BikeHugger – Yakima HoldUp
Recently I rejoined a demographic that I had abandoned a decade and a half ago. I would like to say that it was a political decision to leave that class of society, but truth be told it was largely to conserve personal resources. But once again I am among those persons…automobile operators. This is not to say that I am abandoning the bicycle faithful, but rather that I am using the automobile as a method to expand my cycling options. If every ride of interest started but a mile or so from my front door, what need would I have for a vehicle? Of course, there are some people who appreciate when I show up to dates and am neither sweating profusely nor wearing cartoonish shoes, but let’s set aside such vulgarities and concentrate on transporting bikes with cars. Behold the HoldUp from Yakima.
The $449 HoldUp is a hitch-mounted rack from Yakima that carries two bicycles steadied by support arms that grab onto the front tyre. Rather than a long tray, the bikes sit upon a cross beam with a wheel cup at either end. The cup for the front wheel has tubular steel hoop that swings out to catch the forward portion of the wheel; then the “StrongArm” support locks down atop the wheel for a firm grip of the front end of the bike. The rear wheel is held fast by a simple ratchet strap. Securing a bike in place is really fast, and the bike stays reassuringly stable. How stable? That’s a good question, but I can only say that the HoldUp limits are well beyond what I can comfortably subject the beat-down rear struts of my Honda Element. This might be due to the 2” receiver size for the hitch, but I don’t know if the 1-1/4” receiver model would be any less steady.
The HoldUp has been a godsend for cyclocross season, mainly because I have intermittent OCD issues. Cleanliness is so very mentally soothing to me, but as a bike mechanic there is no way everything in my life can be cleaned and remain so. I have to pick my battlefields carefully, and I want the interior of my automobile to remain clean. Anything that touches a post-race cyclocross bike gets dirty, so the HoldUp is beyond convenient. I mean, of course I could put my race bike and those of my race buddies inside the small SUV, but that would needlessly drag in all the clods of mud and grass. And I can just slam those filthy bikes into the HoldUp, rather than fiddle with the elastic straps and whatnot of racks that hang bikes by their top tube. True, there are other racks that can easily mount up four bikes compared to the HoldUp’s two, but those either don’t hold them as safely and securely or stick WAY behind the vehicle.
To tell you the truth, I am slightly uncomfortable with the additional vehicle length created by the HoldUp. On the other hand, the HoldUp does eliminate the Greek tragedy of roof-mount bike racks: running into a low ceiling (typically a car park or private garage) with a roof full of expensive bikes. Also, with the HoldUp placing the bikes behind the vehicle, the bikes are considerably shielded in the slipstream of the automobile. Rain water isn’t being driven into the bearings at 70mph, and if I were still in Florida then lovebug season would not see arthropod corpses impact welded to the bikes’ finish. If I ever do graduate to full mastery of parallel parking Yakima do offer the HoldUp +2 as a two-bike extension ($329).
