The Rack Stash is a convenient storage unit for hitch mounted bike racks and accessories, and attaches to a wall stud in your garage. The beefy and well made Rack Stash, allows you to store any sport hitch rack, up off the garage floor when it’s removed from a vehicle, and as an additional feature, bikes can even be stored on the rack. The unit’s receiver accepts 2 inch hitch rack or a 2 inch adapter.

Impressions
When I take the bike rack off the vehicle and stash it in the garage, I seem to notice that it’s always in the way, and no matter where I place it, I am tripping and stumbling over it. I usually end shoving it up out of the way, to make it easier to maneuver around in the clutter of the garage, with all the accompanying items, such as kid’s bikes, skateboards, a motorcycle, a snow blower, etc. When I finally require the rack, I have to extract it from the debris, and it always seems to get snagged and tangled up with something.

I use the kuat NV rack, and it’s a bulky and heavy (48 lbs), but if you can pick it up in the proper position, it’s somewhat easier to move around. The Rack Stash lets you slide it in at the correct level, so no real lifting is required, and I can then cart it over to the truck and plug it right in, always keeping it around the same level, so less back strain and grunt effort is required. In addition, I now have a less cluttered garage, and I can reclaim some of my floor space, or at least be able to walk around without tripping or bounding around.

“Ah. Good morning. I’m Bounder of Adventure.”
“My name is Smoke-Too-Much.”

Installation
The installation of the Rack Stash is pretty straight forward, and only took me a few minutes using the proper tools (Red Bull required). Decide the location of the unit, and an approximate height up from the floor, and then locate and mark the exact center of a stud. Line the unit up with the center, level it, and mark the three holes. Drill into the stud, and ratchet down the bolts tightly into the wall, and its ready to use.

Bottom Line
The Rack Stash is a great accessory, and allows you to attach your bike rack to the wall, freeing up garage space, and decreasing clutter. In addition, by installing the Rack Stash’s receiver at a specific height, you can carry the bike rack between the vehicle and the unit at the same level, for less back strain and effort. If desired, bikes can be stored in the rack while it’s on the wall.  The Rack Stash is a simple and highly functional storage tool for anyone who has an outdoor type hitch rack (bike, cargo, ski).

Overall Rating: 4.5 Flamin’ Chili Peppers

Rack Stash Specs:

• MSRP: $59.00
• Store your hitch rack accessories on the wall.
• Fits one 2″ bike rack and at least two ball mounts that are 2″ as well.
• Can also be used for a 2″ hitch mounted basket or cargo carrier.
• Keep your racks off the ground with this wall mount.
• Mounting hardware included.

Visit there website at http://www.rackstash.com/

While I was wandering around in the desiccating heat of the Outdoor Demo portion of InterBike 2009, I came upon the kuat Innovation’s booth, in which they were showing off their very trick NV bike rack. Of course, what also caught my eye was the female mannequin, which was overtly well endowed, Brick House! The kuat marketing scheme was something more along the lines of ‘Nice Rack’. Justin of kuat (koo-at) gave me a nice walk through of the rack, and I was very intrigued to test one out. The new NV rack had a plethora (I like that word) of features, first, and foremost, is an integrated bike repair stand, just a simple yet unique idea to add to a bike rack!

Kuat Racks is based in Springfield Missouri, and was founded in 2007 by Luke KUschmeader and Brian ATkinson. In 2008 kuat launched their first line of aluminum ‘hanging style’ hitch mounted racks, the ALPHA and the BETA. Luke pressed on with a new partner, Guy Mace, and with this partnership, they recently released the NV and SHERPA racks.

The kuat NV comes as a put together kit, and was fairly easy to assemble, sort of a giant tinker toy. The massive bolts that hold the arms to the main body took a long time to get clamped tight, but it certainly made for a stout beast once assembled. The massive welds, large bolts, material, and assembled parts of everything assure for a strong and robust bike rack.

kuat NV – walkthrough from Brian Mullin on Vimeo.

After assembling the rack, it was time to attach the unit to the back of my truck. The unit comes with a nice locking hitch pin, and a cinch tight cam system that wedges the rack’s arm tightly into the receiver. Inserting the rack into the trailer hitch was easy, although I did find that a quick spritz of greaseless lube (I used LPS 1) inside the hitch receiver, and on the rack’s main arm aided greatly in working with the two entities. The hitch receiver tends to get pretty dried out and dirty with time, and just a tad of the lube really helps.

Aligning the holes so that the receiver pin could be inserted, took some finesse, but that’s the same with any trailer hitch work. The pin’s lock easily snapped on, and the lock’s key hole cover fit snugly, and has stayed on over 4 months of hard use. Once the pin and lock are set, then turn the black cinch tight cam system knob to get the rack from slopping around in the receiver. I forgot to do that once, and I had to pull over, and tighten it down, since I could see the bike jostling around in my rear view mirror. During a 2 foot snowstorm, I drove off a curb into a very deep ditch and broke off the cinch tight knob. The knob is not user replaceable, and the lower hitch section must be returned to the factory for replacement (under warranty).

The NV is a 2 bike rack (future option for 4), that holds a bike with a front tire cradle with an adjustable clamp arm, and a rear tire ratchet strap system, so nothing is contacting the frame. This beefy, yet light rack (48lbs) is made of heat treated 6061 T6 aluminum, and can carry up to 55 lbs bikes. The rack accommodates a variety of bike styles, and holds wheel sizes from 20 to 29 inches, with up to a 3 inch wide tire.

The holding system does a great job of securing bikes during transport, as my multiple test trips over 4 months have acknowledged. I have made a few 6+ hour road trips with the rack, with speeds up to 75mph, in extremely winding conditions, and all were done with my typical aggressive styled driving. The bikes stayed stable, and did not show any adverse issues. The rack has gotten the joy of being in some severe snowstorms, so the rack got its first treat of road grime, salt and gravel. It has also done fine on the typically rutted and bumpy fire roads.

Attaching a bike was very straight forward. Just undo the strap by loosening the ratchet, and pull the clamp arm out as far as possible. Pick up the bike, swing the bikes rear wheel under the strap, center the front wheel in the cradle, rotate the clamp arm up and towards the fork, and give a slight snug down. Ratchet the strap tightly, and then give a good push on the clamp arm and your done. I drive like a crazy man (my Wife would concur), and the bike stayed nice and secure with all my nutty aggressive driving habits.

Removing the bikes is straight forward, just reverse the process. Push the arms in when done, and ratchet in the straps, and then pull the lower gold lever and push the rack up vertical for space saving.

The bike locking system for the rack uses a very innovative integrated bike cable lock, in which the cable lock retracts into the arms when not in use.

To lock the bike, just pull out the cables from their arm receptacle (rear tire cap), stick them up through the bikes rear triangles, and snap the lock and pin together. I worry about my bikes, so if I am going to be leaving the bikes for any period of time, I attach my own long cable lock through the triangles, and the front wheel. I know that’s a paranoid, but better extra secure then gone! I do wish it had some lock mechanism for the front wheels?

If you need to access the rear of your vehicle, just pull the gold lever underneath the main rack (by the hitch/receiver), and the rack rotates down enough to egress into the back hatch or door. Originally, I was unable to lower my trucks (Toyota Tundra)tailgate without it touching the NV when it was in its flat or tilted positions, but when I got an upgraded hitch (when I broke the cinch tight knob) it had a shortened stack height (hitch to cradle), so it now clears it by 2+ inches.

The bike stand attachment is called the Trail Doc, and it uses a rudimentary, albeit functional clamp system. To use the bike stand, you put the bike rack in the upward position, and then loosen the quick release lever and move the clamp arm up or down per requirements. Towards the back of the clamp arm, is a small lever that allows rotation of the clamp head between either a vertical or horizontal orientation. I played around with the Trail Doc, and clamped it on the top tube and seatpost, and did some minor maintenance without any problems. It is an effective bike stand, and is a nice addition to a bike rack for doing repair or tune up work while at the trailhead.

I do wish the Trail Doc had some sort of lock for security purposes, else you need to remove it, and store it inside your vehicle to prevent theft. Another small point of contention is the L shaped screw that you use to open and close the clamp head. When you open the clamp towards its maximum size (for oversized frame tubing) the end of the screw sort of falls back behind the slot, and gets kind of caught, so I think just a tad longer screw would solve that issue?

To accommodate bikes with smaller wheels, the rack comes with an adapter for 20-24 inch wheels that fits on the end of the clamp arm. A simple yet effective way to be able to carry kids, and small bikes, which makes it a full fledged family bike rack.

Bottomline
The kuat NV rack is a sweet bike rack that is well built, sturdy, moderately lightweight, easy to use and full of innovative and functional features. Putting a bike in the rack was a simple task using the clamp arm and strap system, and it made for a very secure attachment. The lever actuated rack, has a great fold up and tilt down function, which made it easy to gain access to the rear of a vehicle even when fully loaded. I liked the innovative integrated cable locks, the cam wedge system for the receiver, and of course the integrated bike stand (Trail Doc). The ability to carry 20 to 29 inch wheels was an excellent feature, and really opened it up to an entire spectrum of bikes. The Trail Doc is a nice feature (albeit rudimentary), although I wish it had an integrated locking mechanism of some sort. If doing any sort of driving in extremely rough terrain where the rear end of the rack might scrape (ledge drops), caution must be exercised, else the cinch tight knob can be damaged. The kuat NV is an excellent rack, that is backed up with a lifetime warranty.

Strengths
-Robust
-Trail Doc bike stand
-Ease of use
-Tilt feature for vehicle access
-Cinch tight system stabilizes rack
-20″ to 29″ carrying options
-Integrated cables locks

Weaknesses
-Cinch tight knob can get broke off in severe 4×4
-Lack of lock for Trail Doc
-Needs an additional lock for front tire

Overall Rating: 4.5 Flamin’ Chili Peppers

MSRP: $495

Purchase from etrailer.com

kuat NV Specs
- Heat treated aluminum
- 20 – 29 inch wheels, 3 inch wide tires
- 55 lb bike capacity
- Trail Doc repair stand
- Front tire clamp and rear tire ratchet strap system
- Hitch lock
- Integrated bike cable lock
- kuat’s cinch tight cam system
- 1.25 or 2 inch hitch receiver options
- 13 inch bike separation
- Folds up (storage), flat and down (for vehicle access)
- Lifetime warranty

kuat url: http://www.kuatinnovations.com/

While I was wandering around in the desiccating heat of the Outdoor Demo portion of InterBike 2009, I came upon the kuat Innovation’s booth, in which they were showing off their very trick NV bike rack. Of course, what also caught my eye was the female mannequin, which was overtly well endowed, Brick House! The kuat marketing scheme was something more along the lines of ‘Nice Rack’. Justin of Kuat (koo-at) gave me a nice walk through of the rack, and I was very intrigued to test one out. The new NV rack had a plethora (I like that word) of features, first, and foremost, is an integrated bike repair stand, just a simple yet unique idea to add to a bike rack!

The kuat NV comes as a put together kit, and was fairly easy to assemble, sort of a giant tinker toy. The massive bolts that hold the arms to the main body took a long time to get clamped tight, but it certainly made for a stout beast once assembled.  The massive welds, large bolts, material, and assembled parts of everything assure for a strong and robust bike rack.

kuat NV – walkthrough from Brian Mullin on Vimeo.

After assembling the rack, it was time to attach the unit to the back of my truck. The unit comes with a nice locking hitch pin, and a cinch tight cam system that wedges the rack’s arm tightly into the receiver. Inserting the rack into the trailer hitch was easy, although I did find that a quick spritz of greaseless lube (I used LPS 1) inside the hitch receiver, and on the rack’s main arm aided greatly in working with the two entities. The hitch receiver tends to get pretty dried out and dirty with time, and just a tad of the lube really helps.

Aligning the holes so that the receiver pin could be inserted, took some finesse, but that’s the same with any trailer hitch work.  The pin’s lock easily snapped on, and the lock’s key hole cover fit snugly. Time will tell if the keyhole cover will fall off or not? Once the pin and lock are set, then turn the black cinch tight cam system knob to get the rack from slopping around in the receiver. I forgot to do that once, and I had to pull over, and tighten it down, since I could see the bike jostling around in my rear view mirror.

The NV is a 2 bike rack (future option for 4), that holds a bike with a front tire cradle with an adjustable clamp arm, and a rear tire ratchet strap system, so nothing is contacting the frame. This beefy, yet light rack (48lbs) is made of heat treated 6061 T6 aluminum, and can carry up to 55 lbs bikes. The rack accommodates a wide range of bike styles, and holds wheel sizes from 20 to 29 inches, with up to a 3 inch wide tire.

The holding system does a great job of securing bikes during transport, as my multiple test trips have acknowledged. I have made a few multiple hours rode trips with the rack, with speeds up to 75mph, in extremely winding conditions, and all were done with my typical aggressive styled driving. The bikes stayed stable, and did not show any adverse issues. This last week the rack got the joy of being in a small snowstorm, so the rack got its first treat of road grime, salt and gravel.

Attaching a bike was very straight forward. Just undo the rear wheel strap by loosening the ratchet, and pull the front wheel clamp arm out as far as possible. Pick up the bike, swing the bike rear wheel under the strap, center the front wheel in the cradle, and then rotate the clamp arm up and towards the fork,  and give a slight snug down. Ratchet down the rear wheel tightly, and then give a good push down on the front clamp arm and your done. I drive like a crazy man, and the bike stayed nice and secure with all my nutty aggressive driving habits.

Removing the bikes is straight forward, just reverse the process. Push the arms in when done, and ratchet in the straps, and then pull the lower gold lever and push  the rack up vertical for space saving.

The bike locking system for the rack uses a very innovative integrated bike cable lock, in which the cable lock retracts into the arms when not in use.

To lock the bike, just pull out the cables from their arm receptacle (rear tire cap), stick them up through the bikes rear triangles, and snap the lock and pin together. I worry about my bikes, so if I am going to be leaving the bike/bikes for any period of time, I attach my long cable lock though the both triangles, and the front wheel. I know that’s a paranoid, but better extra secure then gone!

If you need to access the rear of your vehicle, just pull the large gold lever underneath the main rack (by the hitch/receiver), and the rack rotates down enough to egress into the back hatch or door. With my large truck, I wasn’t able to totally lower the tailgate, but it was nice to be able to grab something from the back if needed through the door.

The bike stand attachment is called the Trail Doc, and it uses a rudimentary, albeit functional clamp system. To use the bike stand, you put the bike rack in the up position, and then loosen the quick release lever and move the clamp arm up or down per requirements. Towards the back of the clamp arm, is a small lever that allows rotation of the clamp head between either a vertical or horizontal orientation. I played around with the Trail Doc, and clamped it on the top tube and seatpost, and did some minor maintenance without any problems. It is an effective bike stand,  and is a nice addition to a bike rack for doing repairs or tune ups when at the trailhead.

I do wish the Trail Doc had some sort of lock for security purposes, else you need to remove it, and store it inside your vehicle to prevent theft. Another small point of contention is the L shaped screw that you use to open and close the clamp head. When you open the clamp towards its maximum size, the end of the screw sort of falls back behind the slot, and gets kind of caught, so I think just a tad longer screw with a lock nut on the end would solve that issue?

To accommodate bikes with smaller wheels, the rack comes with an adapter for 20-24 inch wheels that fits on the end of the clamp arm. A simple yet effective way to be able to carry kids, and small bikes, which makes it a full fledged family bike rack.

Conclusions

The kuat NV rack is a sweet bike rack that is well built, sturdy, moderately lightweight, easy to use and full of innovative and functional features. Putting a bike in the rack was an easy task using the clamp arm and strap system, and it made for very secure attachment. The lever actuated rack, has a great fold up and tilt down function, which made it easy to gain access to the rear of a vehicle even when fully loaded. I liked innovative integrated cable locks, the cinch-tight cam anti wobble wedge system for the receiver, and of course the integrated bike stand. The ability to carry 20 to 29 inch wheels was an excellent feature, and really opened it up to an entire spectrum of bikes.

MSRP: $495

Purchase from etrailer.com

kuat NV Specs
- Heat treated aluminum
- 20 – 29 inch wheels, 3 inch wide tires
- 55 lb bike capacity
- Trail Doc repair stand
- Front tire clamp and rear tire ratchet strap system
- Hitch lock
- Integrated bike cable lock
- kuat’s cinch tight cam system
- 1.25 or 2 inch hitch receiver options
- 13 inch bike separation
- Folds up (storage), flat and down (for vehicle access)

KÜAT RELEASES THE NV RACK

November 2009- Kuat Racks is now shipping the much anticipated NV rack. The new platform rack offers an abundance of style and function.