Velocirax 7 Bike Rack 2023
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Velocirax makes vertical bike racks for 2 to 7 bikes. With the integrated hydraulic dampers, there is no need to lift the bikes into the rack, making loading and unloading a breeze. Price: 995 USD for the 7 bikes rack.
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The product
The Velocirax 7 is the model that carries the most amount of bikes we could find on the market and the only one using a hydraulics system to help loading and unloading. With a 10 inch spacing in between the bikes there is plenty of space so the bikes don’t touch each other, preventing transport damage.
To hold the bikes in place you use UV resistant rubber straps. As they only touch your tires/rims there is zero change of scratches. Great news with bike prices of 5k or more being the norm these days. For those that don’t need to transport a huge amount of bikes, there are options for 3,4,5 and 6 bikes available too, using the same hydraulics system.
The system is made for a USA style 2” receiver mount tow bar. Before ordering the rack, make sure to double check the load rating of both your car as well as the tow bar. Not all makes and models can handle the weight involved. Also note for the European users, that this rack is NOT compatible with the Euro ‘ball’ style tow bar.
The rack comes with a separate wall mount, so you can hang the rack nice and tidy in the garage where you can use it to store the bikes too.
Out on the trail
When the racks finally arrived at our doorstep, we were pretty excited to get assembly done the same day. With the instruction video and guidelines that came with the box, it was an easy job. Two people and 60 minutes later you have everything installed and ready to go.
First impressions are that they really know what they’re doing. All materials are beefy, solid and high quality. This comes at a price of some extra pounds (the rack weighs about 107 LBS or 48 kg) but with a product like this you don’t want to take any risks.
Loading up the bikes is mega easy, even a kid can do it. Just put the rack into the load position, wheelie the bike in and attach the traps on the wheels. You do need to work from left to right, starting with the biggest bike to make sure there is no interference with handlebars, brake levers and cables, but that's about it. Once strapped in you need to push the rack back up into the ‘drive’ position and you’re off. Now pushing the rack up can be done by a single person up to about 3 bikes, if you are carrying more bikes than I recommend to get a buddy with the job.
Unloading is just as easy. Just remove the safety pin into the ‘unload’ position and pull the lever. The releases the rack and slowly lowers the bike rack to make it mega easy to unload the bikes. Unstrap the rubber straps and get people to wheelie the bikes out in reverse order as you load them and boom, off to the trail!
If you’re going for longer drives, Velocirax recommend you use their brake strap to secure the front brake. This prevents the movement of the bike almost completely. A great tip too if you’re headed off-road.
Of course there are a few questions that arise with this rack, so here we go!
Does it take DH bikes? Yes
Does it take Fatbikes? No, but they do have special front wheel baskets available for fat bikes.
Can you put E-bikes on there? Yes, but keep the weight limit of the tow bar and rack in mind. Remove batteries if possible and place them close to the center beam for added stability.
Can you open the rear doors? Yes. You can completely lower the rack by removing a pin. In this ‘camp mode’ you can use it as a bike rack too.
Verdict
Amazing piece of kit. Loading and unloading can’t be done easier and having a bike rack where there is virtually no chance of scratches and transport damage is brilliant. The only thing we can ask for is maybe an electric lowering and raising system, but perhaps we’re just being lazy.
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This review was in Issue 76 of IMB.
For more information visit VelociraxRelated
By Jarno Hoogland
Jarno's life has revolved around two wheels ever since he swung a leg over his first BMX at age 4. After a BMX and DH racing career, he moved on to work for bike shops, distributors and brands before ending up in the editors seat at IMB. Based in the ultimate testing ground in the Swiss mountains, he runs his guiding operation and makes sure every IMB issue is filled with top notch content.
