etrailer | Breaking Down the Kuat NV 2.0 Bike Rack for 4 Bikes

Click for more info and reviews of this Kuat Hitch Bike Racks:
https://www.etrailer.com/Hitch-Bike-R...
Check out some similar Hitch Bike Racks options:
https://www.etrailer.com/dept-pg-Hitc...

Click for more info and reviews of this Kuat Hitch Bike Racks:
https://www.etrailer.com/Hitch-Bike-R...
Check out some similar Hitch Bike Racks options:
https://www.etrailer.com/dept-pg-Hitc...

https://www.etrailer.com
Don’t forget to subscribe!
   / etrailertv  

Full transcript: https://www.etrailer.com/tv-review-ku...
What's up, everybody It's AJ with etrailer.com. Today, we're gonna be checking out the Kuat NV 2.0. It's gonna be a four-bike bike rack that holds the bikes by the wheels, so there's gonna be no frame contact whatsoever. Why it's so important that it holds it by the wheels and no frame contact is sometimes on platform-style bikes, you're gonna have that center mast here or a hook comes down and makes contact that could scratch up your bikes and limit you on what kind of bikes you can actually put on a four-bike bike rack. So you're not gonna wanna do a carbon fiber bike on there 'cause it could scratch or damage that frame. Also, there's nothing in the way here when you go to set the bikes in place so it makes loading and unloading far easier.

Now, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's look at what it takes to actually put it in the hitch and load up the bikes. Now, if you need a second set of hands to do this, that's fine. Just slide it in and line up that hitch pin hole. Put our pin through the hitch pin hole, and then add our lock on the other side. (hardware clinking) With the pin in place, now we can tighten down the hand knob.

I like that you don't have to have tools to do this, and the lock clicks on that pin right away so it does make it easy. Now, to unload the bikes, we're gonna pull on the handle, (latch clicks) lower the platform down, get the arms out of the way. Go ahead and get this all prepared, so it'll be easy to drop 'em into place. The first one I recommend coming in from the side to go ahead and put that in place. Throw the strap over the back tire.

(strap ratchets) Push in the button wheel hook, you're gonna extend that, bring it up. (wheel hook ratchets) Push it down into place. We had no issues with the first two bikes. The third bike, you gotta watch out for seats and handles hitting each other. If you have a dropper post, you could drop that seat down in that position.

That's what you wanna do. Even regular seats you can lower. We don't have any dropper posts today, but we we're able to lower some of the seats to get them out of the way or even maneuver the handlebars around each other. (hardware ratchets) One of the features the NV 2.0 does have is it can tilt away with the bikes fully loaded. Now, I don't recommend doing that. The bike rack can already get a little heavy. Then you're adding four bikes to that, which is gonna be, it can handle up to 40 pounds per bike, so potentially you could be adding all that to the bike rack to tilt it down. Also, depending on your vehicle height, it could hit the ground. On this vehicle today, it does hit the ground, so it is a little challenging to tilt this away to get to the back hatch. You can do it, but then you're also gonna have to lift that back up into place too. Some things to consider is we're gonna hold the bike rack. I suggest the wheel hook, not the maintenance arm. It does move a little bit on you, so just be prepared for that. Also, if you grab underneath, it could smash your hand. If it does make ground contact, the lever you're gonna have to throw is all the way back here. So it's not really an easy way to do that from the end. It'd be nice if the handle was here, so I could just at least do that, have something to hold onto, and lower it. So I'm gonna have Tom jump in, hit the lever for me, and then I'm gonna lower the bike rack. Ready Yep. You gotta lift up on it as well as it comes down. Also, be careful so you don't get trapped underneath your bike or get hit by the frame. So it's all the way down on the ground. Watch out for handlebars when you pop up, so you don't hit your head or your shoulder. But we can see how close it comes to the ground. Now, we're gonna open up the back hatch (distant tool buzzing) (distant hammer rapping) and get access to whatever we needed to grab. Now, lifting the bike rack back up is gonna be challenging as well. You can get a second set of hands if you want to. You go from the sides if that's easier. I'm going to come down here, use the arm with the hook on it that goes on the tire to lift it up. The good thing is the lever does snap into place when you get it high enough. So come down here. Lift it up. (latch catches) And then it ca