Hey—it’s only a bike rack. It’s not alleged to make you excited. It’s simply supposed to connect to your automobile and carry your bike(s) with out drama, concern, or rattling from one place to a different. If it comes off and goes on simply, that’s nice. If you happen to can drive for miles and miles down rutted grime roads with bikes weighing the rack down with out it wobbling itself virtually out of the hitch receiver, that’s even higher. If it might probably deal with the whole lot from thin-tired roadies to fats bikes, now we’re onto one thing. If it seems cool and isn’t one thing you’re detest to connect to your automobile, heck that’s superior. If it does all of these issues, it’s most likely the Küat NV 2.zero.
Additionally, it most likely prices a close to fortune, which the NV 2.zero does, at $690. That’s some huge cash for a motorcycle rack, however it doesn’t take a ton of use earlier than that determine appears completely affordable. That is a sublime, sturdy, hassle-free, very well-engineered piece of kit. Finest-in-class in relation to hitch-mounted bike racks.
I’m a heavy person of motorcycle racks, driving almost day by day to trailheads with one or two weighty full-suspension rigs on the again, sometimes one mountain bike and my 60-pound e-bike. For greater than 4 months I’ve given the NV 2.zero loads of purpose to develop a squeak, a worrisome wobble, an annoying clank. Up to now, nothing. It’s as clean and quiet because the day I put the sucker on.
If you happen to’re aware of platform and tray-style bike racks, there isn’t a lot right here that’s revolutionary (save a few neat methods—we’ll get again to these). That simplicity is definitely a promoting level. That is an intuitive rack. Meeting apart, which had me pacing my storage, beer in hand, frown on my face a number of instances—till I totally learn the guide, the whole lot works precisely as you’d need it to. The platforms for the rear tires are good and huge and flat, you don’t should line up the tire with a groove or something. The entrance trays are spacious and burly. The locking arms transfer easily and ratchet down to carry the tire with a delightful confidence. Identical with the thick rubber ratchet straps for the rear tire.
Elevating and reducing the rack is butter clean with a foot pedal/lever, which doesn’t require brute power to function, nor does the interior spring mechanism ever get hung up on something. It really works completely positive, each time.
Carrying two bikes and don’t wish to fear about handlebars and seatposts getting hung up on one another? The entrance wheel trays can elevate and decrease between three totally different positions, modified with a hex key that lives completely within the rack. Simple peasy. When you’ve got a fats bike, they make a “Phat Bike” equipment that extends the rubber strap for the rear tire and features a velcro strap for the entrance. With this equipment, the rack will settle for tires as much as four.eight inches. Every platform has an extended cable lock, however I wouldn’t belief them to lock up a motorcycle you care about—any person lower by mine whereas I used to be in a store for 5 minutes and made off with one in all my bikes. However that was my fault, not the rack’s. The rack locks to the hitch with a pin, by the way in which, an added safety measure I recognize.
Apart from the match and end, one of the best a part of the NV 2.zero is the Path-Doc, an built-in bike restore stand that’s completely fastened to the rack. Flip a lever, prolong the stand, and it clamps with a pair twists to a motorcycle’s prime tube or seatpost. That is such a well-designed and appreciated function. Whereas it doesn’t take up a ton of area to toss a folding bike stand within the automobile, it’s much more sensible to have one constructed right into a rack.
Even with out an built-in restore stand or adjustable entrance trays, this is able to nonetheless be a rack definitely worth the expense, merely due to how properly it’s put collectively, how a lot confidence it evokes that your bike received’t bounce off the rack when you hit a pothole at 60 mph, and, in contrast to the spindly, all-black racks that appear like a curled-up useless spider is glued to the again of your automobile, the NV 2.zero is elegant and aesthetically interesting.
Sure, it’s costly. But it surely solely takes one journey off-road with bikes on a rack that’s so stable and clean you neglect it’s even there to justify the associated fee.
Specs:
Weight: 52 kilos
Capability: 2 bikes; can get extender for four bikes complete
Max weight per bike: 60 kilos
Rear hatch entry: Sure, swings down
Hitch sizes: 1.25 or 2.zero inches
Tire dimension: As much as four.eight inches
3 comments
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