1UP USA Quik-Rack review w/video

The 1UP USA Quik-Rack is amazingly easy to set up and load a bicycle onto. The super convince of this single bike rack, is incredible. The rack can be folded and stored in the garage, in the trunk folded up or even just left in the hitch on the vehicle.  The two arms on the rack simply tighten up around the wheels and your off. No removing the wheels. The only parts that touch the bike are on the wheels. For those with carbon frames or nice paint jobs on their bikes, nothing touches the frame of the bike at all. it comes complete with everything needed to convert the rack from fitting in a 1¼" or 2” inch tow hitch. At least two inches of the rack must be mounted inside the hitch receiver for the expander bolt inside to grab hold of. The rack can be adjusted in a few angles when a bike is either on or off the rack. Need to get access to your hatchback? The rack easily is adjusted to give you access. The 25 pound rack is very solid when mounted in the hitch receiver. Face the bike in either direction and simply place the wheels in the trays. Open the racks arms before placing a bike on the rack, pull the arms closing in on the wheels and the bike is now securely fastened. 

The ratcheting rails can only be opened (red levers) when you lift up and move them out away from the center of the rack. Although this rack is only for one bike, there is the option to add on up to two other racks, making the total rack fit a total of three bikes.  Each bike can weigh up to 50 pounds. There are seven different levels on each opening arm in which the roller can be adjusted, allowing it to fit road or mountain bikes bikes with wheel bases up to 52 inches (axle to axle) and fit bikes with wheel sizes 16 inch to 29 inches. Special attachments can be purchased separately from the company to allow the rack to fit fat bikes. No rubber straps or cords to worry about and all necessary hardware.  It comes with both a ¼” allen key to remove the two inch receiver, if your going to use it on a hitch 1¼” as well as two, 3/4 inch security allen keys (anti-theft security tools) to securely mount the rack to the vehicle. I love this rack when it’s only been myself headed out to meet up with a group road ride or meet up friends on the mountain bike trails. The only problem I have seen is, if I fold the rack up towards my vehicles bumper it slightly blocks my license plate. Obviously not everyone is going to have this issue as plates are mounted at different heights depending upon the vehicle. If I drive without a bike on the rack, I leave the rack down exposing the plate, but fold it up when I park. I love this rack in that once the allen key tightens the mechanism inside the hitch making it very solid. The rack does not wobble or shake what so ever. The rack comes in black or the anodized aluminum like you see here. This rack would be perfect for students who use their vehicles to get in the general area of their school and use a bike then to get to class. With the security hitch as well as the ability to be quickly folded down and stored in the trunk, its a win/win! 


Check them out at the link below 

www.1up-usa.com

The CURT hitch-mounted rack #18086

Traveling any about of distance with your bicycle secured to a hitch or trunk rack, you want to focus on driving while knowing your bicycle(s) is/are secure.  I’ve owned both trunk and hitch mounted racks before, but before my family’s road trip this summer I purchased a CURT tray-style hitch-mounted bike rack #18086 which would hold all four of our bikes. The receiver tube is two inches. I have had issues with hitch racks and their swaying motion at times. The last thing I wanted was for anyone’s bike to fall off.  Each one of us in my family has not only a different size bike frame but tire size also. With the different frames sizes, using a hanging style rack, where the top tube rests on the rack, would not be an option due to the different size frames. My mountain bike weighs 33.5 pounds and has 29 inch tires. My wife's bike weighs 34 pounds and has 26 inch tires. My son’s bike weighs 33 pounds and has 27 inch tires. My daughters bike weighs 31 pounds and has 20 inch tires.  

Each bike would be loaded in the same spot, so the wheel trays or cartridges could stay locked down. The frame hook part of the rack that holds down the top tube, forcing pressure down on the bike so the tires stay in their trays, holding the bike in place is very secure. The hand knobs/screws are a little difficult at times. Over the next week, depending upon our night time staying location, we left the bikes on the rack secured with a heavy cable and lock or brought them inside our hotel room.  The best part of bringing the bikes inside the hotel was riding them down the halls. Really how are you suppose to tell a nine-year-old and six-year-old to walk their bikes down the hall, with the rooms we were always given being the farthest away from the elevator. Okay, honestly how do you keep a 40 something year old from not riding his bike down the halls too?

 I was worried the first day of our trip, constantly checking the rear view mirror to see if the bikes were still attached. Every time I glanced back, they sure were. We encountered a lot of rain a few days on our trip and the rack performed very well. 

The CURT hitch-mounted rack #18086 can hold up to 180 pounds. The rack itself is pretty heavy, especially with the added two bike extension also bolted to the original rack. With all of my family’s bikes weighing 131.5 pounds, the max load is still under the racks limit. How would they ride while attached to the rack? After taking off on our road trip, I loaded the bikes on the rack from tallest (mine) to shortest. Adjusting the wheel trays depending upon the bikes wheel base. 

The rack is elevated a little bit, so for myself loading/unloading the bikes is not a problem. As for my son, it takes a little extra to life the bike up onto the rack. I like the elevation of the rack, so I don’t need to be concerned with it rubbing on a driveway curb or speed bump when going over them. The rack folds a few different ways when keeping it still bolted to the vehicle. This is great when parking in a garage or shorter parking space. The rack stayed on the car the entire trip as it was unnecessary to detach it from the car. 

We traveled on a few dirt roads and the bike rack was still very stable. This weekend will be the first time I will try using it with my road bike. The wheel trays are pretty wide, so accommodating the wide mountain bike tires was easy. After the 1665.9 miles, all with the rack in place, I would highly recommend this rack to anyone wanting or needing to transport up to four bikes of various sizes. 

** Full Disclosure**  I purchased the rack and was not compensated for this review by anyone.