Yakima KingPin 2 Rack: The Cadillac of bike racks
Written: Nov 26 '04 (Updated Jan 31 '05)
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Pros: High quality. Great features.
Cons: Price. Tough to lock up.
The Bottom Line: Super high quality and great features. You can find racks to do the job for less, but for top line equipment get this one.
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| some_guy5's Full Review: Yakima KingPin 2 Rack |
I will get to the point right away. This is a great bike rack. It is expensive, but if you decide to pony up the cash it won't let you down.
This rack fits into your trailer hitch and secures with a pin. That is a pretty simple concept and Yakima hasn't done anything stupid to make it harder.
This is only the second bike rack I have ever owned. I replaced one that was worn out and didn't have many features. Until I looked at this one, I couldn't have dreamt how many features you could have even had on a bike rack. The rack has really nice adjustable cradles for your two bikes to sit in. They rotate easily to fit any bike snugly (very snugly) and easily convert to accommodate a women's or men's bike. The bikes are held in the cradles by adjustable hard rubber straps. Your bike is NOT getting scratched by any piece of this rack. The hard rubber straps look like they could potentially crack and eventually break with age and weathering. The rack came with extras and the bike shop sold the straps separately. Keep an eye on them. I don't know if this is necessarily a design flaw. Rubber does this. You can't leave snorkel gear in the sun too long either.
The rack is hinged in two spots for your convenience. If you don't want the rack sticking out, but don't want to hassle with removing it, just fold down the prongs. Alternatively, if you need to get in to your tailgate but the bike is in the way, the hinge lets you fold the entire rack away from the vehicle. The pins are connected to the rack by wires so you can't drop them or lose them.
The overall quality of the rack seems very solid. You get the feeling that this will last far longer than you are going to need it. It is very substantial. The rubber coating on my old rack had worn off leaving metal to rub against the frame of my bike. That is not going to happen here. The whole cradle would have to wear off before your bike could touch metal. Don't worry. It won't happen.
The rack is intuitive to use. The features don't make it so that you have to figure things out. Adjust the cradle, set the bike in, strap it.
I can think of only one thing I would like added to the bike. I had a hard time locking the bike to the rack. I guess they could give you a loop to run a cable lock through. I ended up just winding the cable around the rack and through the bike. Also, there is no good place to lock the rack to the hitch. You would need a way longer cable than I have. If there is a trick I don't know about someone can feel free to fill me in.
I see some people list how many bikes a rack holds as a con. That just plain isn't fair. It holds the same amount of bikes as when you picked it out. This one holds two. If you want a rack that holds more than two, don't buy this one.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 160
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some_guy5
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