Kuat Huk Curved Tailgate Bike Pad for Full-Size Trucks - 6 Bikes - 61" Wide

Video Transcript for Kuat Truck Bed Bike Racks Review - 2023 GMC Sierra 1500

Hi, everyone. Aidan here at etrailer. Today we're gonna be taking a look at the Kat Huk Tailgate Pad for full-sized trucks with the curved tailgate and seeing how it fits in our 2023 GMC Sierra 1500. Now for the curved tailgate, that's gonna be for most newer trucks. And you can really see that on the tailgate pad when you look at the middle. This section is quite a bit wider than it is on the edges because a lot of these newer trucks have a much deeper curve in the tailgate, and that top section there is a lot wider which means if you're looking at the tailgate pad as a way of carrying your bikes, then most of them are gonna fit kind of awkwardly because they bulge out in the center and don't fit very well on the edges.

Kat thought of that and design this to work with that curve by being wider in the center and just sitting flat all throughout. The whole thing is also padded all throughout. It's got an inch thick padding up top, thick padding on the front for the forks and on the back for the frame of your bike, which results in a very strong fit. Everything is wedged in here really well and there's really not a lot of movement which is impressive considering aside from all of the just friction fit we have around the foam, it's just got the one strap around the frame back here that holds it in place. I'll get that removed so we can see what it looks like.

It's just going to wrap through a section on the tailgate pad, feed around the frame of the bike into itself, cinch down and close that lever to keep it tight and keep it from opening up. Honestly, it works really well and we haven't had any issues with it during our testing today. And once that's done, you can just lift the bike up and away. Now, if you're looking at a tailgate pad you might be in the market for some other kind of bike rack. Maybe a hitch-mounted bike rack.

And a lot of people like 'em, but I think for a truck there's a lot of benefits to going with a tailgate pad. If you've got something in your hitch like a ball mount like we have here, you don't have to remove it. So, when we're ready to tow, we can trust that it's gonna be ready to go when we need it and we can still have our method for carrying our bikes. This does still work with our tonneau cover when it's open and it's going to result in a strong way of carrying up to six bikes, which is pretty impressive. Most hitch-mounted racks only go to four.

(Velcro snapping) We still get to have full use of our tailgate when the bikes are unloaded by opening this flap, rolling it up and cinching it down with the included strap. So, then we can have our backup camera and open our tailgate to get to the inside of our truck bed if we need it. Back here we can see all the different bike straps that are included. We can run these through any one of these stitched on loops so we can move this and adjust it. If we have some bikes that are bigger and need more spacing, we can give them that and some smaller bikes that can maybe sit closer together can do that too. And they're long enough where if you need to feed them through two of these, they'll still fit around the frame of your bike. So, if your bike falls not perfectly in line with one of these loops, it'll work just fine. We can also see back here the four straps that actually feed around our tailgate to hold the pad in place. (car door thuds) And out front they've got metal G hooks that attach to loops on the front of the pad and keep it really still. You can see I'm shaking the entire truck just by the tailgate pad, and nothing on here is moving. So the straps do a great job at keeping things held down tight. And I think also the custom fit with that curve helps with the fit as well in keeping it secure. The outer material is this TPU material and it's gonna be very weather resistant. I don't think any rain or water is gonna get into it. And it's also gonna make it very easy to clean. So, if dirt gets on there, you can easily brush it off by hand, but a wet rag will make it look like new. Plus that material's going to be recyclable and biodegradable, which is pretty cool. And overall, I think the Kat Huk is a really solid option for a tailgate pad. The fit really is unmatched. All four of those straps help pull on things evenly to make sure that it lays flat across the tailgate. And no other tailgate pad has that curve in the top to work with these newer style truck tailgates. Meaning that nothing is gonna get as good a fit as this. So, if you're looking for a really high end tailgate pad and a way to carry six bikes on your 2023 GMC Sierra, I think this is the way to go. Thanks for watching. Here we are on our test course. We'll take it through the slalom. This is gonna show us the side to side action which simulates turning corners or evasive maneuvers. We'll get to the alternating speed bumps. This will simulate hitting a curb or a pothole, or driving over uneven pavement. And we'll go over the full speed bumps. You can see the up and down action. This will be like driving in and out of a parking lot, garage or driveway.