[FlyRide247]

I see that 1UP recently purchased Recon and is now selling the vertical type of bike rack. I am new to traveling to bike and I’m loving it, but I need a rack to do so. Here is my situation…

I’m a dad with 3 kiddos (9, 7, and 22 months) my wife doesn’t really ride even though I bought her a new bike (I’m going to keep on trying!). Usually its just my boys and I riding, so we need to carry 3 bikes, but my daughter really loves her Kids Ride Shotgun and she’s been hitting the single track a lot since she was 16 months old. I suspect that I’ll need to carry her bike here in the next few years. We also do a trip from Michigan to Sanibel island each year and we want to take our bikes. So that will make 4 bikes this year and 5 starting in a few years. We also go to Mackinac Island and ride up there, so again 4 and soon to be 5 bikes.

If I’m traveling with 4 bikes hanging off the back on a standard tray style Super Duty and 1 later either in the van or on top, would I be better with a Recon 5? When it’s just me I can travel with my bike inside my van, but I will need at least 3 trays by this spring.

Also, as far as the recon goes, my one son is on a 20 and the other is on a 24. I know that the 24” tire will fit in the standard basket, but will the rear tire be able to reach the bottom tire mount space? The frame is shorter. The problem is that he will be into either a 26 or 27.5 by next year and his brother will be on the 24 by next year. so if I can just do 1 kids rack that would be best until my daughter jumps up to a standard rack, but that’ll be in 5 years or so.

If you have any advice or experience it would be greatly appreciated. I have been using a Thule tray rack and I like the quick ease of use but it doesn’t fit my kids bikes so I’ll need an option and it’s only a 2 bike system.

Thanks

 

[J_Westy]

If I’m traveling with 4 bikes hanging off the back on a standard tray style Super Duty and 1 later either in the van or on top, would I be better with...

My favorite part of the 1up is the modularity. 1 bike or 4 (arguably 5) depending on the day.

If it were me, I'd get a 4 place 1up, but have the add-ons made with roof trays so you have the option of moving the trays to the roof.

Then either get a 5th add-on (if your bikes are light'ish and can accept the risk) or another roof tray.

If you want a single bike day for just you, you can get the "adapter" to mount just a single add-on... the only difference is you can't fold the rack up, but for a single bike, it doesn't stick out that far.

Add-On Hitch Adapter

*1.25” Hitch Bar Lock Included

www.1up-usa.com

 

[Nat]

I don't know if it applies to the Recon rack (never heard of it until this thread, actually) but a friend has this 5-bike Velocirax and his kids' bikes fit on it. If you click through the images on their site there's at least one photo showing a 20" kids bike next to an adult bike. It looks like there's a significant price difference FWIW.

VelociRAX 5

VelociRAX 5 Includes: 10" Spacing between bikes Hitch mounted vertical bike rack holding up to 5 bikes Hinge assist dampers for fully loaded hinging Garage mounting kit Integrated anti-rattle locking mechanism VelociRAX tire straps 1/2 inch keyed hitch lock All needed...

www.velocirax.com

 

[xjbaylor]

Based on your description of your needs I would go with the Recon or Velocirax option. I like my 1UP because I usually have just the single bike mounted on my truck, and leave it 90% of the time. If you only need a rack to carry multiple bikes I would go Recon/Velocirax. I used on for a weekend in Moab, and it is simply the best way to move multiple bikes. When my kids are both old enough to ride with me I will switch the that style.

Last, while I haven't used the Recon, I can't imagine what I would like about it enough to justify the $300 price difference over the Velocirax, it was great.

 

[FlyRide247]

Based on your description of your needs I would go with the Recon or Velocirax option. I like my 1UP because I usually have just the single bike mounted on my truck, and leave it 90% of the time. If you only need a rack to carry multiple bikes I would go Recon/Velocirax. I used on for a weekend in Moab, and it is simply the best way to move multiple bikes. When my kids are both old enough to ride with me I will switch the that style.

Last, while I haven't used the Recon, I can't imagine what I would like about it enough to justify the $300 price difference over the Velocirax, it was great.

This is kind of what I’m thinking. I like the double tray that I could use for my bike, but if I just remove the seat post, the bike just goes into the back of my van when I need to go by myself.

My biggest concern with the regular 1UP is having 4, or 5 bikes if I risk adding on another one, bouncing down the road on a long trip from Michigan to Florida. That’s a lot of bike hanging way out off the back of the vehicle. The Recon doesn’t seem like it’ll be that far out on long drives. And at worst case, it’s only going to have 3 bikes on it, and at best case I’ll fill it with all 5.

I was really leaning towards the Super Duty about a month ago, but I also knew that I’d have to find another option to add a single on when my daughter starts riding. I really never heard of a Recon or Velocirax style rack until I was going to pull the trigger on the 1UP and the Recon was listed on there. So it was back to the drawing board on what I thought was best.

Thanks for all the input.

 

[Nat]

The Velocirax is pretty dope. If I needed to haul multiple bikes I’d be all over one.

 

[Harold]

I like tray-style racks for up to 2 bikes, but more than that, and the whole assembly gets awful unwieldy. Even when the rack is empty, it's often a pain to fold it up. They get heavy AF and that's part of it. They don't do well on smaller cars because of the weight hanging far off the back, causing the vehicle to droop.

If I need to carry multiple bikes on the crosstrek, I use a 2 bike hitch rack combined with roof trays. That keeps the weight balance from getting ridiculous.

If you have a bigger vehicle (van, pickup truck, larger SUV) that can handle the hitch weight and you want to carry multiple bikes, then I like the vertical racks. Not as much of a fan of these for smaller cars, because they're tall and catch the wind over the roofline. Might as well just use a roof rack. Also, you're still limited on how many bikes you can carry because of hitch weight limitations.

 

[matsf]

I have an older style 4 bike Recon rack, pre straps. It’s awesome. I personally wouldn’t use a tray style rack with 4 bikes. I haven’t used any of the other upright racks but I imagine they all work fine. When I got my Recon rack, the only other upright style rack I was aware of was the North Shore. The Recon was a little more expensive (a fair bit less than the current prices) but the Recon seemed to be higher quality and they were made less than 25 miles from my house.

 

[FlyRide247]

Ok, well I’ve narrowed it down to either Velocirax or an Alta Rack. Anyone with a “this over that” opinion will be appreciated. One of our vehicles is a mini van and has a lower hitch on it so that’s a plus for the Alta Rack because of the angle and I worry about that with the Velocirax. I like the anti wobble hitch on the Velocirax and have used that on a Thule tray rack. I also like the hydraulic damper system on the Velocirax in theory (I haven’t used it), but with the Alta Rack I like that I can move the baskets for spacing or remove them all together if not carrying all the bikes. I’ll be deciding this weekend because I need something for an upcoming trip.

 

[FlyRide247]

Thanks all for the info and thoughts. I ended up pulling the trigger on an Alta rack. I’ll see how it goes. With all of my research I came to like about 95% of the Alta rack and the Velocirax. The decision came down to me having one of our vehicles being a minivan with a low hitch. I’ve banged another rack on a drop out of a grocery store parking lot and I only had 2 bikes on there so it wasn’t sitting too low. With 5 bikes and a loaded down van, I like the angled beam on the Alta rack.