Needing Trek (Allant+7/Verve+3) hitch Bike Rack recommendations...

riding4fun&health

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Can anyone share what hitch rack they are using with (2 bike rack) Allant+7 and/or Verve+3?

Will the Thule Easyfold XT 2 work with these bikes? (I have read mixed answers about it)

Hitch racks with a load ramp would be a big plus... I loaded a 54# bike on a rack at the lbs as a test yesterday, I could do it (I didn't remove their battery, but know that would have helped some) but it was somewhat of a hard lift for me and time will only make it harder.
Other suggestions ? About to buy two Trek bikes and need a rack to get them home...

LBS only has the Kuat NV 2.0 and the Thule T2 Pro XTR. Ordering one online is an option.

Thank you


 
I have a Kuat NV that I use with two 8s. Others will tell you all sorts of risks with the bar that rests on the front fender. Don't believe it. There's not much downward force on the fender - it's mostly for side to side sway. If you're going on extremely rough roads, just use a strap to hold the front wheel down. We have the ramp but rarely use it, since it's easy enough to load the bikes one wheel at a time - get the front on first, then lift the back. Two people make it really easy.
 
Why risk damage to plastic fenders or worry about who is right regarding potential damage of tire hooks on a fender? The Thule Easyfold has clamp arms designed to clamp onto the frame, very securely. The locking mechanism disables the clamp handle rather than using thin, easily defeated cables. It is rated for ebikes up to 65 lbs each. Most bike will be under that figure if you remove the batteries and put them in the vehicle (a wise practice for security and easy of loading) In addition it has a decent folding ramp. It also folds in half making it small enough to fit in the trunk of a small sedan when not in use. They are not cheap but neither is the Kuat NV. I have been using an easy fold with heavy ebikes for over 4 years without any incidents.

 
I had the Easyfold, and liked it when carrying two Allant+ bikes, it was also fine with one Allant+ and a Rad Mini.

However, when I bought my Specialized Creo, the spacing between bikes was too narrow to load it with my wife’s Rad Mini. No matter how I positioned them, I couldn’t avoid contact, so I had to purchase a new rack.
 
I had the Easyfold, and liked it when carrying two Allant+ bikes, it was also fine with one Allant+ and a Rad Mini.

However, when I bought my Specialized Creo, the spacing between bikes was too narrow to load it with my wife’s Rad Mini. No matter how I positioned them, I couldn’t avoid contact, so I had to purchase a new rack.
I had a buddy's Turbo Creo on my Easyfold along with my Allant 9.9 with no contact issues. I guess there are combinations that work and others that don't...a good thing to verify before purchase.
 
I had a buddy's Turbo Creo on my Easyfold along with my Allant 9.9 with no contact issues. I guess there are combinations that work and others that don't...a good thing to verify before purchase.

Yeah, but it would be difficult to verify without actually loading the bikes.

Of course, my combination may have been the extreme, as I’ve never heard of this problem from others. In any case, if the OP expects to hang onto the Allant’s for some time, I suppose it shouldn’t even be an issue.
 
Why risk damage to plastic fenders or worry about who is right regarding potential damage of tire hooks on a fender? The Thule Easyfold has clamp arms designed to clamp onto the frame, very securely. The locking mechanism disables the clamp handle rather than using thin, easily defeated cables. It is rated for ebikes up to 65 lbs each. Most bike will be under that figure if you remove the batteries and put them in the vehicle (a wise practice for security and easy of loading) In addition it has a decent folding ramp. It also folds in half making it small enough to fit in the trunk of a small sedan when not in use. They are not cheap but neither is the Kuat NV. I have been using an easy fold with heavy ebikes for over 4 years without any incidents.

Thanks Alaskan - after test riding... we are 95% wife thinking she wants the Verve+ 3 Lowstep & I want the Allant+ 7 or 7S - I was not for sure the Easyfold "clamp" would be able to attach to both of these bikes frames... Would you think they would? Thanks for the replies !
 
I had the Easyfold, and liked it when carrying two Allant+ bikes, it was also fine with one Allant+ and a Rad Mini.

However, when I bought my Specialized Creo, the spacing between bikes was too narrow to load it with my wife’s Rad Mini. No matter how I positioned them, I couldn’t avoid contact, so I had to purchase a new rack.
Thanks for the reply, I guess your Allants "clamped" on fine? Think the Lowstep frames would change that?
 
Thanks for the reply, I guess your Allants "clamped" on fine? Think the Lowstep frames would change that?
I clamp our Allant 9.9s on the seat tube so there is no problem with low step or diamond frames. On the Verve you can clamp on the seat tube or the low horizontal piece that connects to the down tube and the seat tube. In order to clamp on to the Allant, it is best not to use the bottle cage bosses low on the seat tube. The Allant 9.9s has a set of bosses on the downtube and on the top tube as well. Hopefully that is true for the 7S too.
 
Why risk damage to plastic fenders or worry about who is right regarding potential damage of tire hooks on a fender? The Thule Easyfold has clamp arms designed to clamp onto the frame, very securely. The locking mechanism disables the clamp handle rather than using thin, easily defeated cables. It is rated for ebikes up to 65 lbs each. Most bike will be under that figure if you remove the batteries and put them in the vehicle (a wise practice for security and easy of loading) In addition it has a decent folding ramp. It also folds in half making it small enough to fit in the trunk of a small sedan when not in use. They are not cheap but neither is the Kuat NV. I have been using an easy fold with heavy ebikes for over 4 years without any incidents.

As I predicted. The answer is there is no risk. Where this idea comes from IDK, but I've never heard any report of actual damage. OTOH, I have read of many a complaint regarding the seat post clamp on the easy fold.

It's interesting that there's another thread on this board regarding those that request recommendations for bikes and other stuff. It was pointed out that the most common recommendation was to buy what the recommender has. This is a perfect example...
 
Thanks for the reply, I guess your Allants "clamped" on fine? Think the Lowstep frames would change that?

Both of our Allant’s were lowstep/Stagger models, and clamping them was no problem. The first time may require a bit of head-scratching, but once you figure out how to position the bikes and clamps, it’ll be a piece of cake.
 
As I predicted. The answer is there is no risk. Where this idea comes from IDK, but I've never heard any report of actual damage. OTOH, I have read of many a complaint regarding the seat post clamp on the easy fold.

It's interesting that there's another thread on this board regarding those that request recommendations for bikes and other stuff. It was pointed out that the most common recommendation was to buy what the recommender has. This is a perfect example...
It looks there may be two examples of confirmation bias in the thread, mine and someone elses ;)

Just because one can't imagine something happening does not mean that it won't. The challenge to the structural integrity of a fender on a rack grows exponentially as the car speed increases, as does the harmonics and vibrations. I have personally seen a fender blown up on the back of my car doing 70 on the freeway, without any hook pulling down on them. Finally the Easy fold clamp should be used on the seat tube, not the seat post.

No risk? I have read of several fenders getting cracked or outright broken by using clamp down hooks on bikes with fenders. People try to avoid this by stuffing a piece of poly foam between the tire and the fender. I also have a friend who destroyed a front SKS polycarbonate fender under a wheel hook on a hitch rack. I saw his nice bike with some sheet aluminum and epoxi used to make a temporary repair to his broken fender while waiting for a replacement to arrive. Another friend put their clamp hook just in front of the fender on to the tire of his Haibike which did not hold on to it well enough and ended up dragging his bike down the road by the wheel straps. Again with two racks that cost about the same why take the risk?
 
By the way, there is no problem with using a Kuat or any other rack that uses tire hooks on a bike with solid alloy or stainless fenders. I would not hesitate to use one on my Allant 9.9S which has robust alloy fenders with 10mm rod stays. The SKS polycarbonate fenders used on most German Ebikes, like Riese & Muller, Bulls and Haibike, are brittle and easily cracked.
 
Yeah, I’m with Alaskan on the issue of clamping fenders. Why take the chance?
 
I've carried my Allant all over the place on the Kuat NV 2. Kuat will tell you that the hook for the front tire needs to be all the way up by the fork and over the fender. But I prefer to hook the front tire just in front of my front fender - as seen in the pictures attached. But also, as @Alaskan mentions, the metal fenders on the Allant are robust enough to handle the pressure without bending. Kuat also suggests that if you have concerns about your fender, you can stuff a foam block between the fender and the tire. I carry short lashing straps and one could easily also strap that front wheel to the tray as an extra measure - if choosing to hook the arm just in front of the fender rather than at the fork. I've done that with the Tern GSD but that is another story.

I started with the Easyfold but also found the bike spacing a bit close. Trying to find the right place to clamp the arms and adjusting the saddle heights to not conflict the handlebars of the other bike was a bit of a pain. I graduated to the Kuat NV 2.0 and found that much easier to load vs the Easyfold. I also prefer the fold-up design of that type of rack relative to the Easyfold (fold flat against the rear of the vehicle that is). The NV 2.0 works well with fenders as I described.

Just two weeks ago, I again graduated to the Kuat Piston Pro X. Initially, it feels like a retrograde graduation as I'm not liking the bike attachment as much. I will have the benefits of the lights (having my hitch lighting kit installed next weekend) and the extra corrosion protection but I feel the Piston Pro X lets the bikes wobble just a bit more on the rack. I prefer the hook arm + ratchet strap configuration of the NV 2.0 to the 2-roller arm configuration of the Piston Pro X. Kuat's solution for fenders with the Piston Pro X are velcro straps ("fender kit" for $30) to strap the rear wheel to the tray and to the roller arm just where the rear fender ends. I'm using automotive lashing straps instead of Kuat's velcro straps and using 3-4 straps total also lashing the front wheel to the tray. Although it seems to wobble a tiny bit more vs the NV 2.0, I feel pretty confident the bike isn't going anywhere. This might be the best review I found of the Piston Pro X and I agree with some of his criticisms. I might add that I don't see drain holes in the trays and they seem to retain water if the rack is down.

I've used the NV 2.0 for a few years now and I usually leave it on year-round removing it now and then, after the last snow fall, to go through the car wash. One ratchet arm failed I think due to salt corrosion and Kuat replaced it with a simple phone call - no charge. My hitch pin lock also is looking pretty bad and I should probably replace it soon - that is, if I don't decide to sell the 2.0. The inner tray gets all the road/salt spray and that is where the arm failed.

For the Tern GSD, I could carry it on a limited basis with some extra steps on the NV 2.0 although I'm certain Kuat would say that is a really bad idea (bike is about 80 poinds without batteries). I cannot carry it on the Piston Pro X because the trays are deeper and the wheelbase of the Tern GSD is too long. I don't think there is a rack on the market that will carry my GSD within the rack manufacturer's specifications. But speaking of that, I did recently become interested in the Quikrstuff Mach 2 (see Clint Gibb's videos) because it has the highest weight limit of any of the racks on the market and because of its modularity. But ultimately, I don't think their arm system will work with the cargo frame of the GSD which is built over the rear tire and fender. Also, per their website, they are backordered about 6 months.

Yakima makes a Kuat NV 2 clone with a nice, slight offset in tray height. It is about the same price. I have no experience with it. Yakima has an attachment add-on for lights and a license plate holder that runs about $250 (lights hook into the trailer hitch wiring). I think that Yakima combination is about $850 for the rack and another $250 if you want the lights. So a few hundred cheaper relative to the Piston Pro X - where you pay extra for the convenience of an all in one rack plus lighting system.
 

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Kuat NV 2.0 for our Allant and Verve. Clamp just ahead of the fender on the front wheel — never on the fender. FYI, I also strap on a light bar to ensure the tail lights are visible.
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Kuat NV 2.0 for our Allant and Verve. Clamp just ahead of the fender on the front wheel — never on the fender. FYI, I also strap on a light bar to ensure the tail lights are visible.
View attachment 129366
Do you think the Kuat NV 2.0 will work well with two (2) Allant+ 7 Lowstep e-bikes?
I had a buddy's Turbo Creo on my Easyfold along with my Allant 9.9 with no contact issues. I guess there are combinations that work and others that don't...a good thing to verify before purchase.
Do you think the Thule Easyfold will work well with two (2) Allant+ 7 Lowstep e-bikes? Trek lbs carries the Thule brand... One Large size & one small size.
 

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Do you think the Kuat NV 2.0 will work well with two (2) Allant+ 7 Lowstep e-bikes?

Do you think the Thule Easyfold will work well with two (2) Allant+ 7 Lowstep e-bikes? Trek lbs carries the Thule brand... One Large size & one small size.

If your LBS Carrie’s the Thule rack, I’d ask them to unbox it and try placing your new bikes in it. It wouldn’t take long for them to add a few dollars of profit, so they shouldn’t mind.
 
If your LBS Carrie’s the Thule rack, I’d ask them to unbox it and try placing your new bikes in it. It wouldn’t take long for them to add a few dollars of profit, so they shouldn’t mind.
Thanks - yes I will ask them to try this ^ (in fact they said they would this morning, but didn't seem to know ahead of time if it will work for sure...) but we do have several other LBS that carry the Kuat... if I decide that's a better choice, still undecided, but will be nice to have two options. Bikes may not be here for a few days... so have a few days to decide.
 
Do you think the Kuat NV 2.0 will work well with two (2) Allant+ 7 Lowstep e-bikes?

Do you think the Thule Easyfold will work well with two (2) Allant+ 7 Lowstep e-bikes? Trek lbs carries the Thule brand... One Large size & one small size.
Given the Kuat clamps the front tire and bands the rear tire, mox nix the type of bike frame. Whenever we load our bikes on the Kuat I am always amazed at how quick and simple it is to do. Plus the integrated locking cable is sweet.
 
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