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Home | Product Reviews | Bike Rack | Yakima Loco Joe | ||||
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Submitted by
Marc
a Cross Country Rider
from Cambridge, MA, USA
Date Reviewed: 9/16/2006 12:23:13 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 2 Years |
| Purchased At: | REI |
| Strengths: | doesn't scratch the bike |
| Weaknesses: | everything else |
| Similar Products Tried: | none |
| Bike Setup: | Marin city bike hybrid |
| Bottom Line: | I've just completed installing a roof carrier on my car after a couple of years using Loco Joe. I'm a bike commuter (oddly, not an option to choose on this website), so I use the bike to get around the city, and not very frequently for excursions. I'm so glad to have finally replaced it! Fortunately, I have no horror stories to convey but I think it was just a matter of time. It's taken maybe a dozen 3-10 hour drives, and my bike has come home each time. However, each of those rides had my driving like an old lady, because I never felt good about the security of the rack. All those straps holding it to my car, and still it always wobbly. I attribute this to the close position of the pads where the rack contacts the car (especially the lower contact point). Don't know if other trunk racks are designed this way, but it just seems like bad engineering to me. So, the bike wobbles side to side on every ride, no matter how tighly I pull the straps. Makes my nervous as all get out. And, as another reviewer mentioned, the bike waves in the wind, like a cape, unless you fasten it down with your extra strapes, rope or bungee. The rubber arms that hold the bike never gave me a problem like to many other reviewers, though their design also made me nervous. Also, my car, freshly painted from the dealer is very scratched up as a result of using this product. I hope the roof rack feels better. I haven't even tried it yet. I'm tired of driving like grandma and pissing off other drivers. With several adjustments and safety precautions not included with the package, someone might be able to make it more sturdy and trustworthy. Maybe. |
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Submitted by
Jonathan Gilliam
a Cross Country Rider
from West Los Angeles
Date Reviewed: 6/14/2005 10:41:03 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | lots of em |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $60 |
| Purchased At: | Supergo |
| Strengths: | Lightweight, Easy to install, after the first time you figure out how to get the thing on. |
| Weaknesses: | Anti-Sway straps slide around and sometimes unhook |
| Similar Products Tried: | Car's stock roof rack |
| Bike Setup: | 05 Specialized FSR XC Comp, totally stock |
| Bottom Line: | So far, I haven't had a problem yet with the rubber hooks coming loose. Just make sure you pull rubber hook as tight as possible before you attach it and you should have no problems. Also as mentioned by others, there is ample webbing left over from the trunk straps, so use that to tie your bike down as well. Bottom Line: The rack isn't ideal but its good value for the price you pay and it works well if you use the straps correctly. |
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Submitted by
amy buck
a Cross Country Rider
from dewitt, ny
Date Reviewed: 6/9/2005 12:21:21 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Skaneateles Lake |
| Duration Product Used: | 1 Year |
| Purchased At: | local bike shop |
| Strengths: | none |
| Weaknesses: | BIKE FLEW OFF THE BACK OF MY CAR! |
| Similar Products Tried: | none |
| Bike Setup: | Scott Carbon CR1 |
| Bottom Line: | Yesterday my bike had 39 miles on it...today it may be put into the bicycle graveyard. I strappped my brand new carbon "baby" down with three straps on the rack. On the highway, at 70mph, I noticed my bike started bouncing around in back. It immediately flew up in the air and I watched it do cartwheels down the interstate behind me and came to rest in the passing lane. What a nightmare!!! I thought I was going to die running down the highway to drag it out of the road and get it back to my car. I can't believe other people have similar stories. I thought I was the only person in the world who had a bike fly off the back of their car into the road. This thing needs to be taken off the market. This is totallly insane that they still sell this thing. If there was someone directly behind me, they could of crashed & died. If I were to come upon another car with a rack on the back such as this one, I would get the heck out of their lane! |
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Submitted by
Brice
from Mexico, Mo US of A
Date Reviewed: 1/30/2005 11:40:37 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | berryman, chubb, fulton&columbia area |
| Duration Product Used: | 1 Year |
| Price Paid: | $75 |
| Purchased At: | Extreme Bicycle Warehouse |
| Strengths: | Cheap |
| Weaknesses: | Everything about it. Adjustment locks don't always work or "click" into place. Hard to mount to vehicle. Is not secure even when the straps were so tight they were bowing the trunk! |
| Similar Products Tried: | Truck bed and van, Both provided a less nerve racking drive to our riding areas. A hitch mounted rack on a jeep worked fine for on ride. |
| Bike Setup: | Ellsworth Joker, Marzocchi Z1 Wedge, Ditch Witch wheels, shamano components, raceface rock guard, other goodies!! |
| Bottom Line: | On the fith of June 2000 and 4 a day that will live in the minds of all that were pressent forever. That morning my self, my brother, and on of my friends set out for Columbia and Jefferson City Mo to by our new bikes and get a rack for my brothers car. He purchased the rack and had a person from the bike shop mount it to the car properly. When then went to the bike shop were I was to purchase my bike, a Kona Dawg racked that on and headed for Jefferson City. As soon as we got on the highway we had to pull over and stap the bottom part of my frame to the rack because it was flying behind the car like a cape behind a superhero, luckely I had four starps on the frame. We got it tightened down and then went to the place were my friend was buying his bike a Specialized stumpjumper that was spotless. We put it on the rack and split the rubber staps up 3 on his and 3 on mine. We were coming down a hill on HWY 54, north of Jefferson City when the unthinkable happened, out of the corner of my eye I saw his bike move, I told him and as he turned around to look the rear end of his bike flew back of the rack hit the road pulling the font end off and then went tumbled down the HWY at 70 mph with peices of the seat thrown throught the air. He ran back and got it out of the median in which it had landed, and carried it back to the car both wheels severely bent and his seat and grips distroyed. Fork and frame were unharmed. His father and him worked on his wheels for several hours getting them as true as possible, and we went riding the next day. BOTTOM LINE don't trust this product if you have a bike that you mildly appreciate. It's JUNK. Use a truck bed or van that way nothing will get hurt! |
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Submitted by
Jason Devenport
a Weekend Warrior
from Tucson, AZ, USA
Date Reviewed: 8/28/2004 1:44:56 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | devenportjason@hotmail.com |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $60 |
| Purchased At: | hitchfinder.com |
| Strengths: | inexpensive, sturdy cradle to hold bikes |
| Weaknesses: | maneuvering first bike around cradles is inconvenient on an 18" bike (dual bars too far apart), but this is a minor problem |
| Bottom Line: | I have used this rack many times and had no problems with the rubber straps. Either the ones being sold now have a better design, or these people aren't latching the straps correctly. You do have to pull a bit to get them fully latched. Excellent rack! |
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Submitted by
H
a Weekend Warrior
from portland
Date Reviewed: 3/31/2004 7:08:32 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Price Paid: | $75 |
| Strengths: | Inexpensive, secures to vehicle well. |
| Weaknesses: | Rubber straps come unhooked. |
| Bottom Line: | As previous reviewer noted, you MUST reinforce the rubber straps with a secondary fastener. One of the straps came undone the second time I used the rack. Fortunately the bike stayed put as I had used the ample extra webbing as secondary fasteners. Velcro straps sound ideal. |
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Submitted by
Taro
a Weekend Warrior
from Seattle
Date Reviewed: 6/26/2003 1:27:11 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 6 months |
| Purchased At: | Greggs |
| Strengths: | Cheap |
| Weaknesses: | Rack will stay on car but bike won't stay on rack (read the other reviews... they are not kidding). |
| Similar Products Tried: | trunk |
| Bike Setup: | 02 Specialized Uno. Avid Mech. Brakes, Fox Forx Vanilla 125R. |
| Bottom Line: | Well, I bought this rack after having read other reviews indicating that the rubber straps holding the bikes down were useless. They are right. The reason I bought it anyway is because I also bought Velcro tape at the same time. I wrap the velcro around the rubber straps so that there is no way the rubber straps are going to work loose. I also Velcro the bike down to the rack itself so that it does not sway. I have had no problems. BUT, having once driven at high speeds without the Velcro on, I am pretty sure that the bike would have flown off had I driven too much longer or any faster. DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT UNLESS YOU ARE GOING TO REINFORCE THE STRAPS LIKE I DID. IN STOCK FORM, THIS RACK IS PURE JUNK. |
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Submitted by
Stephen Kidd
a Cross Country Rider
from Santa Barbara
Date Reviewed: 6/16/2003 6:54:11 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Price Paid: | $59 |
| Purchased At: | Sports Chalet |
| Strengths: | None |
| Weaknesses: | Rubber straps which are 'supposed' to hold bike in place |
| Bottom Line: | DO NOT BUY THIS PRIDUCT. Used thins product once on a friends car... I went over the installation procedure with a magnifying glass as we were putting 2 expensive bikes on it. It was installed properly and the straps were tight. The wind and bouncing for normal freeway driving is enough to disldge the straps... my bike would have flown off, had it not been attached with EXTRA ties to stop it from swingin and hitting the other bike. I nearly lost my most prized possesion, do not let this happen to you. |
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Submitted by
Linda
a Cross Country Rider
from Salt Lake City, Utah
Date Reviewed: 5/28/2003 5:23:08 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Purchased At: | 69 |
| Weaknesses: | Strenght of rubber strap, cannot withstand highway speed. Worriesome wobbles. |
| Similar Products Tried: | none |
| Bike Setup: | 2 bikes |
| Bottom Line: | On an interstate Highway at night my bike flew off my car. Unfortunately my bike hit the car behind traveling at a speed of 70 mph. The only thing I can think of was that the straps are not strong enough to hold a bike. All instructions were read and assembly was correct. The rack stayed on the car, but my bike did not! The danger to car(s) behind you is not worth the risk of using this faulty and flawed product. The idea that Yakima will not gurantee your bikes (when properly installed) is just plain wrong. When I called Yakima to complain, I was informed that I had to pay shipping to send the loco joe to California. At Yakima a committee would then decide- so what side do you think they are paid to take. To REI credit they refunded the Loco Joe. My bike was less than 6 months old and the trauma of seeing my bike fly from my car and smash into the cars behind me and financial loss is reason for you not to experience this. Please reconsider if you are planning on buying or using this product. |
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Submitted by
Dave
a Weekend Warrior
from New York, NY, USA
Date Reviewed: 5/13/2003 8:38:24 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Mt Tam |
| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Price Paid: | $70 |
| Purchased At: | REI |
| Bottom Line: | I'm writing this out of a sense of responsibility to my fellow readers, after a disastrous experience with this rack. Imagine my surprise finding BOTH of the previous reviews discussing the same issue. One hasn't had bad luck yet, and questions the skills of the other, who had exactly my experience. I attached a $3400 mountain bike to this rack VERY carefully on a friend's car (mine has a roof rack, much safer), and lost the bike at speed on Rt 680 near Concord, CA. Amazingly, the GT i-Drive frame and the Marzocchi QR-20 shocks survived intact, though the bike needs some work. More amazingly, the bike didn't cause a fatal accident. Sooner or later, an incident like this will kill someone, and a smart lawyer will subpoena both of us to demonstrate that we correctly used this rack before similar incidents. The damages judgement will put Yakima under, too bad because their high-end stuff is excellent. Oh yeah, and someone would be dead. If you're so impoverished that you must use this product, or need to use it on a car you can't mod with a better rack, then anchor climbing webbing to the inside of the trunk like you were going to rappel off it down a cliff, feed it through the forward trunk opening, and positively attach it at multiple points to your bike(s) AND the rack itself. (I've hung off 6 pitch cliffs with nary a scratch, Mr. "Operator Error" is just surmising because he hasn't experienced this failure mode.) Yakima should take this product off the market, to protect the company. |
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Submitted by
Rasheed
a Weekend Warrior
from Seattle, WA
Date Reviewed: 7/14/2002 2:51:15 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | many of them |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $70 |
| Purchased At: | REI Seattle |
| Strengths: | Cheap, secure, doesn't scratch my paint |
| Weaknesses: | None, really |
| Similar Products Tried: | Demo'ed a Thule and Rhode Gear, used a friend's Norco |
| Bike Setup: | Surly Instigator - 36 pounds o' tuffness |
| Bottom Line: | This rack does its job admirably. Given, it's not as burly as a hitch-mount or roof rack, but in several hundred miles of use, it's given me no problems. Looks like Mr. McPhail was the victim of a DOE (Disastrous Operator Error): sorry to hear it, but this really is simple to use. |
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Submitted by
Tristian McPhail
a Weekend Warrior
from Austin
Date Reviewed: 5/22/2002 6:58:03 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Barton Creek Greenbelt |
| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Price Paid: | $75 |
| Purchased At: | Bicycle Sports Shop, Inc. |
| Strengths: | not sure. seems sturdy. was told it is a good rack. was instructed the importance of tigthened the straps securely, but failed to mentioned the importanance of securely strapping the rubber straps. |
| Weaknesses: | Strength of the rubber strap. Wobbly at times |
| Similar Products Tried: | first time purchased and own a bike rack. |
| Bottom Line: | Four days after purchasing 2 brand new bikes and Yakima Loco Joe 3-bike rack, one of the bike (my wife's) flipped right off the bike rack and landed on the middle of the freeway. The bike, of course was totally damaged. Luckily, the freeway was not in heavy traffic and it did not hit anyone. I was driving under the speed limit on the right side of the 3 lane freeway and nearing the exit ramp, the bike somehow flipped right off the rack. My bike and the bike rack was still secured to the trunk. Before I made the trip, I checked both bikes and rack straps making sure it was secure and not wobbly. It was fine, but I can't explained why my wife's bike was thrown off. I suspect the rubber strap failed to stay in it's place eventhough I had it strapped fully engaged. I took it to the shop where I purchased the bike. Not very good. I either have to pay for the damage which would cost more than I purchased the bike or buy another one. No way. My wife just had it for less than 4 days and now they're blaming me for the not strapping good. I only took the rack off once, because the person at the bike shop installed the bike rack attached the rack too close to my car trunk that resulted chipped paint and scratches. I installed and strapped the bike rack again and been on the road 2 days since. I am not happy with the situation and with the bike rack product. I only learned that Yakima made other models that "suppose" to hold the bikes more secure. But what is the point of making the "Loco Joe" and keeping it in the market? I am even more upset with the bike that costs us $ which we budget for. |
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