etrailer | How to Install: Saris MHS DUO Bike Rack for 2 Bikes on your 2023 Rivian R1T

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Full transcript: https://www.etrailer.com/tv-review-sa...
Hi, everyone, Aiden here with etrailer. Today, we're gonna be taking a look at the Saris MHS DUO, and we're gonna see how it fits on the back of our 2023 Rivian R1T. If you're looking for a way to carry e-bikes on your R1T and very heavy e-bikes at that, the MHS DUO is a great way to go because it can handle up to 80 pounds per bike and carry up to two bikes. Plus, it's gonna be very accommodating to a wide range of bike types because it's a dual-wheel mount. So we only have these two wheel hoops and a strap on the back tire, meaning no frame contact around the bike, making this a good option for alternative frame and carbon frame bikes, while still being fairly good for bikes with fenders because these hoops don't go very far up. So depending on the size of those fenders, you might find it works just fine for you.

This is a pretty large and heavy rack, and if you've got it fully loaded, that will be a fair amount of weight to tilt away. But the handle at the back end here that you use to release the bike rack puts you in a pretty good position, where when that weight does come down, it's not gonna be crashing down on top of you and your arms aren't tucked away in the back of the bike rack there. And while this doesn't give us enough room to lower our tailgate on the R1T, it is plenty of room to step in here with the bike loaded and grab something out of the back if we needed to. But for me, the tailgate clearance isn't that big of an issue because we've got the gear tunnel. So, for me, I keep my bike helmet, change of shoes in the bed of my truck.

For the R1T, you can just keep it in the gear tunnel. And you've got a nice place to sit and change your shoes before or after your ride, so you don't really need to let the tailgate down. Let's get the bike unloaded, though. We'll start by going down to our rear tire, where there's a strap holding it down. Just press the release tab and pull that strap out and tuck it away.

And right up from that, there's gonna be this silver lever that we can squeeze and disengage the arm. This does sometimes have a tendency to get stuck on the tread of your tire, but once you get that unstuck, you can walk over and just repeat the same thing on the other side. (bike rack clattering) Making sure to keep one hand on the bike at all times since nothing's really holding it upright anymore. From there, though, you can just lift it up and away from the rack, but then you can just fold those arms back down (bike rack clicking) and you hear that ratcheting mechanism that engages. That's what keeps it held onto your tire.

From here, though, we can get a few measurements. I'm gonna start off with our ground clearance, which is the lowest point at the back end here, sitting right at 20 inches. That's gonna be plenty of room where I don't think you'll really have to worry about bottoming out at all. It's just something to be mindful of when you are lifting those heavy e-bikes up, that it will be a taller lift. The other thing we can check out is our clearance from the bumper, and we are adding 33 inches from that furthest point out. It's a fair amount of length that we're adding. A lot of the racks we've tested today have been pretty compact to the back of the bumper, so this one will stick out a fair bit further, and it's something to watch out for when you are driving around and pulling into parking spots. If you wanna leave it in the hitch between rides, though, you can fold it up against the vehicle for easier storage. Now, for this, there's two positions, one where it's at a slight angle, not making contact with the bumper, and one that's straight up and down. This sits really close, and I will say that right in the center, one of our wheel hoops does barely touch the plastic of our bumper here. So for me, personally, I wouldn't run with it like that just because it's a nice truck. You wanna keep it nice. This is still saving you a ton of space in the folded position, so we can get a measurement from the bumper. And in that same spot, we're only sitting 16 inches back to the furthest out point. That's gonna be a lot of space saved, so when you are driving around, it's gonna be a lot less of an obstruction and just be easier to park with. With this all folded up, though, I'd say it sits pretty well on the Rivian. T