Yakima Universal ForkLift Bike Rack

Comments about Yakima Universal ForkLift Bike Rack:

I bought two of these for my 2008 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport, which had the factory "aero" bars.

The product fit great on the middle latch setting. There are three options, one for thin bars, medium bars and thick bars. On the medium setting they still look very slick.

At first I was cautious about this purchase because I was worried about how stable, secure and aerodynamic this product would be. What I have found was, the product is much more sleek that in appears in the photos. There is no additional wind noise and the product looks very slick. In addition, bikes are held very snug - I have no hesitation about how stable this rack is - it is very well designed.

Also, the locking design allows a bike to be locked to the rack, and the rack to be locked to the car (with the locking cores). This is a great design, some other universal models just lock the bike to the rack, and someone could still steal the rack and bike because it isn't locked to the car.

My only complaint is that a person can easily steal parts of this rack if they wanted to. No tools are necessary on any aspect of the install. Which means, a person could take off the rack with no tools if you don't lock it. Even with locking it, the back of the rack could be removed. The lock only effects the front clamp. It would be nice if the rear clamp required a unique tool to secure it.

Service and delivery comments:

Delivered to the store for free - arrived by expected date.

Comments about Yakima Universal ForkLift Bike Rack:

**I will update this review after some initial usage.**

I wanted to provide a review to those who have been searching for a fork-mounted bicycle rack for their car that has factory crossbars-- in particular, those from Audi. Hopefully, this will provide some helpful information.

First, my wife bought a new Audi Q5, which is the compact version of the Q7, and it comes with factory crossbars at fixed points, based on the location of the "feet", at predetermined points along the roof rails. Audi offers a bike rack with their crossbars, but it is not a fork-mounted system and it was not appealing, nor do I have confidence in the Audi rack accessories. Thule offers a "Domestique" model that is marketed as compatible with most factory racks, but the latch mechanism on the front fork was not appealing. That left the Yakima Forklift bike rack/tray.

Regarding the installation, I found that placing both of these onto the Q5 was relatively easy, as many of the reviews describe. However, I was concerned about: (1) the ability of the jaw or clamp to fit snuggly onto the Audi factory bars; and (2) whether the tray would extend too far back and interfere with the back hatch when it was opened.

Regarding #1-- the Forklift comes with 3 present hinge points on the jaw/clamp. For the front jaw, I ended up using the lower hinge point, providing the widest opening. The jaw sat relatively well on the top of the factory bar, more or less flush. The bottom of the jaw did not wrap cleanly underneath the factory bar, with visible gaps. Similarly, the rear jaw also had a gap underneath the crossbar, with the ideal hinge point seemingly as the second spot of the three.

As a solution, I bought some heavy duty black rubber gasket molding at a hardware store. You can likely find this in the plumbing section, and I bought 3 squares (roughly 10 x 10 inch), at under $10. I then measured the width of the jaw, both above and below, and used a cutting tool to cut rubber gasket molding pieces that could be used as "shims" or filler material between the jaw and the factory bar, where there were gaps. For the front jaw, I placed the gasket material both above and below the factory cross bar and clamped the jaw around each piece. For the rear jaw and crossbar, I only placed the gasket cut-out on the underside of the crossbar, and I also used two pieces (each about 0.5cm in thickness). I was thus able to cinch down the jaws and clamp both the front and rear fairly securely. In fact, I have great confidence that these clamps now offer "bomber" holds onto the factory crossbars. I did the shake test-- and got the Q5 rocking back and forth with no movement or play from the bike rack.

Regarding #2-- I actually borrowed an aluminum saw in anticipation of cutting the ends of the tray so that the rear hatch would be able to open. If you are using this on your Q5, you are in luck-- even with the rear caps on the trays, there is about a 1-2" clearance when the rear hatch is open. I have not yet mounted bikes, and it is possible that the wheels may protrude and actually touch the opened rear hatch, although I'm optimistic it will not interfere.

I hope this helps. Again, I will update once I've mounted the bikes to check for clearance, and more importantly, once I've driven with bikes mounted to the system.

Finally, the Audi factory bars give an unpleasant amount of wind noise, even though they are "aero". If your Q5 has a sunroof, you'll quickly note that any fairing will rest directly on top of the sunroof, and is not a viable option. I also tried to fit an Inno brand fairing, which has univeral adapters so it could fit to the factory bar, but it also was not long enough to extend to the front of the roof and out of the way of the sunroof. My last desperate option now is to try and fit a Yakima Windjammer to the factory bar. Note that the Windjammer will not close around the Audi factory bar; it will, however, fit onto it, very snuggly. A test drive indicated a slight wind noise reduction, and I will try to drill holes to the rear of the wind jammer and fix screws and bolts to pull the rear of the jammer together in hopes of more wind noise reduction. I will also update this review once this has been done and tested.

Comments about Yakima Universal ForkLift Bike Rack:

I bought this unit for my 02' Subaru Outback Impreza Sport because I wanted a rack that could accept my stock rack bars. Subaru Hatchback guys should know you have to install it backwards in order to have clearance to still use your rear hatch. Unit seems strong and stable. Be aware, it does not come with the lock and key, that can be purchased at REI also however.

Comments about Yakima Universal ForkLift Bike Rack:

After struggling to get another rack on my Nissan Xterra I picked up this rack and have been extremely happy with it. Xterras have the thickest crossbars on the market so imagine my relief to find a rack that not only fit but was extremely easy to install. I plan on picking up another one this summer.

Comments about Yakima Universal ForkLift Bike Rack:

Just installed 4 of these onto my new Honda Civic 4dr. Getting 4 bikes to fit required a number of attempts. Ended up alternating directions with the carriers. Once you know where each carrier has to go, it's a snap. Be careful to leave enough clearance for the long skewers to be removed or you may have to remove 2 to change the position of one. This is the only drawback to the system, but this also makes it more secure. The units are fairly light weight, easy to manage and very solid. Carried our 4 road bikes with ease through 3 states and high fall winds in Michigan and Illinois. Everytime I checked the set-up it was all good. Stainless steel locking skewer looks like it will last forever. Smooth finish on rack rails looks nice. Composite portions seem to be very well constructed. I would give it 5 stars if you could change the position of the carrier on the crossbar (right to left) without removing the skewer completely (quite a few threads means quite a few turns of that nice red dial). Still, a great unit I would recommend to a friend.

Comments about Yakima Universal ForkLift Bike Rack:

I bought two of these for my 2005 Subaru Outback Wagon. They work great with the factory rack on this vehicle.

Note: If you are getting this rack for a similar Subaru wagon, you will have to move the front crossbar of the factory rack as far forward as possible in order to prevent the rear hatch from hitting the back end of this bike rack. Moving the crossbar is quite easy (loosen two screws, move bar forward, re-tighten screws), and allows for about 2 inches of clearance between the back of the bike rack and the fully opened hatch.

If you are getting this rack for a different vehicle, I can say that the "universal clamps" on this thing are quite adjustable, and would work with practically any kind of factory roof rack out there - as long as yours has crossbars, of course.

I have had these racks for over 6 months, and I use them 3+ times per week for both road bikes and mountain bikes. I've never had a single problem with them. I regularly take my bikes on the freeway and bumpy dirt/gravel roads, and I never have any concerns about my bikes falling off.

I did not invest in the locks for these racks, so I take them off after each use. They just take a few minutes to install, which is great since I am in the habit of taking them on and off my car several times per week. I figure they'll last longer if I keep them out of the weather when not in use anyway.

I highly recommend this product.

Comments about Yakima Universal ForkLift Bike Rack:

I was leery about purchasing this rack last summer after reading the reviews about how "unstable" "weak" and "unreliable" this product was, but compared to the design of other racks I looked at this one was the best, so I decided to give it a shot and see how it would work out. I have a 2 door Honda Civic and my crossbars are not spaced very far apart. This added to my concern of stability.

Anyway, I bought this item and fell in love with it right away! Once I got it on my car I was very pleased with how it looked and the effectiveness of the product's design, function, and stability. The only time my bike wobbles is when the front forks aren't secured tight enough (common sense). We have driven my car up winding mountain roads and have had no problems or worries with the rack. And the best part is, I still get about 38 mpg even with my bike on top of the car!

Needless to say, I love this rack! And I will be purchasing another one this summer. :)

Comments about Yakima Universal ForkLift Bike Rack:

Easy to mount bikes - one handed adjustment of the fork mount is worth the extra money over the less expensive models. Very stable - no problems/concerns transporting the bikes over very rough fireroads in the mountains.

Comments about Yakima Universal ForkLift Bike Rack:

I have 2 of these on my Subaru Tribeca and use at least one of them 3-4 times a week. Attaching the bike is quick and easy and seems to be about as secure as it is on any other fork mount system.

Installation is quick and painless.

Others mentioned that bikes on these racks were too wobbly but that's not the fault of the Forklift. It all depends on the sturdiness of the factory cross bars. To minimize wobbling I placed the Forklift as close to the cross bar mounts as possible. Now the bikes don't move much at all.

My only slightly negative experience was that one of the racks whistled very loudly at speed. Turned out I bought one of the first ones made and that Yakima had quickly corrected the design. They graciously sent me a new updated part that eliminated the noise.

Comments about Yakima Universal ForkLift Bike Rack:

I installed this rack on the factory roof rack on my RAV4. No matter how I adjusted it, it was too wobbly. It was probably OK with my road bike, but when I put my FS mountain bike in the rack, it swayed from side to side too much, and I was afraid that if I took a turn too fast it would fall off. I was especially nervous about taking a bike in the Forklift rack onto the freeway at high speed or in a crosswind, so I decided to take it off and go with another rack.

I've bought a lot of Yakima stuff over the years, and their stuff is usually solid and stable, but not the Forklift.