KuatPiston SR - Secure Rugged Durable Kashima-Coated Portable Foldable Easy-to-Use No Frame Contact Rooftop Bike Rack with 53" Max Wheelbase & 5" Max Tire Width, 1 Bike Capacity

I’ve owned a few hitch-mount racks of this general wheel-holding type, the Thule XTR and Kuat NV 2.0, and both have been great. They offer quick adjustment, 5” tire width capacity, and no frame contact while being solidly built and offering very secure holds on the bike. The only part that still bugged me on either was the need to ratchet down a wheel, which risks marring rims and can be a pain with frozen digits after a long ride in the snow.I’ve also lusted after the Piston Pro since it was released, hit two levers then pull the wheel braces back into position, sounds just about as simple as a rack can ever be. The other features like the built-in lights set the standard for the king of the hill. That price though, woof. Plus I already have a great rear rack that seems like it will be in service for years yet, so the justification to upgrade just isn’t there.But sometimes I only need to haul one bike, or want the option to haul one above the height of most of the road spray, and lo-and-behold in comes the SR. I spotted the first marketing ‘reviews’ of it back in the fall, and knew I was going to get one as soon as they were available. It has that same incredibly simple and strong mechanism from the Piston Pro, a good locking solution, and is easy to install. They even released a hitch-adapter for it, so it can be roof racked or used in the back. Time will tell on longevity, but this rack won’t leave my SUV from now until November and I plan to update this review if I run into any problems.TLDR - I’m extremely impressed with the function of the hydraulics and wheel braces, and I’ll dump my XTR for a Piston Pro in a heartbeat if I can find one on sale for less than $1000. As long as you can lift your bike over your head (or are OK buying the hitch adapter) the SR is crazy simple to use, and is an easy recommendation.

Not cheap, but quality and easy to use.

I like the rack overall. However, for how expensive it is I would have like some more durable installation hardware. I attempted to get the included bolts torqued to the 10Nm spec listed in the installation guide, however the security hex head very easily rounded out and became useless. I ended up having to go buy some stronger bolts, which is pretty ridiculous given the price of this rack.

This rack is amazing other than the price. It was easy to install. I would say they need to include some sort of gasket for the touch spots. My cross bars are metal and the rack is metal. Needed something soft in between. I used a thin sponge gasket I had. Would recommend if money is not a concern.

The one-hand release of the wheel locks are ingenious! The quality is unmatched, and I’ve tried four different brands, and this is by far the best.

Only rack I trust with my bike and when towing. Solid customer service and product

This Kuat rack is sturdy and built very well. It does what it's supposed to do very well. The pistons are smooth and the bike stays on the rack very securely. I have no problems with the racks functionality at all, my problem is the racks mounting to the crossbars of the car. The Kuat's mounts are all metal, with no rubber or plastic. This may seem good, but this means the contact between the rack and your crossbars is metal-on-metal. When I first installed the rack, after about a month, all the mounting bolts had come loose. This is because the metal-on-metal mounting is subject to all the vibrations of the car with nothing to dampen it, and shakes all the bolts loose. Also, there's no tension holding them on, such as if there was a rubber bushing between brackets and crossbars. Every other rack I've seen has this for a reason. I ended up losing 2 bolts, a mounting bracket, and the rack almost fell of my car (luckily no bike was on it at the time). Thankfully, Kuat was nice enough to replace those parts for me for free. I then decided to get a sheet of 1/8" rubber and cut out my own padding and placed it between the mounts and crossbar. I also added some loc-tite to the bolt threads as well. This worked in keeping the bolts from vibrating out, and the metal-on-metal from scraping my crossbars anymore. However, my crossbars eventually buckled from the stress of the poorly distributed weight of the rack. My 2008 Subaru has aluminum crossbars. I had a Thule Sidearm roof rack on this car for 12 years that held all my bikes (road, beach cruiser and 30 pound mountain bike) with no problem that entire time. I only replaced it because it was getting too old and rusty. I do think the Kuat Piston rack itself is very good and well built, but the connection to the crossbars is suspect at best. Also, if you have anything other than steel crossbars, it's probably going to buckle them, especially with the Kuat recommended 10nm of torque (I actually had to stop before reaching this number, because it seems too tight). Lastly, the metal-on-metal contact with the crossbars will at best scratch the heck out of your expensive crossbars, or at worse buckle them to the point of catastrophic failure.

Smooth delivery from USA to Malaysia. Seller also advice potential taxes to be paid by buyer.