etrailer | Fit Check: Testing RockyMounts MonoRail Bike Rack for 2 Bikes on a 2021 Mazda CX-5

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Full transcript: https://www.etrailer.com/tv-review-rockymounts-hitch-bike-racks-2021-mazda-cx-5-rky10004.aspx
Hey, it’s Ethan here at etrailer. Today we’re gonna be taking a look at the Rocky Mounts MonoRail hitch bike rack, and how it fits on our 2021 Mazda CX5. The MonoRail is a two-bike platform style bike rack, capable of supporting two bikes up to 60 pounds. Holding onto our bikes primarily with this front wheel hook here, and one strap down here at the bottom. So if you want to use this rack with your carbon frame bikes, you can. There’s not gonna damage the frame.

If you have a really nice paint job, same thing there. If you have a really aggressive alternative frame bike, also no problem, because it does hold onto it by the wheel. One of the nice features that this rack offers is the ability for it to tilt away with the bikes loaded up. And I really like where the handle is located, compared to some other racks where the handle is further back. This one’s easily accessible, even if you do have another bike on the front.

And it does tilt aggressively enough for us to get into the back hatch of our vehicle. Tons of room from the crossbars. Tons of room back here too, if I wanted to change my shoes before or after a ride, or get anything out of the back that I’m going to need for my ride before I want to get my bikes unloaded. Tilt it back up. We’ll hold onto the rack, you’ll hear it click into place, and now we can work on getting the bike removed.

We’ll start by pressing this blue release button down here on the strap. Rocky Mounts does a good job of color coordinating all of their touchpoints, so we know what to operate and when. Good example of that here is the blue button on the wheel hook. Push that up. And get the wheel down and out of the way.

And we can get our bike removed. I’ll put the bike away. And we can take a closer look at the cradle and the trays on our rack. Starting first with this front cradle. You can see that it does have a couple of different grooves, to support different tire widths, in this case up to five inches. Also, it does fold down to save a little bit of space. You can fold this out of the way as well. You might have to slide it down, the mast just a little bit, to get it outta the way of this cradle. Which I wanna point out, as I put the strap away, does pivot to support different wheel bases up to 48 inches. If you’re curious to know how much length you’re going to be adding onto the back of your vehicle, I’ll measure from the bumper to the furthest point back. In this case, that’s gonna come in at just over 32 inches. It does stick out quite a little bit, but it’s not too terrible, ’cause we can fold it up, which I’ll do in just a second. But first, I’ll get that ground clearance, so we know how close we’re gonna be to the ground at the furthest point back, that being that handle. Coming in at about 17 inches. It’s a pretty good rise in the shank, so I’m not gonna be super worried about that, as far as bottoming out going uphill or over curbs. If we want to, we can fold it up, like I mentioned, to save a little bit of space. Using that same handle that we used before. Again, you’ll hear it click into place. And we get that new measurement, to see how much space we’ve saved. From the bumper to the furthest point back now, it’s coming in at just over 12 inches. So we do save a ton of space that way. As far as if you wanted to leave it in this position it’s gonna block a little bit of your license plate. Your backup camera is right here, so it’s definitely gonna be obstructing that a little bit. You’ll be able to see over the top. But you’re definitely gonna know it’s there. Your taillights and your rear window are gonna be pretty much fully visible as well. Coming down to the shank. Before we do, we can see that there is this post here, for your cable lock. It’s included, but it’s not integrated onto the rack. That’s where you’ll secure that to. The shank is a two inch shank, that’s held in place by an anti-rattle bolt as well as a lock in the end. That’s gonna be keyed alike, to that cable lock that we just mentioned. It’s really nice and secure, and stable. And Rocky Mounts’ building quality makes sure that nothing is shaking around. So, overall, as far as bike racks go this is one of my favorite value options. It has that five inch tire width right out of the gate. Build construction is really nice. I like that the handle is easily acc

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