Securing the rack to the hitch
The straightforward however efficient locking hitch pin retains the rack in place, and the hitch expander helps it match snuggly into the receiver.
Attaching the Saris Edge to your car’s hitch is a simple course of—and meeting is easy too. Simply insert the backbone of the rack into the hitch receiver, slide the locking hitch pin by way of, safe it with the lock, and tighten every thing down utilizing the built-in knob. As soon as it’s cinched, the rack received’t budge—but it surely’s a good suggestion to verify the knob’s tightness often.
As for the preliminary setup, the rack comes with 4 lettered arms (e.g., A to A slot), that are secured utilizing 4 bolts and the included hex wrench. Should you’re assembling it solo (like I did), it ought to take lower than half-hour. With a second set of arms, you could possibly minimize that point practically in half.
The rack is hefty as soon as assembled, weighing over 65 kilos. It’s most simply mounted with two individuals, but it surely’s nonetheless manageable by yourself if wanted.
Loading bikes
Spacing between bikes is fairly beneficiant, so it’s straightforward to load bikes up and roll into place alongside the tray.
The Saris Edge rack makes use of a V-shaped groove within the steel tray, which helps so much while you’re loading heavy e-bikes. Should you’re not going full He-Man and simply lifting the entire thing in a single go (“I’ve the ability!”), The better methodology is to roll the entrance wheel up onto the again part of the tray after which push the bike ahead till you elevate the rear wheel into place. The groove acts as a information, conserving your bike regular as you load it into the primary wheel bay.
For loading the second bike, it’s the identical course of simply confronted a distinct means, and with practically a foot of clearance between the bikes you need to simply keep away from knocking pedals whereas doing it, simply thoughts the handlebars and saddle contact as you load the second.
The Edge will match fats tire e-bikes as much as 5” large, and most any grownup sized tire with no drawback. And naturally with 80 lbs weight capability per tray, you may haul the vast majority of e-bikes, or if in case you have a detachable battery, you may drop that out to attempt to make weight.
Securing the bikes
The spring-loaded arm has a set place to get the precise angle every time. Simply give it a little bit push all the way down to seize securely.
As soon as the entrance wheel drops into the bay, press the discharge button to increase the spring-loaded hook arm. Deliver it to its most peak—that’s the right angle—and let it drop into place. The spring rigidity is good, although giving it an additional push down is advisable.
From there, align the rear wheel within the chock and pull down the safety strap. There’s even a spot to hook the surplus strap, which is a pleasant contact while you’re not carrying bikes—no dangling straps to fret about.
The chock itself has a flat prime that barely elevates the rear wheel 2.5”. This helps present additional clearance when loading two bikes, particularly for those who’re coping with overlapping handlebars or saddles. The Edge doesn’t use a tiered tray system, in order that additional inch or two may be the distinction between every thing becoming or knocking into one another.
I’m a fan of the hook arm design—it removes the guesswork in comparison with different racks the place it’s important to eyeball the angle (10 o’clock or 11?). It lands the place it must be, and it shouldn’t intrude with suspension forks both.
You must also be capable of load bikes with fenders, so long as they’re not full-coverage ones. And because of the spring-loaded design, in case your entrance tire slowly loses air, the hook arm will naturally cinch down tighter as stress drops—serving to hold every thing cosy.
The rack additionally comes with built-in safety. A cable lock is built-in into the Edge’s trays, so you may simply snake that throughout each frames for theft deterrence, and it’s good that they’re keyed alike with the hitch pin. The lock isn’t tremendous lengthy, so no weaving it by way of your wheels in case your the ultra-cautious kind when parking over night time, but it surely’s nonetheless stable theft deterrence anyway.
Trunk / Tailgate entry
The downward tilting choice will assist with hatch again clearance, however you’ll wnat the Swing Arm adapter for full tailgate entry.
The Edge has 4 key positions: upright in opposition to the car, barely tilted away, prolonged (for loading bikes), and tilted down for trunk or tailgate entry with bikes loaded.
I like that the seize deal with is positioned on the surface of the rack. It permits for one-handed operation when the rack is unloaded, although you’ll in all probability need two arms to elevate it again up—particularly with bikes on it.
The rack sits comparatively removed from the car, which helps so much. The primary tilted-away place was sufficient to open the hatch on my Tesla Mannequin Y, and the absolutely lowered place labored too—even with bikes loaded. Whether or not it really works for a full tailgate is determined by your car and the way low your hitch sits.
If you need most rear entry, the Edge is suitable with Saris’s Swing Away Adapter, which lets the rack pivot a full 90 levels for fully unobstructed entry.
