Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Yakima Viper Fork Mount Rooftop Bicycle Carrier

Customer Reviews


3 Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Harder to install than other Yakima bike racks, July 12, 2009
By Garrett Schiff (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Yakima Viper Fork Mount Rooftop Bicycle Carrier (Sports)
I used to have two Steelhead bike carriers but one was damaged during an unfortunate incident involving roof-mounted bikes and a low parking structure (ouch). I bought the Viper as it seemed like an upgrade, and I must say it's a bit more solidly build than the Steelhead, but there's a few things I don't like.

I don't keep the racks on my truck all the time, only when I'm going biking. Taking off and mounting the Steelhead was basically a clip-on task, and didn't change the skewer length so it was always ready to fit your forks. Putting the Viper on involved completely removing the skewer bolt and re-threading on the lock mechanism from the end, having to thread it on an overly long length of threads. And this is done by having to hold up the lock lever and turn this rough knurled knob that always chafes my fingertips, and it's tough to do because only a small edge of the knob is exposed when you lift up the lever. Then when it's mounted, you have to put your bike up and adjust the threading again to get it to the right width and tension for your bike forks. Taking off involves the reverse unthreading.
I know the different design adds security, but for me it's an annoying extra several minutes and raw fingertips each time.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Roof Top Rack, August 10, 2008
By Don Jr (Rochester, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Yakima Viper Fork Mount Rooftop Bicycle Carrier (Sports)
I just got back from a week camping trip in the Adirondacks with this unit. It hauled my Gary Fisher Kaitai perfectly. I used it backwards so I could have my girlfriends bike and the canoe on top as well. It's easy to use but you must read the instructions so you know how to set it depending on whether or not it's outside the towers. I drove about 450 miles doing around 60-68 mph on winding roads and never had an issue. This rack is good for bikes with disc brakes.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Yakima Viper solid, November 12, 2009
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Yakima Viper Fork Mount Rooftop Bicycle Carrier (Sports)
Amazon soliciting a review a few months after a purchase is, in some cases, inappropriate. I would not expect this bike rack to need maintenance for several years, and the front wheel skewer is stout. Since I don't yet have much experience with the product, here are the reasons that I decided to buy this particular bike mount.
1. Can be placed in fixed or adjustable setting. Fixed allows placing mount outside of towers.
2. Compatible with disc brakes.
3. Tray type bike racks (as opposed to stand up) have a lower center of gravity and therefore less lateral wobble or more stability.
4. Adjustable skewer. I am not sure, but it may also be larger at 9 mm than other skewers.

All of this info can be gathered by comparing models on Yakimas website. You may also consider models that fit directly on to your car's factory crossbars (if equiped).
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Yakima Viper Fork Mount Rooftop Bicycle Carrier
$139.00 $95.20
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