Yakima Holdup 2
RRP $499 www.yakima.com.au
Since its recent arrival on Australian shores, US-based Yakima has become a name synonymous with robust, cleverly engineered bike (and watercraft) carrying systems.
The company offers an excellent roof-mounted rack – the Front Loader (see our review at www.agoutdoor.com) – and also makes this hitch-mounted jobbie, the HoldUp 2.
The HoldUp 2 is a burly carrier (22kg) designed to fit to 50mm hitches and, as its name suggests, it can carry two bikes.
The wheel cradles will accept sizes of between 14 and 29-inch; during testing we easily fitted both a 29er XC bike and a 650b Cruiser with space to spare. The maximum weight of each bike is 27kg.
For those who may want to carry more than two bikes, there’s the optional HoldUp +2.
In a similar fashion to the Front Loader, the bikes are secured via the front and rear wheels to avoid any chance of damaging your bike’s frame, which enhances its appeal to road bike owners.
The front wheel is housed in a cradle, secured via a swing-up arm and ratchet clamp, while the back wheel is tied down via a strap into a pivoting mount, designed this way to allow for different wheelbases.
It’s a simple but clever design; not having to worry about any scratched framework heightens the appeal of this system. Further reducing any chance of accidental damage, each tray can be moved left or right to avoid potential contact points.
The HoldUp 2 also tilts back from the rear of your vehicle, ensuring easy access to the cargo area without having the hassle of removing the bikes to do so. Sans bikes, the rack folds up vertically to minimise the space it takes up behind your vehicle – handy if you’re in a tight car space.
In regards to mounting the rack, the HoldUp 2 belies its burly appearance by being quite easy for one person to mount to the vehicle with a simple bolt through the hitch, which is then tightened to eliminate rocking/vibrations from the rack.
Bike security is taken care of by an integrated locking cable and – probably the coolest standard feature ever seen on a bike rack – you can celebrate with a cold beverage thanks to the integrated bottle opener. Yep, not bad at all!
The only negative with this rack during testing was the lack of a clear space for mounting of a number plate.
I solved this by tying my bike-rack number plate to the outer bike, but it would be great to see Yakima tweak the design to include a number plate mounting area.
The robust, simple design should see the HoldUp 2 offer many years of service. The big selling point from this tester’s perspective is the HoldUp 2 can mount any bike type – whether MTB, cruiser or road, carbon-fibre, steel or alloy – without
having to purchase any further accessories to do so.
It just gets the job done.
