Rocky Mounts GuideRail Bike Rack Review

Need a bike rack that is sturdy and reliable? Check out our review on the Rocky Mounts Guide Rail!
Full written review:
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Many bike racks make contact with the fork, handlebars, or even sections of the frame, which can cause damage to your bike. The new RockyMounts GuideRail aims to change that, as a 2-bike system compatible with most bikes including eBikes, that only makes contact with the tires while transporting your bikes securely. We’ve been road tripping hard with our GuideRail rack loaded up, and it has us thoroughly impressed.

THE DIRT

The GuideRail works much like a 1Up rack, which has become the household name for this style of rack, but I found it to be more refined and user friendly. Road bikes, gravel bikes, and mountain bikes were all transported with ease over thousands of highway miles and countless shuttle roads. The GuideRail has never caused any issues, holding firmly onto the tow hitch regardless of the terrain faced. It has become a piece of my everyday life that I don’t have to think about. The bikes are held securely to the rack thanks to the load arms that cinch down tightly on the tires. To lower the load arms, you push in on the release levers relieving the tension. Once the tension is relieved the release levers click open to slide the load arm away from the bike tire. This system works flawlessly once you learn the trick to relieving the tension on the load arms. With the 1Up rack I felt like I sometimes needed three hands to unload a bike, but the GuideRail is a little more user-friendly.

As mentioned above, bikes can be loaded asymmetrically to eliminate handlebar interference. When testing I did run into a combination of bikes that had handlebar and seat interference. This was quickly remedied by lowering the seat using our dropper seatposts. If lowering the seat didn’t solve the interference issue, I found that the bikes can easily be positioned slightly forward or back on the tray giving more room for handlebars. Overall, it does a good job at keeping the bikes separated and making life easy for mounting, but you would hope so when it only has two bikes to juggle.

While there is not much to complain about with the GuideRail from RockyMounts the big and burly 10mm square link chain that comes with the rack could be an area of critique. The security this big chain offers is one of the great perks of this rack and the neat integration of the chain with the rack makes it even better. It is very beefy, heavy and secure, which alleviates some worries when running into the supermarket, but also make it a beast to move around. Bike thieves suck! Our first sample came with the older, shorter length chain and I found that it was not quite long enough to run through the frames of some two-bike combinations. Rocky Mounts informed us that they’ve lengthened the chain and this should no longer be a problem but with modern geometry and frame designs, it could be something to note. Mountain bikes like the new Santa Cruz lineup, where the shock is mounted very low in the front triangle, will take up extra length. Additionally, the chain is only long enough to go through the frame(s) and will not reach far enough to include the wheels. An additional, longer cable lock would be a wise purchase if you plan on leaving multiple bikes on the GuideRail for longer periods of time, to deter thieves from stealing your fancy hoops.

The Wolf’s Last Word
I love using the RockyMounts GuideRail rack. It’s simple, works well, looks good, and it does everything you want a rack to do. Unlike other racks on the market the GuideRail only makes contact with the tires of the bike, which alleviates any worries about wear on fork lowers or handlebars during transportation. The security that the 10mm link chain offers is tremendous, but I just wish it was a few links longer to secure a wider range of two bike combinations.

Price: $849.95
Website: Rockymounts.com

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