The "Fast - Cheap - Good" triangle has eluded designers forever.
When it comes to roof racks, you can usually get two of them easily. Bike racks are either expensive, shitty, or take forever to use. The guys over at Upside Rack are trying to build a rack that will close this gap. The Upside Rack is eye catching from the start: Your bike is mounted by the seat and handlebars, not the wheels or frame.
The rack is designed to work with any car with roof bars - something many cars come with from the factory. It is easily removable, and packs down so it can be carried around.
Surprisingly, the rack goes on the bike first, then you put both on the car. The first 30 seconds of this video answer a lot of questions about how it works. I like that the clamp for the handlebars and the hook for the roof bars are one part, that is a clever design.
The rack looks to be very straightforward to use, and the Kickstarter costs are around $100 for one rack, so that just leaves it's quality in question. With so few moving parts, it seems like it would be pretty easy to keep costs down. Maybe this is the unicorn of bike racks?
When it comes to roof racks, you can usually get two of them easily. Bike racks are either expensive, shitty, or take forever to use. The guys over at Upside Rack are trying to build a rack that will close this gap. The Upside Rack is eye catching from the start: Your bike is mounted by the seat and handlebars, not the wheels or frame.
Upside Rack in use
The rack is designed to work with any car with roof bars - something many cars come with from the factory. It is easily removable, and packs down so it can be carried around.
Diagram from Kickstarter site
Surprisingly, the rack goes on the bike first, then you put both on the car. The first 30 seconds of this video answer a lot of questions about how it works. I like that the clamp for the handlebars and the hook for the roof bars are one part, that is a clever design.
The rack looks to be very straightforward to use, and the Kickstarter costs are around $100 for one rack, so that just leaves it's quality in question. With so few moving parts, it seems like it would be pretty easy to keep costs down. Maybe this is the unicorn of bike racks?
Unmounted shot
One last video from their FaceBook page that shows mounting in more detail. I am impressed with the whole system works - the clamp, the torque limiter, the whole thing is well designed. I kind of want one.
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