i liked my bike carrier. it was super light (made of aluminium of course), easy to attach, easy to load and unload, did not damage the frame and it did fit the karavan, too. in one word: perfect.
until a nice lady hit her brakes a tad too late and bumped into the back of our car, hitting my favourite bike rack. the poor thing ended up being a little mangled. luckily my bike, which was travelling on the rack at the time, escaped unscathed, and so did the car.
so it was time for a new bike carrier. it had to be on the rear, the car is too high to carry the bike on top, no grabbing the frame of course, it should be rugged and carry at least three bikes (mine, nat’s and the dirt jumper). after a fair bit of research into different makes and styles and comparing bike racks people we know own we decided on this one that we believe fits the bill the best. it’s also aussie made which is an important consideration.
we received two boxes the other day. nat was excited, she likes assembling things. these steel profiles are heavy but at least one doesn’t have to be gentle with the bolts either.
overall i am impressed with the quality of the design and workmanship. it’s sturdy, the electroplating is significantly better than the paint or powdercoating usually found on similar racks and it can be rotated to give access to the rear gate.
the only thing i’d say against it is that it is heavy, really heavy. it is almost impossible to attach it to the back of the car alone. the old one took one hand and ten seconds to attach or detach, this one is a two person job which will make it hard to put it on or take it off quickly. unfortunately it also blocks the rear gate so it really can’t stay on either.
that said i hope we’ll become good friends. and i’d love if the insurance company could reimburse us any time soon.