Saris MHS UNO Bike Rack for 2 Bikes - 2" Hitches - Wheel Mount

Video Transcript for Saris MHS UNO Bike Rack Review

Hey, everyone. It's Evangeline here at etrailer. And today, we're gonna be taking a look at the Saris MHS 2 bike platform rack with the UNO trays. The MHS is a modular hitch system where you can mix and match different accessories. But, here at etrailer, we do offer full kits. That way you don't have to pick and choose.

You can start off with everything you might need for your adventure. This specific kit is the 2+1 base with two UNO trays. And we're gonna talk about how this fits as well as how you can add to this for wherever you're going. With Saris MHS, you have two options for two bike platform kits. One is going to be the DUO kit, the other is going to be the UNO kit.

This being the UNO kit is lighter, slightly more affordable, and a lot easier to install since it does weigh a lot less. Now this is gonna be versatile for different types of bikes, but there is a downside. It has a maximum weight capacity of 40 pounds per bike, so that's still enough to carry around lots of mountain bikes and road bikes. But if you do wanna carry around your heavy electric bike, that's when you start looking at the MHS DUO kit instead. With this you have the two plus one base capabilities.

You can tilt this rack away if you need access into your hatch or to open your trunk and you can add on another add on accessory, if you wanna carry up to three bikes. When you get the full kit, you will also get the ability to secure and lock your bikes for the UNO trays. With the two plus one base, you're gonna get an anti-rattle bolt with a lock for that bolt, so that secures your bike rack to the hitch receiver, but you also get two extra lock cores and those lock cores can be inserted into the front wheel mounts and that way whether you're driving or you're parked, if you turn that key, you know your bikes are locked. And just because the UNO trays are lighter than the duo trays, they do not lose out when it comes to securing your bike and because of how it's designed with your front wheel mounts, they are angled in a way to really pull down on that front wheel. And then you have your rear strap also holding that tire down.

So that design gives you a little bit of extra space, so you can carry around bikes of similar sizes but still hold them securely so that when you're on the road everything stays in place. What types of bikes can this carry Well, it's very versatile. You do have just two limitations though. So again that 40 pound weight capacity per bike, and if you have tires wider than three inches, that's something this can't carry. But other than that, it has a wheel based capacity of up to 50 inches. You have a front wheel mount meaning, no matter what type of frame you have, you're not concerned about having to get adapter. And even if you have short fenders on your bike because of where that mount is, those should be good too. The rear wheel strap is something similar to what you'll see on the duo tray. So you have this large strap, you've got a lot of length there for those wider tires. When you secure your bike, you can hear the clicks and it engages strongly. Plus for different wheel bases, you are able to move this back and forth to get the best fit. Since it is a long strap, what I do like to do is when the bike is loaded, I like to clip it into the edge so it's out of the way. But what this really does well is when the bike is unloaded, you can also clip the strap underneath and that will just help things stay neat. The front hook might look a little different compared to other front hooks that you may be used to, and that's because it's designed to secure your bike at the 45 degree angle. Plus there are two levers that you have to work with. The first lever is for the actual hook, so this pushes up and that allows you to move the mount back and forth. So if you press this top lever, you can bring this up or bring this down. Now if you are in between positions, it will not lock into place. For example, this goes all the way down to the ground and it only secures, once you're in that 45 degree angle. The next time it'll secure is when you fold this up to be more compact. So if you've used front wheel mounts before, you might be used to securing your bike over by the fork. The reason this is 45 degrees though, is because of your front wheel chalk, this matches the angle of that chalk creating that stability. Depending on the height of the hitch receiver on your vehicle, you may have a different experience with this rack because of where the two plus one base sits. You may be lifting your bike up more or up less. And since this does have a weight capacity of up to 40 pounds, ideally you shouldn't have to worry about lifting extremely heavy bikes up on there anyways. But still your experience will differ depending on what you drive. With the bikes unloaded, let's talk about how the trays are attached to your base. When you get this kit, you're gonna get the two trays and the base and then you're gonna have to assemble them and what makes sense to you. Now, the way I assemble them I think is gonna be the best way to go about it because this gives us the most clearance with our vehicle. So for the first tray, you're gonna have the front wheel facing the passenger side for the second tray, have that front wheel facing driver's side and whichever tray you do use, make sure that that front wheel mount is facing the back. That makes it easier to swing this up and out. And then to load your bike. Another way to look at this is make sure, you have the logos of the trays facing the back. The trays are attached to the base with these collars, so whenever you need to assemble them or if ever you need to switch them around with other accessories, it's simply a matter of loosening the collar. Once it's loose enough, the T-bracket will then pop out, allowing you to lift the collar out of the base and then lift the entire tray up and out. From there, you can either move the accessory around on the base, switch it with another tray and once you get in place, just do those same steps again but in reverse. That's gonna be a quick and easy way to mix and match your accessories. Just to make sure you do not lose that security torque wrench. But if you do, you can pick one up at your local hardware store. They're very helpful though to keep on hand for when you need to move things around. Speaking of moving things around, you can also move this space around. You might have noticed I have it in the portable position. There's actually two portable positions for this rack and with this being the UNO trays, you are more likely to be able to fit both positions. So the first one is gonna be your straight up compact position where you can fold this up against your vehicle. This takes up the least amount of space, but depending on some cars and where the hitch receivers are, you might not get be able to get enough clearance here, so you have a secondary option of your angled portable position. This also gives you better chances of being able to open up your hatch or open up your trunk even with the bike rack on. And then finally you pull that handle again, bring it back into the drive position, and with another pull that handle, you go ahead into the tilt away position. The handle is very easy to pull where you have a grip out on the back, so you can use that to help pull on the rack. And then underneath, you also have a protector plate with a rubberized bottom. As you can see with our vehicle here that made contact with the ground. Totally fine, help support the rack in the tilt away position but also helps protect your hands whenever you have to do so. Here's some universal measurements that will help you figure out though, the different clearances of this kit with your car. So I'm actually from the center of the hitch pin hole, and then we're gonna measure all the way to the end of the rack. So by the handle that's gonna be 40 inches of length. That will help you figure out if you have enough space inside your garage or if you need to park into a really tight spot if you have enough clearance for that. Next measurement is gonna be ground clearance. So first we're gonna go to the handle to the ground. 10 inches from where your bike to the ground is, and that's gonna be 17 and a quarter inches. And compare that measurement here with where our bottom inside edge of the hitch is, and that's nine and a half inches. So the difference in those numbers will tell you how much this will lift up compared to where your hitch is. If you have low ground clearance or if this sits really high up, that will change how your experience is when you go up steep in climb like driveways or hills. Plus, it'll also change how high you'll have to lift your bike up to get onto the rack. The first thing I noticed with the MHS Duo Kit is that it's super heavy. I always recommend having a friend help you out whenever you need to install the rack. With the UNO two bike kit, it's a little bit easier to manage. It's still a bit hefty, but that's more the two plus one base than the UNO trays. They are designed to be a bit lighter and more compact. Making this a little bit easier to install into your hitch receiver. This has a two inch shank that's designed to fit into your two inch hitch receivers. You do have to move this around to get this lined up with your hitch pinhole, but once it's all lined up, then it's simply a matter of inserting your anti-rattle bolt and then you have a lock at the end. With this, you do get a small stamp tool to tighten this down, but I do recommend grabbing a 5/8 inch wrench in order to make it a bit faster. I do recommend wobbling the rack around as you tighten down just to make sure you have all that rattle taken out. Put the lock on your bolt, take the keys out, pull on that lock again, just to make sure it is secure. Then you also have a dust cap to protect that lock core. You do get two of those lock cores, so you can go ahead and attach those to your UNO trays if you want. Where the MHS really shines is its modularity or being able to switch this around with different accessories. If you're looking for just a two bike platform rack, this works well, but similarly priced two bike platform racks that are designed solely to carry bikes. You might be able to find more weight capacity or more features at the same price point, but if you like how you can add onto this base or switch around your trays with the cargo basket or switch with the duo tray, if you want more weight capacity for that single bike then that's where the MHS gets really interesting. I recommend checking out the overview video of the whole line if you wanna see how all those different things might work together. And then from there you can figure out what you want to mix and match and what accessories fit you best. But starting in the MHS system and starting with the most lightweight, most compact way to carry around double or two bikes, this is a great way to start. What you saw here was a kit comprised of the MHS two plus with one base plus two of the UNO trays. You can get it right here at Etrailer as a kit, or you can purchase them individually, again here at etrailer. My name's Evangeline and I hope you enjoy the journey.