pounds. I’ve been very happy with carrying acoustic bikes on this rack, but this just seems like a fundamental design flaw to me.
Has anyone else experienced this happening with a Kuat transfer, or any other rack with similar parallel support arms? Racks that have full platforms/trays (instead of individual wheel baskets) probably don’t have this issue, but (surprise!) they cost much more.
I think I see buying an expensive, ebike-specific hitch rack in my future.
I have a 3-bike Kuat Transfer V2 with the +1 bike add-on (so 4 bikes total - yay math!) It claims to be rated for 40lb per tray, so naturally like any self respecting ebike owner, I’ve pushed this a bit and put my 45lb Aventon Soltera.2 on it. Here’s the weird part: I’ve been putting the bike on the rear or outermost tray, for ease of access. And every time I drive somewhere, I notice the bike hanging down worryingly close to the road in its front basket. This happens regardless of how tight I crank down on the tray straps and keeper arm (and I really crank it down). After a while of this happening, I’ve figured out that the steel arm holding the front of the bike is actually twisting along its axis, causing the rack basket to pivot downward, and the bike rolls with it. Because the metal itself twisting, there doesn’t seem to be anything I can do to prevent the bike from shifting forward (luckily I haven’t had a total failure yet). Yes, I’m exceeding the per-tray weight limit, but only by a few pounds. I’ve been very happy with carrying acoustic bikes on this rack, but this just seems like a fundamental design flaw to me.
Has anyone else experienced this happening with a Kuat transfer, or any other rack with similar parallel support arms? Racks that have full platforms/trays (instead of individual wheel baskets) probably don’t have this issue, but (surprise!) they cost much more.
I think I see buying an expensive, ebike-specific hitch rack in my future.
