Saris Sentinel Trunk Mount 3 Bike Rack Review

Review of the Saris Sentinel Trunk Mount 3 Bike Rack

Today were going to be taking a look at the Saris Sentinel Trunk Mount and 3 Bike Rack part number SA1052. The Saris Sentinel has 2 adjustment locations here. This is going to allow you to move the cradle arms back or forward to accommodate different sized of trunks. There are phone pens located on the bottom bar of the bike rack and also the top bar of the bike rack to help protect you vehicles finish. Along with the rubber coated hooks, that are also designed to help protect your vehicles finish. The cradles on the sentinel can adjust back and forth along the cradle arms to accommodate different bike sized and lengths. The cradles can also tilt back and forth to be able to go around the top bar of the bike or to be used as an anti-sway cradle and wrap around the vertical bar of the bike to prevent the bike from swinging back and forth and coming in contact with the other bikes or the bike rack itself. The sentinel has a carrying capacity of 3 bicycles with a weight capacity of 35 pounds per bike. Its made in the USA and comes with a limited lifetime warranty. Now that weve gone over some of the special features, well go ahead and show you how to install it. To begin our installation, the bike rack starts of in a stored position, well pull it out, snapping this bar in place and now were ready to fit it to the vehicle, then well place the bottom solid soft foam pad about at the license plate. This is going to make sure that our cradle arms are slightly angled up to ensure that the bikes ride correctly in the frame cradles. Now that the bike rack in place, were going to start with the top 2 straps and hook them to the top of our trunk. This is also going to help us keep the bike rack in place while we clip on the other 2 sets of straps.

The top clip is also labelled upper. Well then just go ahead and repeat the same process for the other top strap. And when we tighten on the straps, were just going to tighten them loosely just to help us keep the bike rack in place. Then well go ahead and do the side straps and then the bottom set of straps. Now when youre hooking in your side clip, you want to make sure that you hook it up against metal and not your tail lights. Again, just tightening the strap loosely. Then well go ahead and finish it off with the bottom straps. Now, depending on your application, you may need to open up the trunk a little bit to get the bottom clips in position. With that all our straps in place, now well go ahead and further tighten them down to further secure the bike rack to the vehicle. You want to tighten down each side a little bit at a time so the bike rack doesnt become off center. Now that the bike racks secured, well go ahead and secure the excess strap. Now that weve gone over some of the special features and shown you how to install it, well go ahead and show you how to load up a bike. Well first start off by undoing the cradle straps, then well go ahead and simply place the bike frame into the frame cradles of the bike rack. Now we went ahead and tilted the frame cradle down so we can wrap around this bar of the bike and then simply just bring the strap around and secure it.

Finishing off with the other strap around the top tube of the bike. Now with our bike all loaded up, well go ahead and a take it off for a test drive to show you how it looks in action. And that would complete todays review of the Saris Sentinel Trunk Mount and 3 Bike Rack part number SA1052. .

Sadi

4/7/2021

The longer straps were attached at the top of the back windshield and the shorter straps were attached at the bottom of the trunk. The lower foam pad rested on the license plate and the upper foam pads rested on the spoiler above the window in the trunk. I drove 44 miles round trip and their was no damage to the back windshield. Excellent *****

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Jon G.

4/8/2021

I'm glad you were able to get your trip in but I would definitely look into investing into a different bike rack if you plan on transporting your bike frequently. The bottom part of the bike rack should sit into the license plate well and then the top part will reach over the spoiler. Your spoiler isn't designed to take the weight of the bike rack or the bike and so it will get damaged. I recommend going with a trunk mount rack that is compatible with your vehicle, which you can filter through in the attached link.

Helpful Links

trunkmount-2016_toyota_prius.htm

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Sadi

4/8/2021

On the Saris Bones Rack, is the arm that goes OVER the spoiler sitting on the back window? Isn't that putting too much weight on the window? Do not understand how that is better than the foam pads sitting on the spoiler

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Jon G.

4/9/2021

@Sadi The window will be more secure than the spoiler . I know it seems a little counter-intuitive because we view glass as being fragile but your spoiler is not designed to be load bearing at all. There are actually notes in trunk mount rack instructions that talk about removing the bike rack when not in use on certain vehicles because just the straps will damage the spoiler.

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Sadi

4/9/2021

@JonG The straps are attached to top of back window. Are you saying that it is safer to move the top foam pad up to rest on the bottom of the glass windshield rather than leaving it on the spoiler? I can make that work with the Saris Sentinel. Please advise. And, thanks for all your suggestions.

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Jon G.

4/12/2021

@Sadi The bike rack should be supported down by the bumper and your windshield. I would still be leery about using that bike rack on your vehicle though. Usually when a manufacturer doesn't list a bike rack as a fit it's because they don't approve the use for some reason. Sometimes that's because it won't physically fit and other times it's because the won't we able to safely transport the bikes on that vehicle.

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See All (5) Replies to Sadi ∨

Sadi

4/7/2021

Just installed rack on my 2016 Prius attached at top of rear windshield. Leaving for bike ride soon. Carrying only one bike Any concern it will crack the back windshield? Comments welcome ASAP. Thx.

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Jon G.

4/7/2021

You installed the Sentinel on your Prius? I mean, I can't really guarantee anything since it isn't confirmed to fit if I'm being completely honest. If you have the top arm resting directly on your glass I would hope that the bottom arm assembly would take the brunt of the weight but I can't really say either way.

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Sadi

4/4/2021

Please let me know if the Saris Sentinel trunk mount bike rack works on a 2016 Prius w/Hatchback. Thx.

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Jon G.

4/7/2021

The Sentinel won't fit your 2016 Prius but we do have a number of other racks that will. I have attached a link to our selection for you to check out.

Helpful Links

trunkmount-2016_toyota_prius.htm

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Sadi

4/7/2021

Today, I drove 44 miles round trip with my bike on the Saris Sentinel bike rack installed on my 2016 Prius. fyi... It worked perfectly with absolutely no issues.

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