The Yakima Hold-Up 2 is considerably heavy, 60 lb., giving it a beefy reputation. Though it has a few design flaws that make the owner of expensive mountain bikes (me) go hmmmm....
First it's easy to assemble and mount to your truck. It's even easier to mount bikes on taking little to no time at all.
The Design Flaws:
1.)Plastic components on criticle pieces, one being the ratcheting devices on the wheels to hold the bike down should've been made of metal and the strap that feeds it should be high tension rubber, not plastic as the ratchet can slip on the teeth freeing the tension on the bike.
2.) The 'strong arm' that holds the bike down on the front wheel can come loose. It too has very shallow teeth in which to grab (stamped into metal)again using plastic on metal.
3.) The MOST critical piece that did in fact fail more than the above metioned flaws is the pin that keeps the bike rack level. It only goes in just over a quarter of an inch. As the bike travels any bump frees the pin, it catches when it comes down and essentially ratchets itself free causing the rack to drop. It doesn't drop to the ground thank goodness but why even have it drop any? It should bottom out when level and a pin should go all the way through with a cotter pin of sorts to keep it in place. There is a hole on the other side, so I drilled the pin side out and put an eight grade bolt with locking nut on the other side.
4.) The two bolts that hold each platform are put in upside down, along with the bracket,,..wtf? It should mount on top. Another thing is that in about two minutes you can unscrew these with a wrench and take the bikes along with half your rack. Not a good anti-theft system.
5.) The cable it comes with is a joke, along with the locking mechanism that bolts through your reciever. You have to pound the lock on to get it to lock. The mechanism is comprised of a soft lead like metal that shaves off easily, not a good thing when used on a hardened steel bolt that it comes with, it weakens it then is useless.
If Yakima fixed these it would have one bomber bike carrier. It is heavy duty, just the design flaws are critical in keeping your bikes on the rack securely. I had no problem with them falling off, they just came loose, the pin backed out several times and the rack fell several times, not good going down a highway.
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