Who wouldn’t want a bike rack that takes under two minutes and remove in seconds without having to permanently leave racks on your car. Small enough to fit in the boot of your car when not in use. Requiring no tools and being ultra-low profile which minimises wind noise and provides greater clearance to fit under carports and garages.
I am a long term owner of SeaSucker’s most versatile bike rack capable of carrying two bikes with ease, the Mini Bomber, and I am impressed!
One of the differences I loved about this suction cup bike rack compared to traditional roof racks with a bike carrier. Is the ability to take a bike with you with just about any car, and you don’t need to permanently fit racks to your car. For me this is a big reason why I chose the Mini Bomber rack system. I own a Toyota 86 and yes you can get racks installed I didn’t like the idea of having to get holes drilled in the roof of my car to fit permeant racks. And these types of racks can often change the look of your car if that matter to you.
Having that said it does get a little annoying sometimes as it takes a little longer to mount your bike on the car compared to tradition racks. However you can mount this rack on your roof, boot, front windscreen, rear window or your SUV’s back glass. Those 152 mm suction cups or vacuum mounts are incredibly strong, each rated to 90 kg direct pull strength, with 4 thats a 360kg pull strength combined!
Check out this article if you are looking for alternative bike racks if you don’t have a hitch mount on your car. The SeasSucker racks are mentioned in that article.
So who is this rack ideal for? Someone who is looking to transport up to 2 bikes, but doesn’t want to permanently fit racks to their car. Maybe someone who owns a sports car. Or maybe you travel and drive rental cars but the rental car doesn’t have a bike rack.
But let’s take a look at the Mini Bomber’s specifications.
| Number of Bikes | 2-bike |
|---|---|
| Max Weight Per Bike (lbs) | 20.41 kg / 45 pounds |
| Bike Compatibility | Fat-Tire Bikes |
| Bike Attachment Point | Fork |
| Weight | 5.44 kg / 12 pounds |
One down side I mentioned in the article linked above. If you leave the rack attached to your car for extended periods on time in the heat say over leaving the rack overnight on your car after being on the car all day on a really hot day. You can get marks on the body of the car, from where the suction cup attaches. This happened to me on my car boot, I haven’t had the chance to see if it comes off with a good detail. But something to consider.
But having that said there is generally no need to worry if about if they will fall off the car. I was worried when first driving with them. But at highway speeds I was able to go a 10 hour road trip with them and they work perfectly. I might have had a bit of fun and driven through winding roads pretty fast and the bike isn’t going anywhere.
The versatility of this bike rack is paramount compared to just about anything else on the market. You can mount this rack system on the back doors of wagon or SUV for example or just about anywhere on your cars surface which is glass or metal.
SeaSucker Bike Rack Failures
If you are worried about the SeaSuckers failing, I can understand where you’re coming from. I have personally heard of horror stories. And this is what initially had me concerned about my bike and car before jumping in and getting this rack setup.
In general I think you should be fine if you remember to keep the suction of the cups as strong as possible, pumping until you can see the orange on the side of the suction activation buttons. They only way I can think of them failing could be sticking them to flexible or unsuitable panels on your car and the panel failing in some way or the glass breaking. Which is very unlikely.
It is not ideal if you car is wrapped and is not recommended. With tests SeaSucker was able to show that the vacuum cups will pull a bubble in the wrap when attached, which screws up the wrap and is not a safe attachment point for a SeaSucker.
Also I ran into issues when mounting on the roof of my 86. Due to the curves and dips in the roof of the car. You will require a flat surface for the suction cups to fully attach.
Pro tip : Spraying a little water on the suction cups before mounting can help the bike rack hold for longer and gives me a little more peace of mind that they are actually going to stick to the car better. Often times if you don’t use a little water the suction cups will release pressure a lot quicker.
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