****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
This is a great concept, and I really wanted to love it, in fact I still have it on my subaru with my Copperhead Fork mounts just incase I can figure a better way of using it. . . That being said. The first time on the road with this tire mount, I was going down the highway around 70 mph and heard a loud thud on my roof. Scared part of the rack ripped off, I exited the highway to see if there was any damage. No damage, but no tire upright anymore either. The mount had shifted over and landed on the roof, still attached, but rubbing the roof... I tried what others have said and added some electrical tape under the mount before using it so it does "turn", and I tightened the nuts till they seemed too tight. The problem still existed. With the weight of my 29er MTB X-Country bike tire, it simply can not live up to it's need. Fortunately I have another bike with a 700cc road tire that weighs 1/3rd, almost 1/4th, compared to my 29er. The rack should work for it, but I'm still nervous to bring it back on the highway, under 50mph with the road bike tire is OK. Over 50 is yet to be deteremined. Under 45mph with a 29er seemed to be fine, but I was on the highway for no more than 2 - 3 miles before having to exit! So buyer beware. Also - there is no lock, no SkS Lock, notta. A simple wrench could steal the mount off with your tire. So take it with you for the night when traveling, or lock it in your vehical after. On a nice note, it does lay nice and flat while not in use, and match my yakima rack and rail system beautifully. . .We used these wheel forks for an 800 mile drive with 2 bikes. A portion of the drive went through the mountains and through a bad thunderstorm with high winds. The bikes were a pretty high end road bike, and a mid-range mountain bike.The positives:--Easy to attach the rack to the car (thule rack)--VERY secure. The wheels stayed attached, and never came lose, even on mountains and in high winds.--Easy to attach the wheels. You just tighten the quick release levers and you're good to go.--Rack can be tilted down (when wheels are not attached), although on a thule rack, they can only get to about 45 degrees. This is good for parking garages if you already have a tall car.The negative:--The rack did not stay upright. By midway through the drive, the wheels had tilted down so they were touching the roof. This isn't good for more expensive wheels, or the car roof, so we kept adjusting it at rest stops. There was no way to solve this problem on a Thule Rack--we tried tightening the bolts, positioning the mount differently, everything we could think of.I purchased two of these mounts for the sole purpose of freeing up more space in my Mini. I had read several reviews about them prior to my purchase so I knew what I was getting myself if for. If you are just cruising around town then the forks, when holding a wheel, will remain up right. However if you venture further up on your speedometer the racks will start to lean back. The wheels fits securely in the mount and I have no fear of it coming loose. Make sure that when you first place it in the mount that the tire sits right in the middle. If it is off just a bit the wind will start to shake the wheel side to side. I have enjoyed this product and use it almost daily.Okay, some people out there have the following complaints: * It was too hard to put the wheel on, * The safety knuckles make it impossible to put the wheel on, * The retention device broke, and/or * The mount spun around and dented my roof.First, RTFM. It will make your life easier. After that: * Push down on the wheel while closing the QR lever. I've seriously never had a problem doing this. * On more than one occasion, I've seen the safety knuckles save some very expensive wheels. The QR levers screw in and out to adjust them. If you can't figure it out, visit your local bike shop. * I've put wheels from 24" roadies to gnarly MTB setups to 700c disks on these. Never a broken retention device. Mine are mounted facing up because wheels tend to rotate backwards.... * Mount the wheel vertically, then rotate it back until it's gently touching the roof of your car. Because of the retention device, it won't scratch your paint.The only issue I have is due to they Yakima round bars. One either has to cinch this really tight on the bars or, as I did, add a strip of duct tape to the bar for this to grab on to. It will rotate easily if you do not do so. As a bonus, the strip of duct tape I have is also used to indicate which bar goes in the front of the car and which goes in the back.The cross bars on my Toyota Sienna were too wide for the mounting bracket to work. I decided to drill holes directly into the cross member and that worked great. This also prevents the problem many are reporting of the wheel rotating back to rest on the roof. I would have given 5 stars if there was a way to fold down the fork when not in use.I have a late model Subaru Impreza and I have to buy the Yakima Universal Mighty Mounts (costs $40!!!) in order for this product to fit my car (because my cross bars are sort of oval, neither round nor square). So I don't know how well it works yet.Vibrates in the wind and fell slightly over a 1500 mile trip
