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Submitted by
Tanya
a Weekend Warrior
from Yosemite, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: September 29, 2008 | | Favorite Trail: | many | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$150.00 | | Purchased At: | Kevin's Bikes | | Strengths: | I got this bike rack last year before I left for grad school in South Dakota and it fared very well on the 1,600 mile road trip from Northern California. I checked the straps whenever I stopped and often had to tighten them. I had no problems heading over there and back and altogether, I've probably logged at least 4,000 miles on this rack. I would highly recommend it. It does take a little time to get it adjusted to fit your vehicle, but I had it on my SUV and now on my car with no problems. The hooks and the leg that sat on my rear window of my SUV did leave some marks. I've just attached it to my car, so we'll see how that works as far scratching my paint. I know it says not to open your hatch when it's on, but I had no problems when it was attached to the SUV. It looks like there might be a problem opening on the trunk when it's on my car, so I'll just have to take it off and store it when I'm not using it. Overall it's a great rack, although I'm not sure how well it would hold 2 bikes. It holds my rather heavy bike quite well. I have not bought the bike beam for it yet, but I think I'm going to as it will be easier to put my bike on the rack with that. | | Weaknesses: | The plastic screws. I always feel like I'm going to break one. They should have used metal ones. | | Similar Products Used: | None. | | Bike Setup: | Schwinn 21-spd Midtown. | | Bottom Line: | I really like this rack. I wish there had been some of the colored racks when I got this one. Anyone want to buy a 2-bike Saris rack so I can get a colored one? LOL :) | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Nathan_B
a Downhiller
from Melbourne, Australia
Date Reviewed: September 24, 2008 | | Favorite Trail: | You yangs | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$300.00 | | Purchased At: | Sydney bike store | | Strengths: | Easy to set up once intial setup is complete. plenty of clearance for bike when setup on last mount. | | Weaknesses: | SCRATCHED THE BOOT DOWN TO BEAR METAL !!!! this rack does not support a BMW E36 coupe boot. The side straps can not fit anywhere other then where the top straps sit - this causing the rack to move from side to side and causing damage. The rubber feet ALSO rubbed off the clear coat - only used a dozen times since new.
I dont believe this rack is a true "universal" fitting kit, as it didnt fit my mates VT commodore (one of the most popular family car models sold in australia) | | Similar Products Used: | none - but buying roof racks next time!! | | Bike Setup: | Kona Stinky, X9 components, 888 bombers | | Bottom Line: | i would ONLY suggest someone purchase this for a hatchback setup, and not mount it on any boot lid. i have made an official complaint and request to Saris to pay for the repairs to my car. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Daver
a Weekend Warrior
from Ontario Canada
Date Reviewed: September 22, 2008 | | Favorite Trail: | Central Grey / Bruce | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$165.00 | | Purchased At: | Rack Attack | | Strengths: | Easy to install and maintain, looks and performs well when installed properly.Bones 2 is easy to fold and store in car trunk when not in use for security reasons.Car trunk will open and close easily with all straps good and tight by simply pulling back a bit on the lower feet when closing the lid. | | Weaknesses: | Many reviewers mentioned the soft plastic thumbscrews. Mine were damaged the first time I installed the rack on the car using normal pressure to tighten them. Made the entire install a little wobbly, but still works with good tension on all straps. | | Similar Products Used: | None | | Bike Setup: | Standard Raleigh Mountain with suspension. I usually also use the Bike beam so the paint is protected on the bike. | | Bottom Line: | Would consider another if all adjustable hardware was metal, no plastic thumbscrews. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Zac
a Racer
from Brooklyn
Date Reviewed: August 4, 2008 | | Favorite Trail: | Prospect Park | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$100.00 | | Purchased At: | Sids NYC | | Strengths: | It fit onto my minivan in a way. One bike on it is OK, and a very light carbon road bike at that. | | Weaknesses: | I've never felt that the bikes are really secure. The rack always ends up hanging from the straps off the back when you apply the weight of the bikes no matter how tight I make it. Then, when the bikes bottomed out going over a not very smooth diner entrance, the seat tube attachments broke. It is difficult to mount the bikes too, and then a problem to tighten them on.
| | Similar Products Used: | none | | Bottom Line: | I wouldn't buy this again. Next time I'm going with a roof rack, but those get expensive. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
silverlarryt
a Weekend Warrior
from Indiana USA
Date Reviewed: June 16, 2008 | | Favorite Trail: | Easy ones | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$129.00 | | Purchased At: | A1 cycle | | Strengths: | It seems sturdy and easy to setup and use | | Weaknesses: | The cheap ass thumb screws for securing the arms. But I have to say the their product support was very willing to explian they are redesigning the screws and they were understaning in my dissapointment over the issue. I did however replace the screws with some steel 3/8 thumbscrews from Lowes for .94 cents a piece. It is now very secure and I will keep using it. | | Similar Products Used: | Sex swing in the bedroom?? Does that count?? It has straps and all of the same stuff!! | | Bike Setup: | Raliegh Mountain Bike | | Bottom Line: | If they complete a re-design it will be a good product..
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Bob Shuster
a
from NJ
Date Reviewed: May 24, 2008 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$150.00 | | Weaknesses: | After one use, one of the plastic mounts that supports the bike broke off.
I cannot find the contact information for Bones bike racks to see if there is some courtesy that they will extend. | | Bottom Line: | Difficult to install on car. Very disappointed that the part of the rack that supports the bike broke after one use. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
dave
a Cross Country Rider
from st paul
Date Reviewed: May 15, 2008 | | Favorite Trail: | Lebanon Eagan | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$130.00 | | Purchased At: | Eriks Bike Shop | | Strengths: | None, ruined my bike, cheap bike securing straps. | | Weaknesses: | Both straps securing the bike failed. Wrecked $2000 bike. | | Bottom Line: | Enjoyed this rack until it failed. I secured the rack as per instructions and secured my bike like I have for the past 3 years. While cruising at 70mph on the interstate one of the straps securing my bike failed and the other strap immediatly broke because it couldn't support the bike alone. No more biking for me this year dont make the same mistake. :( | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Patrick
a Weekend Warrior
from Ft. Thomas, KY USA
Date Reviewed: September 14, 2007 | | Favorite Trail: | Too many to name | | Duration Product Used: | Tested or demo'ed only | | Price Paid: |
$120.00 | | Purchased At: | Montgomery Cyclery | | Strengths: | 1. Top tube supports are secured to arms - don't slide down arms and into bumper. And it looks cool. But I could care less (see below). | | Weaknesses: | 1. Within maybe 10 minutes of leaving the bike shop to install on my car, was right back in the bike shop to get another flimsy plastic "screw" that locks the arms b/c the first one was stripped. These need to be beefed up ASAP using, oh, I don't know...METAL? Once "secured", the arms still wobble laterally. Not a big deal, but for $120+ I expect better.
2. After a 15 minute trip home from the bike shop (after buying the rack), I took it off my trunk to find two nice, permanent indentations on the top of my bumper (2006 Maxima) from the support legs. Rather than rest on the license plate display area (aluminum), Saris decides to have 60+ pounds of weight distributed onto your bumper from two support legs with very low profiles at the contact point. STAY AWAY IF YOU HAVE A PLASTIC BUMPER..unless you want a permanent reminder that you got ripped off.
| | Similar Products Used: | Saris Guardian. Let's see - do I want more indentations in my bumper from the Bones, or have the top tube supports of the Guardian continue to slide down the support arm and slam my bike into my bumper, leaving nice little divets? | | Bike Setup: | '07 Stumpy (with a few tweeks), '06 Rockhopper (ditto) | | Bottom Line: | TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE design. Maybe I'll try a monkey and some duct tape. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
LOUANN MCCARTHY
a Weekend Warrior
from MARSHALL, MI
Date Reviewed: September 3, 2007 | | Favorite Trail: | KALHAVEN | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$130.00 | | Purchased At: | BATTLE CREEK, MI | | Strengths: | LIGHT WEIGHT. EASY TO USE | | Weaknesses: | SCRATCHES THE CAR PAINT, NO SECURITY AND A MAJOR DESIGN DEFECT IE USING PLASTIC SCREWS TO ADJUST AND SECURE THE BONES. THEY STRIP LEAVING THE BONES UNSECURED | | Bike Setup: | FUJI AND A GARY FISHER | | Bottom Line: | I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS RACK FOR MORE THAN CASUAL USEAGE ON VERY SHORT TRIPS | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Bobbie Mac
a Weekend Warrior
from Seal Beach, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: July 3, 2007 | | Favorite Trail: | Rock-it | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$150.00 | | Purchased At: | Performancebike.com | | Strengths: | Solid unit, seems like it'll last a while | | Weaknesses: | Wears the paint off the car, worse than most top bar racks because the rack flairs making it difficult to load any odd sized bikes | | Bike Setup: | Mine: full sus
Wife: woman's bike with x frame
Kids: small mountain bike and a bmx bike | | Bottom Line: | I wouldn't recommend this unless you are transporting road bikes and have an old car with bad paint already. I have to put my full sus bike on the outside and backwards, I then use a rope to tie it off. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
david miller
a
from itasca
Date Reviewed: June 24, 2007 | | Favorite Trail: | palos V tree | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$119.00 | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | Honestly after 3 years of use I can not think of one. | | Weaknesses: | Mounting hardware that hold the bones to the base are platic and will strip in time causing the the bones and bike to slide around. The straps that hold the bike to the rack are hard plastic and will scratch up virtually any paint job since it is always making contact in the same place. On sedans the bike is to close to the car and you are bound to also scratch up your vehicle. | | Similar Products Used: | Thule hitch mount rack | | Bike Setup: | Blur 4x, Fox Float R, Magura Marta, Mavic 819 on DT swiss 240's, Syncors Bulk carbon bars, easton vice, stylos = 29lbs and takes abuse. | | Bottom Line: | A couple of modifications like using metal hardware, rubber straps, and extending the length of the bones would make it a descent rake. It worked fine for the first season, over time it just could not hold up and it's defects really started to show. I cringe every time I but my $3000 bike on this rack. When I get the extra scratch I will replace it. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Don Tepe
a Cross Country Rider
from Merrick, New York
Date Reviewed: June 20, 2007 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$130.00 | | Purchased At: | Peak Mountain Bikes | | Strengths: | Once it is set up there is nothing to change. | | Weaknesses: | None yet. | | Similar Products Used: | Old Rhode Gear trunk mounted rack. | | Bike Setup: | Jamis Dakar. | | Bottom Line: | I read most of the reviews for this rack on this site. I wasn't worried about the paint on my car because of the cars age. The owner of the shop showed me how to set up the Bones 2 rack and properly adjust the straps starting from the bottom. This is one solid rack. If you do it right, the whole rear of the car will move when you try to shake the rack. The rack becomes part of the car. If you don't tension the straps enough and/or set up the unit correctly you'll have some of the problems mentioned in the other reviews. I would recommend it. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Thomas Lowry
a Cross Country Rider
from Mississauga, ON, Can
Date Reviewed: June 4, 2007 | | Favorite Trail: | hardwood hills | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$150.00 | | Purchased At: | Dukes Cycle | | Strengths: | Strong, sturdy. Easy to install and easy to put bikes on. | | Weaknesses: | COntact points on the car need to be redesigned. I cleaned all areas of my car every time I put the rack on to ensure there was no grit to create abrasion. Still after only a couple months of use it has reduced the shiney finish of my trunk to a dull surface (particularly the centre arm that goes on top of the trunk). | | Bottom Line: | Well designed, fits many cars, easy to setup over and over again. May want to consider putting a pad or something soft but grippy under the center contact point to prevent it from wearing down the finish on your vehicle. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Matt
a
from Cape Girardeau MO
Date Reviewed: May 1, 2007 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$100.00 | | Purchased At: | cyclewerx.biz | | Strengths: | I have a 97 Pontiac Grand Prix...I checked the saris website, it said it wouldn't fit due to the spoiler. I went to my local bike shop and test fitted it...It actually cleared everything with lots of room to spare.
About the bones 2:
Great design...I like the fact that its made of aluminium and abs...There's nothing on here that can rust. It's well engineered. I know I read this somewhere before...but, when the saris bones is attached to your car properly...it's like it's part of the car. You can grab it and shake it and the entire car moves. It's extremely rigid.
| | Bike Setup: | we're reviewing a rack...why does my bike matter?? | | Bottom Line: | I looked into racks for a few weeks before making a decision. You can pay $50 for a cheap, flimsy one that won't be secure or last...or, you can pay around $100 and get a great product made by a company with great customer service. There's a reason these are so highly rated...they're the best trunk-mounted racks on the market.
Five Flamin' chilis across the board! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Richard
a Cross Country Rider
from Southampton - UK
Date Reviewed: October 14, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | Tested or demo'ed only | | Price Paid: |
$80.00 | | Strengths: | The only strength this product has is it's looks. | | Weaknesses: | 1) The straps used to secure the bike/s to the outward arms are so badly positioned securing the bike is not only very difficult but requires a great deal of finger strength. In the winter this would be a real nightmare.
2) Assembling the 6 legs into the correct positions and securing to the car is a right pain - I tested this with my wife who succeeded in the end but agreed it was a terrible design compared to past bike racks.
3) The flimsy thumb screws used to secure the arms and legs to the aluminium spine are again badly designed. When assembled and tightened the whole structure wobbles around due to huge tolerances. The only real security to this rack is gained from strapping it to the back of the car and tightening up the straps as tight as possible – how long that would last I’m not prepared to say. | | Similar Products Used: | Thule Freeride, Hollywood, Halfords own brand | | Bike Setup: | Two XC Hardtails (Stumpy & Scott) one Kona Stinky. | | Bottom Line: | Do not waste your money. If you have not tried many bike racks then you can be forgiven for thiking this one might be good - it is not.
Conclusion: Looks 10/10 – Functionality 1/10 | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Ryan
a Weekend Warrior
from Minot, ND
Date Reviewed: September 20, 2006 | | Favorite Trail: | Maah Daah Hey | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$120.00 | | Purchased At: | Scheels all sport | | Strengths: | Rigid design, ratcheting straps, and arched arms. | | Weaknesses: | none found yet. | | Similar Products Used: | Yakima superjoe3 | | Bike Setup: | Standard specialized, with shimano pd-m324 atb pedal | | Bottom Line: | Great product so far. If, like me, you want a trunk mount, buy the saris. It is rock solid, even with the bikes on it. Excellent product. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Scott Jensen
a Cross Country Rider
from Eden Prairie, MN, USA
Date Reviewed: September 10, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$139.00 | | Purchased At: | Ramsey Bike Shop | | Strengths: | Easy enough to mount, stable at highway speeds, doesn't look like a lawn chair strapped to my car, and in fact looks very nice. | | Weaknesses: | Doesn't (yet) come in black. Everything comes in black -- why not this? | | Bike Setup: | Specialized Tricross Comp | | Bottom Line: | If you can, use a trailer hitch-mounted rack on your vehicle instead of a trunk-mounted rack. If not, get the Bones.
While the rubber feet may affect the clear coat over time no matter what, as long as you make sure the feet and car are clean before installing, there should be no scratches, etc. One reviewer got a Thule trunk rack instead because his or her car got scratched with the Bones. Well, the Thule rack touches the car with some kind of rubber as well. Anyway, in case sand gets blown between the foot and trunk while driving, I installed six pieces of 3M clear paint protector film -- one for each of the top two feet, and two for each of the bottom two feet. For each bottom foot, there is a piece on the bottom of the trunk and on the top of the bumper, since the feet touch both.
Some reviewers have complained that the trunk cannot be opened when the Bones is attached. This is because they installed it according to the instructions, which have the wide feet bottoms touching the top of the bumper, so the rack essentially rests on the bumper and would shift position when the trunk is opened. The laws of physics being what they are, I turned the feet 90 degrees so they rest against the bottom of the trunk, allowing it to be opened without trouble (with no bikes on the rack). When closed with bikes attached, the bottom feet push against both the trunk and the bumper, so all is well. Perhaps with three heavy bikes the smaller surface area of the rotated feet would push into plastic bumpers a bit more, but I doubt it would be a problem.
http://public.fotki.com/Scotian/specialized_tricros/saris_bones_3_bicyc/ | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Garry Bayford
a Cross Country Rider
from UK
Date Reviewed: September 8, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$100.00 | | Purchased At: | Halfords | | Strengths: | It is far more stable than a tubular steel rack I borrowed before buying this. | | Weaknesses: | The mount points for the frame are in a fixed position and if your bike doesn't really match them then it is very hard to get a good secure mount for your bike. | | Bike Setup: | Commencal Meta 5.2, Fox RP3, Fox Float 130R, SRAM, Formula Brakes | | Bottom Line: | When I bought this carrier I had a fairly normally shaped hardtail and mounting it onto the rack was easy. My new Commencal is just slightly the wrong shape for the mount points so it is much harder to fit it and it isn't as secure. I'm changing it for a towball mounted rack soon but I would still recommend it to anyone with a normal framed bike. I've had two full suspensions bikes on it and driven hundreds of miles without any stability problems but I'm just getting fed up struggling to fit the bikes to the rack.
Before fitting the rack I made sure I but strong adhesive tape to the contact points of my car to avoid any scratches. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
ATLien Georgia
a Weekend Warrior
from Atlanta, GA
Date Reviewed: August 10, 2006 | | Favorite Trail: | Blanket Creek | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$129.00 | | Purchased At: | Dick's Sporting Goods | | Strengths: | Stylish Design, easy setup, stays very stable even around turns. | | Weaknesses: | The plastic screws that hold the arms in place could be upgraded to metal. The first day I had it one of my screws got messed up and wont tighten. The feet scratch the car. | | Similar Products Used: | None | | Bike Setup: | 2006 Trek 4500 18" | | Bottom Line: | This is a good sturdy rack. It is easy to setup on any car, and it holds the bikes in place very well. The feet that make contact with the car scratched my trunk, but I solved this by wrapping a sock around the 2 feet. Overall, it is a good product. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Nate Dogg
a Cross Country Rider
from NY
Date Reviewed: July 6, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$110.00 | | Purchased At: | Nashbar | | Strengths: | lightweight and fairly strong, easy to return | | Weaknesses: | good potential to damage car's paint job, numerous straps that make vibrating noise when driving, doesn't fit most full suspension bikes w/o an adapter bar, doesn't look anywhere near as nice as they advertise, no security | | Similar Products Used: | Swagman spare tire rack, Thule roof rack | | Bike Setup: | Jamis Dakar | | Bottom Line: | I bought this bike rack specifically for a trip I was making where I knew I would be using a rental car and hauling around 2 bikes for 2 weeks. It was pretty easy to set up, but wouldn't fit my full-suspension bike without an adapter bar. I had the 2 bike model, and it mounts the bikes very close to each other, which over time caused a bit of damage to the bikes from rubbing on each other. You have to be very careful of how you set the bikes on the rack so they don't scratch each other or the car. Access into the trunk was nearly impossible with the bikes on, and still pretty annoying without the bikes on. Constantly had to readjust the rack if I wanted to get into the trunk.
The picture they show of the product looks nice and is a good selling point. But it doesn't show the 6 straps that are required to secure the rack to the vehicle, which make it butt ugly IMO.
Finally, my biggest disappointment was the security it provided - pretty much none. I was terrified to leave $4K worth of bikes on this rack, since there is no way to prevent the entire rack and bikes from being stolen. It would literally take me 10 minutes or less to pull up, take the entire rack, straps, and bikes off your vehicle, mount it on my trunk, and drive off. Crazy. You can lock the bikes to the rack with a cable (you provide), but you can't lock the rack to the car.
Every other bike rack I've ever used is better than this one. I returned it after two weeks. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
James Jordan
a Weekend Warrior
from Bonita Springs FL US of A
Date Reviewed: April 27, 2006 | | Favorite Trail: | LSD Mountain; Bristol CT | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$130.00 | | Purchased At: | The Bike Route; Fort Myers FL | | Bottom Line: | Fixed 'buzzing' straps; ended to be my trunk lid bumpers were not quite compressd, and the side strap anchors just needed some type of padding to stop resonating like my Fender Stratocaster. Take an inner tube by way of a pair of scissors, and/or some two sided tape with inner tube strips (talc facing out) and it'll save your sweet paint.
I have to admit that I am impressed with this product! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
James Jordan
a Weekend Warrior
from Bonita FL
Date Reviewed: April 25, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$130.00 | | Purchased At: | The Bike Route; Ft. Myers | | Strengths: | Unique | | Weaknesses: | My straps are buzzing above 60mph. It will be defeated. | | Similar Products Used: | Thule roof rack w/ fork mount(s), on a different car. | | Bike Setup: | 5.1" Marzocchi forked IronHorse HT. | | Bottom Line: | My 1999 SHO Taurus accepts this rack fine; all pads are on trunk, and the lone arm on top is just over the lip towards window, as this has the most structural mass to stay firm under. Trunk closes and opens fine, and the buzzing from the straps is not that big of a deal.
If you've a spoiler on your car, and my SHO has a hiccup in the middle that raises the height quite considerably, this will be the set-up for you. Looks much cleaner than a hitch rack on a car, and not as machine-like as a roof unit on a car either. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
AJT
a Weekend Warrior
from Sugar Land, Texas USA
Date Reviewed: April 18, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$118.00 | | Purchased At: | Bike Barn | | Strengths: | Aesthetically appealing, sturdy, easy to set up | | Weaknesses: | straps to mount the bike are sometimes hard to undo | | Bike Setup: | 2006 Trek 1500 | | Bottom Line: | I just recently purchased a new road bike and was looking for a sturdy trunk rack to transport it and ran across reviews of this rack on this site. Some of the reviews were positive and some were negative but overall the ratings were quite good so I went and visited the Saris site and was impressed with the design. So instead of plunking down $50 for a cheap looking trunk rack at Target I decided to spend a little more for this one and picked it up last weekend. My first test was kind of awkward in that I wasn't quite sure how to set up the straps on my 2005 Camry..but after some experimentation I finally figured out the best configuration..Once you set the rack up initially you never have to adjust the arms again..the straps to hook it up to your car are easy to tighten and once tightened holds the rack very securely onto the trunk. My first trip with the bike on the back was tentative since it was really early in the morning and the sun had not yet risen but once I got the bike to my destination I was duly impressed! The rack comes off quickly and easily and fits perfectly in the backseat if you want to lock it up while you ride. I recommend purchasing some bungee cords at Wal Mart to secure your front tire while driving and on the way back I hit 50+ miles per hour at some points and the rack held the bike beautifully! My first assessment..future ones to come... | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Michael
a Weekend Warrior
from Arlington, TX, USA
Date Reviewed: March 18, 2006 | | Favorite Trail: | any that I can find. | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$109.00 | | Purchased At: | Richardson Bike Mart | | Strengths: | Fits anything, holds onto my bike tight, compact. | | Weaknesses: | none yet. | | Similar Products Used: | nothing else fits my car. | | Bike Setup: | 05 Marin B-17 SRAM X.7-X Gen-PG970 drive train, AVID BB7s 6", THOMSON stem and post. | | Bottom Line: | I have a Mazda 6 with a big stock spoiler, after looking everywhere nothing fits, and don't want to spent 300 bucks to get a ugly roof top setup. I went to a LBS to see if the Bones will fit. It advertises with its feet resting on the bumper, but I have my resting on the rear of the trunk on the license plate. So basically the whole thing is clamped on my trunk, and it works beautifully. Does everything that it needs to be doing. Holds on tight to both my bike and car, doesn't sway or bounce. The setup is a breeze, got everything set in under 5 minutes, the first time!
Get it, you won't be disappointed. 5 chilis for both value and greatness. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Dave Atkins
a Weekend Warrior
from decatur, Ga
Date Reviewed: March 15, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$150.00 | | Purchased At: | Free Flite Bikes | | Strengths: | Looks Cool. | | Weaknesses: | Hard plastic protrusions that secure set tube straps scratch paint. Hard plastic that seat tube rest against rubs paint. Plastic arms scratch and rub paint on bike. Poorly designed strap and craddles. | | Similar Products Used: | Yakima | | Bike Setup: | Trek Madone 5.2 | | Bottom Line: | I used this rack for the first time on the way to a ride about 2 hours from my house. After 25 miles I pulled over to recheck the strap tension and to my horror the hard platic area around the seat tube strap was rubbing through the clearcoat and into the paint on my carbon frame trek. The plastic arm was also rubbing the clear coat off the front side of the seat tube. I had to stop and get some napkins at a store and tape the bike rack at points of contact with electrical tape and napkins to avoid damage. Had I not stopped to check, this rack would have more than likely rubbed all the way into the carbon fiber. This rack may be OK for someone with a walmart bike or an old huffy that they don't care squat about but DO NOT and I repeat DO NOT put your nice bike on the saris bones or else your bike will look like hell at the end of your trip. It took less than 25 min on the hiway for this damage to occur. If Saris really cares about its customer they would change this design A.S.A.P. I took mine back and got a refund.
WARNING!DO NOT BUY! ITS JUNK! DO NOT BUY! ITS JUNK! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Tim
a Cross Country Rider
from SC
Date Reviewed: March 14, 2006 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$81.00 | | Purchased At: | eBay | | Strengths: | Very sturdy, little sway, fits any vehicle, easy to adjust. | | Weaknesses: | Bike straps take some getting used to. | | Similar Products Used: | Trek Transport | | Bike Setup: | Specialized Hardrock Comp | | Bottom Line: | I use my Bones 3 on a Toyota 4-Runner and it works great. The bottom feet rests on the bumper, the top feet on the back window, and with the six tie-down straps there is no side-to-side swaying. It does take some work to get all the straps tight, but that is the case with any carrier of this style. The plastic straps that hold the bikes in place are very secure, but can be a bit difficult |
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