Yakima stories

“Designed as the first-ever tent for transforming the rooftop of your car into the ultimate campsite, Yakima’s SkyRise tent is as cool as it sounds. With a setup time of just a few minutes (after installing it on your car, of course – a process that’s done without the need for tools, by the way), the Skyrise is a lifesaver when conditions aren’t ideal – or you’re in a tight space, like a festival car camping lot (I’m looking at you, Coachella). Plus, there’s a foam mattress inside for even more added comfort. I like the medium size SkyRise because it can fit three adults – and I can guarantee that once your friends see this setup, they’ll be asking

“The Yakima HighSpeed was the easiest bike rack to install and for loading a bike out of all the racks that were tested.” Read Full Post

“If you have a kayak, canoe, or small boat you shove into the back of a pick-up, the Yakima Longarm Bed Extender might be of interest. The 12-pound aluminum rack fits a two-inch ball hitch and can be adjusted for both length (up to four feet) and height. It can support up to 300 pounds, and can also be mounted in a vertical position to support the aft end of car-toppers or boats carried on top of a truck cap. Price: $219. For more info check out our video preview at the FishTalk Magazine YouTube channel, or visit yakima.com.” Read Full Post

“Carry up to four pairs of skis or two snowboards with this sleek mount from Yakima. Features include SKS locks, an aerodynamic design and large release buttons for easy use with gloves or mittens. The FatCat doesn’t require tools to install and provides a universal mounting system that works with round, square or factory roof racks.” Read Full Post

We’ve all been there — sitting in the backseat of someone’s car as snowboards jolt into your side the whole way up to the mountain. Forget about that discomfort with the Yakima FreshTrack 4 snowboard rack for your car. It fits a couple of boards to free up space so passengers can ride with ease. Plus, without any necessary tools, it’s super easy to install and the universal mounting system works with round, square, factory, and most all roof racks. If you stop somewhere on your way home for a happy hour, rest assured knowing your shred sticks will be safe with the built-in SKS locks. Now just pray for snow, so you can lock your boards in and go.

Listen, we get it… shopping for the outdoorist in your life can be a daunting task. But if they love getting a little gnarly and shredding deep pow, then this is your go-to option. Yakima has updated the most aerodynamic and premium-styled snowsport mount on the market making them even “phatter” for 2017 with more room for gear, a new color option, and a T-slot hardware accessory for a super-low profile. Available in 4– and 6-ski options, the FatCat EVO features over four inches of total additional space for snowboards and today’s wider all-terrain skis, allowing all skis to each be 136 mm wide at the tips. The new HangOver™ clamp location is an optional clamp-mounting position that makes it easier to

A trailer like this, which rates to 250 pounds (350 if you upgrade the suspension), gives me peace of mind when I’m traveling to fish, especially if the wind is blowing. It’s also nice not to have to clean-and-jerk 80 pounds of plastic onto the roof of my 4Runner at 4 a.m. The trailer folds up and rolls into small spaces if you’ve already got too much gear in your garage. Read Full Post

  FatCat Evo mounts tool-free to virtually any roof rack. The aerodynamic design delivers a quiet ride and the large button allow for smooth access while wearing gloves or mitts. It features integrated SKS (same key system) locks for added security. Looking to carry more? Consider the FatCat 6 Evo($279), which can accommodate up to six pairs of powder skis or four snowboards.   The HitchSki fits most four- and five-bike, mast-style hitch racks and will carry up to six pairs of skis or four snowboards.  The rig comes with Yakima’s same SKS locking mechanism to secure your gear to the rack. Optional locking options are available to secure to entire rig to your car.   With 10 rooftop cargo boxes — ranging from

your partner’s 2018 New Year’s Resolution is to camp more, Yakima’s SkyRise 3 will eliminate all the excuses not to. It has a built-in foam mattress and enough room to leave your sleeping bags inside, so all you need to do is roll up to a flat campsite, open the tent and crawl in. Read Full Post

Get your skis and snowboards slope-side in style with this new mount from Yakima. The FatCat EVO is its quietest holder yet, but it’s still big enough to carry six skis or four snowboards. The universal mounting system means it can be hooked up to almost any rack. The DoubleJoint hinge and SkiLift mechanisim means thick skis and boards will fit while tall snowboard bindings can be overcome. Read Full Post

The HighSpeed bike rack makes load and unload a breeze, thanks to its innovative design. It’s perfect for hatchback vehicles and SUVs, adaptable to aero or standard bars, and simplifies mounting both a bike and the rack itself. Our road-tested Yakima HighSpeed review. Let’s face it: loading and unloading a bike on a roof-mounted rack can be difficult, especially on tall vehicles like SUVs. And with the popularity of large, easily-scratched sunroofs on vehicles, loading and unloading a fork-mount bike carrier can be a difficult task, especially with a vehicle’s roofline above your head. Add in the usual issues with hatchback clearance on many roof-mounted bike racks on the market, and you’ve got a recipe for quickly ruining that amazing

Adios, Hold Up. The quest for finding a better bike rack has finally ended with the introduction of Yakima’s Dr. Tray. At $579, the most noticeable difference between Dr. Tray and the Hold Up is the price. Dr. Tray is a $150 premium over the Hold Up, but the former is a premium product and superior in almost every way: the rear hatch can be swung open by tilting the rack, the SpeedKnob removes the wobble out of the rack when driving, and the RemoteControl tilt lever is user-friendly. Finally, at 39 lbs., Dr. Tray is considerably lighter than its older brother, the 59 lb. Hold Up. Read Full Post

Yakima is among the leaders in bike racks in the U.S. with their long history of roof racks and now hitch racks. Very few companies can produce roof racks because of the complexity of attachments that are compatible with the hundreds of vehicles available. But hitch racks have gained popularity among mountain bikers because of their ease of use, improved gas mileage, and less chance of a tired cyclist crashing their bike into their garage door roof. Yakima has been very successful with their ultra-compact HoldUp rack that’s reviewed here. But for the new platform, they wanted tool free versatility and the ability to handle all tire sizes, including fat bikes. Their new effort is called the Dr. Tray, a

The Yakima LongArm is a new hitch-mounted system that allows you to extend carrying capacities out of your truck and adjust to the carrying positions of the bed, bed rail height, or with the extension accessory to the height of your cab. For those looking to get your favorite kayak in your truck and on the move, this is the easiest solution we’ve utilized so far. Lift the nose of your kayak up and onto the load-bearing bar, then walk to the back to lift and slide the boat into your truck bed. Finish it up with a 12′ or 15′ strap through the included slots on the bar and tighten the kayak down. Don’t waste your time straining on

Haul more of the newest gear to the slopes on Yakima’s FatCat Evo 4 and Evo 6 roof racks. Touted as “the most aerodynamic” snow sports mount by Yakima, the FatCat Evo 4 ($229) and 6 ($279) add more than 4 inches of extra space to accommodate wider all-terrain skis and snowboards. The racks hold four skis/two snowboards and six skis/four snowboards respectively. Read Full Post  

Of the rail systems we have tested, the Yakima HighSpeed is the easiest rail system to mount. No tools were required, which is a major plus. The HighSpeed uses an adjustment nob to secure Yakima’s quick release and thru axles. Another major advantage of using the HighSpeed is it’s security features. The tray comes with the ability to lock (locks sold separately) the tray to the roof rack, lock the adjustment nob, lock the quick release skewer and cable, making it the most secure fork mount roof rack in the mix. Top Fork Mount Roof Racks Review | 2018  

The HighSpeed is Yakima’s top of the line Fork mount roof rack and it’s a beast of a rack weighing in at 9.6 pounds. The HighSpeed is actually made from 2 rails that are joined together at the front and rear. This reduces the rack weight, but adds strength to the overall unit. The HighSpeed is Yakima’s top of the line Fork mount roof rack and it’s a beast of a rack weighing in at 9.6 pounds. The HighSpeed is actually made from 2 rails that are joined together at the front and rear. This reduces the rack weight, but adds strength to the overall unit.

Yakima has been one of the major players in the rack game for quite a long time. Recently they released a new tray-style hitch rack dubbed Dr.Tray (Get it? Dr. Dre…). The Dr.Tray rack aims to solve many common issues with racks: It’s easy to move around at just 34-pounds (15.4kg) for the 2-inch receiver version; it features easily movable trays to prevent bar-on-seatpost, bar-on-saddle, or bar-on-bar interference; it’s also designed to make it simple to access the trunk or hatch of your vehicle. Curious to see if the Dr.Tray rack would pull through on its promises and last for the long haul, we’ve been road tripping and back-road rallying with it for the better part of the past year.

The DrTray hitch rack, an all-new offering from Yakima, is designed to eliminate bike-on-bike banging and damage during transport by allowing both of the trays on the hitch rack to be independently adjustable along two different axes. We’ve seen hitch racks from other brands allow side-to-side adjustment to prevent handlebars and seats from hitting each other, but the DrTray adds adjustment of the trays both in and out from the back of the car, allowing you to not only offset the bikes, but pull them further apart. No More Bike Damage: Yakima’s New DrTray Hitch Rack Is Fully Adjustable  

“Check out Teton Gravity Test our Yakima Dr.Tray!” Read Full Post

Yakima FatCat EVO Ski Rack There are plenty of ways to cart your ski and snowboard gear up to the mountain — laying down a backseat and squeezing them in diagonally shouldn’t be one of them. (It’s far too slushy for that.) Yakima, the rack brand named for the Washington town it once called home, has plenty of rooftop racks on offer, and its latest is its quietest, most streamlined and fattest yet. The FatCat comes in two sizes — one fits four pairs of skis and two boards; the other, six and four — and it’s designed to accommodate the wider tip profiles of increasingly shapely modern skis. — Tanner Bowden Read Full Post

Yakima, the leader in vehicle racks and cargo management solutions, is expanding its bike rack collection for Spring 2018 with innovative new products that meet the needs of a wide range of consumers, from lone cycling warriors and fat bike riders to truck owners and van life lovers. The brand will be featuring them at the 2017 Interbike trade show (booth 19231). Read Full Post

Searching for the best bike rack? So are we. To help, we analyzed over 70 models before purchasing 21 of the best contenders to compare side by side. After years of traveling with bikes, we asked ourselves: what is the best way to get them from one place to another? The bicycle may be the most efficient means of transportation ever created; if you are like us, you likely use your bike for recreation as well. Our wanderlust has driven us to load up ours, by any means necessary, and head off in search of the next epic ride. Using multiple vehicles and bikes of every variety, we loaded, unloaded and drove thousands of miles on highways, dirt roads and

Out of all types of bike racks, hitch racks garner the most coverage on our website, but roof top racks are still a great choice for many mountain bikers. For one, smaller cars can’t take a 2-inch hitch which limits their capacity to two bikes, in some cases three, tops. If you live in a city, raising and lowering your hitch rack or removing it altogether is a hassle. Also, bikes on a hitch rack are more exposed to grit, grime, and dust from the road. And they’re more susceptible to damage from a rear end collision. Read Full Post

The Yakima HighSpeed bike mount transports mountain, road, and fat-tire bikes on our roof rack, securely and safely. The mounting hardware fits most roof racks, including our much loved Whispbar roof rack system. Loading is quick and easy thanks to the TorqueRight knob, and optional SKS Locks secure the bike and mount to the roof rack. Read Full Post