Rhino-Rack Thru Axle Sleeve for 15-mm x 110-mm Thru Axle Skewers

Video Transcript for Thru Axle Bike Carrier for Rhino-Rack Pioneer Platforms Review

It's Randy here at etrailer.com. Today, we're going to be taking a look at another add-on for the Pioneer Rack from Rhino Rack. This one happens to be their thru skewer bike adapter.Basically, it's going to give us a two-piece bike rack. You can see we're able to attach our thru axle bike to the front portion here, bolts right down to the tracks on the Pioneer Rack, and gives us a really nice solid connection point.Now, it's going to come with the 15 by 100 sleeve. That's a pretty common one. A lot of the bikes out there, you're going to have that.

But, we also have this in a 15 by 150, a 15 by 110, a 20 by 110, and a nine by 135. So, you can purchase different sleeves depending on your bike's configuration.That's going to connect to the platform and the exact same way using a couple bolts going down into our slots. It's going to give you a nice cradle for the bike to rest in, and the strap to hold it down and in place.Now, all in all, with the fully adjustable wheel base, this is going to fit a wide variety of bikes. Even if you've got the longer downhill-type bikes or some of the more shorter trail bikes, like what we've got here today.I like the option of putting this on top. A lot of times, especially if you've got a Pioneer Rack, you'd probably like to spend a little bit of time outdoors doing those kind of activities, and compared to having a platform style rack on the back or a hanging style rack on the back, I think it's going to alleviate a lot of those issues.

Maybe if we go off the pavement onto a gravel road, we're not going to have to worry about any dragging or anything like that when we've got it up on top.Now, with staggering these all the way across, we could have one up a little bit further. The next one a little bit further back. This is going to give us accommodations on the Pioneer Rack here for up to five of these, so you can really get a lot of bikes up there on the roof. You and your friends get to your destination and get to ride.It's been designed specifically for use with the Pioneer platform. I like that the colors are going to match really closely.

It's going to look like, well, it was made to go on this. All in all, it gives you a really nice clean look. We're not adding a whole lot of weight.And when we're done with these, we simply pull them off and these can be stored in our vehicle. We don't have to leave them behind. We don't have to worry about that.

They're so small and so compact. They'll be easy to pack away.Now, let's talk a little bit about the weight ratings that we've got listed. For on road use, it's 37 pounds per bike; for off road use, it's 24 pounds per bike. When we say off road, let's put it in perspective a little bit. We're not talking about gravel roads, dirt tracks, two tracks, or just going out through a relatively flat field. What we're talking about is if you're going to get into some more extreme terrain where our jeep is all of a sudden going to tilt one way, then tilt back that other way. That's going to put a lot of side-to-side force on there. That's what we're looking to eliminate. If you're not doing that, you can go right up to that 37 pounds. You won't have any issues.Now, as far as security goes, there's no real way to lock the bike to the rack or the rack to the platform, so we'd recommend if you are worried about it disappearing, picking up the Rhino Rack cable lock. You can easily go around your bike, go low around your Pioneer platform, keep everything nice and safe. Especially with these locking covers here. We'll know nobody's going to get it off.Now, that comes to that question we always get: Is this something that you would buy I like the way it's constructed and I like what it does. If I had the Pioneer rack and I had a thru axle bike, I would definitely own this. It's small, it's compact, easy to tuck away. It's lightweight. It's also very cost effective.Then, install the rack. We're going to get our T-slot bolts put in there, of course. Now the spacing on that, it's going to depend on where you're putting it on the platform. We're going to be putting ours over here on this edge. It's going to make it easier to get to, so we're going to bring it into the narrower section there. If you're going to be going between two of the larger rungs, like from here to here, you'll want to use that outer hole.We're going to start with putting the back end first. I'm going to slide that back. We'll leave that loose, because depending on the wheel base of your bike, that's going to depend where we positioned that. We'll bring our front portion in, get it put in place, and then you can position that where you want on them. I'm going to keep it pretty close to the front here. Let's get it square. Use that provided tool to tighten them down.In your instructions, they're going to give you torque specs for this. You don't need to over-tighten it, just get it good and snug. So, we get our bike put in place here.Now, of course, since we are using the thru axle design here, you're going to need to remove the front wheel. Then that's going to slide right through, and it's just like putting it on your bike. So, we'll want to tension it down and cam that lever over. That adjusted where we want it. Tighten down our fasteners there. We'll bring the strap around our tire. Let me get that pulled down tight, and at that point we're going to be ready to go.