Saris Gran Fondo Vertical 2 Bike Rack Review

Review of the Saris Gran Fondo Vertical 2 Bike Rack

Speaker 1: Today were going to be taking a look at the Saris Gran Fondo trunk mounted two-bike rack, part number SA872. Well go ahead and take it out for a test drive to show you, have a look to traveling down the road. The Saris Gran Fondo can hold standard size tires and 29-inch tires. The rack holds the bike up vertically, so theres no bike rack to bike frame contact. The bikes are spread apart enough to where theres no bike frame to bike frame contact. There are four soft rubber pads on the bike rack that are on these pivoting balls that will accommodate different styles of rear hatches. The bottom set of feet on the bike rack can also be adjusted up and down to accommodate different styles of rear hatches. Also, the bottom set of wheel trace can also be adjusted up and down to accommodate different bike lengths.

The hooks, which attach the bike rack to the vehicle, are coated in a rubber paint so that they wont damage your cars finish. The ratcheting straps here give an extra strong hold to your bike. The Gran Fondo is made of a light-weight aluminum that is rust-resistant. Its made in the USA, has a weight capacity of 35 pounds per bike and a carrying capacity of two bicycles. It also comes with a limited lifetime warrantee.Now that weve gone over some of the special features of the Gran Fondo, well go ahead and show you how to install it. Well start off by placing the bike rack on the rear of the vehicle.

You can see here on the bottom that the feet do not have good contact with the rear of the vehicle. What were going to do is go ahead and loosen up these yellow knobs that allow us to adjust the feet to fit around any obstructions.Once we get this bottom bar in position, making sure our feet have good contact on both sides, well go ahead and tighten down both of the yellow knobs. Keep in mind while youre doing this youre going to have to keep pressure on the top bar to keep the bike rack from falling off.Were going to go ahead and start with the top straps and hook them to the top part of our rear hatch. Well, then, take the clip and place it at the top of our rear hatch. Well go ahead and tighten down the strap.

You dont want to tighten it down too tight, as what were going to do is were going to tighten enough just to help us hold the bike rack in place. Well, then, repeat the same process for the other side. Now that we have some help with holding our bike rack right from the straps, Im going to double check to make sure the bike rack is centered on both sides. With that done, Ill continue securing the bike rack to the back of the vehicle by securing the side strap as well as the bottom strap. Again, were going to get the straps in place and not tighten them down all the way. Now that the side straps in place, well go ahead and secure the bottom straps. Depending on your application, you may need to open up your rear hatch or your trunk to get the bottom clip in place.

Now that all of our straps in place, well go ahead further tighten them down. This is going to further secure the bike rack to the vehicle. With everything all tightened down, well go ahead and tie off our excess strap. Now that weve gone over some of the special features and showed you how to install the Gran Fondo, well go ahead and show you how to load up a bike. To begin our bike-loading process, well first need to pick up the bottom part of the wheel tray. Youll notice here there are two settings, a setting for standard size bike tires and a setting for 29-inch bike tires. Well go ahead and pull up to the standard size bike tires. Youll notice that only the standard is showing, indicating that its ready to load standard size bike tires. If we we're going to be loading the 29-inch tire, we would simply flip out these yellow levers and lower the wheel tray. Noticing the 29-inch only indicator is up against the line, indicating it is ready to be loaded with 29-inch size bike tires. With that done, well go ahead and undo the cradle straps for both the top wheel cradle and the bottom wheel cradle. You can see this bottom wheel tray also tilts to accommodate different bike lengths. Starting from the back, well go ahead and roll the bike up. Place the front wheel into the front wheel tray, allowing the back tire to rest on the bottom wheel tray. You can see. Well go ahead and tilt it down to accommodate this bike length. Then well go ahead and use the ratcheting straps to secure the bike to the bike rack. With our bike all loaded up, well go ahead and take it out for a test drive to show you, have a look to traveling down the road. That completed this review of the Saris Gran Fondo trunk mounted two-bike rack, part number SA872. .