Yakima Highroad bike carrier

21/05/23 19:58 Filed in: Gear

I had two Thule bike carriers permanently installed on my car. My partner had three permanently installed on her car. For a trip to Thredbo I moved one of mine to her roof bars so we could take two bikes each. There were three different bike carrier types represented here and she had a new car that we wanted a different solution for.
I sold all five Thule mounts in about an hour online. I probably could have received even more money for them at the rate they flew out of the house. I put that money towards the Yakima. I found a place online in NSW that had four in stock (it was pandemic times and no one had much in stock). They even gave me a good deal on buying four.
The beauty of the Highroad is that it goes on or off the car in about 30 seconds (probably faster). I leave the roof bars on my car because they're involved to get on or off (and the plastic that they sit on to protect the interface between rack and roof is well and truly dead after so many years). We got Seasucker roof bars for my partner's car. They go on in 5 minutes and come off in 30 seconds. I can put one, up to four, bike carriers on either car in about one minute. Super convenient. And it means the carriers don't get used (or use fuel) except when required.
I hung four hooks on the garage wall and the racks hang from those when not in use. Out of the way, but readily available.
I once used a couple of them on the roof of a friend's car and it only took a little longer to mount them there because some adjustment of the strap length was required to get a good fit on his roof bars.

The only thing wrong with the Highroad is that it doesn't work with mudguards. It clamps the front and back of the front wheel snugly to hold the bike upright and secure. A small strap goes over the rear rim to hold the back wheel in place. The rear clamp tries to squash the mudguard onto the tyre - not ideal. When I have to carry my commuter bike I just take the front wheel off and slide it in the hatch of my car, but I'd rather be able to put it on top.

As I alluded to in my Albek Atlas bike bag review, the Highroad does not cope with modern long wheelbase gravity bikes (at least in size XL). The 131 cm and 133 cm wheelbases are not so long that I can't put them on the carrier, but are too long for the rear wheel holder to sit under the rear hub. Instead I use the fat bike strap (really long) to reach up the rim to pull down on the wheel well in front of the rear hub. Slightly sub-optimal, but it works. I've taken the Sender to Thredbo multiple, multiple times since I got both the Sender and the Highroad with never a problem.

Like all carriers that hold the front wheel, there is no scope for moving bikes in relation to each other. On a small car with narrow roof bars the wide flat bars of a mountain bike can (and do) interfere with each other. To get four bikes up there requires turning the bars on at least one bike 90 degrees by loosening the stem bolts - a minor change that makes them so easy to get in place. Luckily it is only one as the DH bikes with their direct mount stems can't do the 90 degree rotation. One also has to pay attention to pedal placement as they pedals can rub each other. The bikes do end up close together.

I prefer the wheel holding system to one that clamps the frame. A post-mud-ride leaves the bikes filthy and I can put a filthy bike on a Highroad without fear of damaging either the frame finish or the clamping mechanism.

Yakima, you got it so close with these. You just needed to make them a few cm longer for modern bikes.

Michael Hanslip Coaching

If you want to go faster, you have to pedal harder

Yakima Highroad bike carrier