Saris MHS UNO Modular 1-Bike Rack with Cargo Carrier - 2" Hitches

Video Transcript for Saris MHS UNO Modular 1 Bike Rack with Cargo Carrier Review

Hi, it's Evangeline here at ETrailer. Today we have an interesting kit we're gonna take a look at, great for those that wanna go cycling but still carry around their cargo. We are going to have a kit consisting of the MHS base, which is a modular system, and we have the cargo basket, and the UNO add-on bike rack, combined together as a full set for your adventures. We're gonna take a look at some of the features of this specific kit, and that way you can decide if this is gonna be great for your own journeys. The Saris MHS is a modular system where you can mix and match different accessories for different adventures and different situations. This specific kit is not gonna be for everyone, but a great example of why you might be interested in this is, I like to go on weekend camping trips, escape for the weekend, just go out to a campground, This is a setup I would use, because then I can pack my gear, and my bike, and I don't have to worry about anything else.

Get to the campground, go around on some trails, and then camp for the night. Now, when I get home, and if I want to go out for a bike ride with my friends, or with my family, I would then switch out this cargo basket accessory with some MHS bike trays, and that turns my system from a single bike carrier into a triple bike carrier. Now, we're gonna talk about those extra accessories later on in this video, but that's an example of where you can adjust this system to fit you. So how much can you carry with this kit Well, the entire system maximum weight capacity is gonna be 195 pounds. That's gonna be cargo plus your bike.

And by the way, for the bike rack, you can carry up to a 35-pound bike since you are utilizing the add-on tray. Technically, the cargo basket has a 200-pound weight capacity, but in reality, you are limited to the weight capacity of whatever's carrying the basket. So whether that's the tongue weight of your hitch receiver, or the base you have that basket on. The basket has 5.5 square feet of storage area, the perks of it being a basket is you can go past the size of the basket. Now this is gonna be made of steel, so it will hold up to your different types of cargo.

This does not include any straps or anchors though, but I do recommend picking up a set of straps here at Etrailer, we have plenty on our website, different shapes and sizes. As for the bike, this is the UNO add-on tray, which means you have that 35-pound weight capacity of this being an add-on. And, this is a front wheel mount carrier, meaning whether your bike is a carbon fiber frame bike and you wanna protect the finish, step-through bike, mountain bike, bike with fenders, all of them are totally fine, it's a very versatile type of bike rack, and this can carry your bikes of different shapes and sizes. Now the only thing, or the main thing this cannot carry is gonna be your fat bikes. If the tires are wider than three inches, this won't fit.

I really like this setup, because I still have access to my cargo on the inside, and I can very easily take my bike off and put it back on, with the bike on the outside. So for example, if I needed to grab the bike real quick, I have our rear wheel strap, I'm just gonna remove. Over to the side, come up to the front, go to our front wheel mount, press that, press the top button for that mast, lower this down to the ground, grab the bike, and go. With the bike off, you can also see that the tray does sit a little bit higher up compared to where the basket is, which is great for those pedals. Putting the bike back on, you can see that I can rotate our pedals a lot without hitting any of the cargo. Depending on what type of cargo you have, you may have to be a little bit creative, and make sure your pedals are in the upright position. But there's a lot of forgiveness to this design, for those different types of bikes. I loaded the bike right back up, just like that. Get this in the tray, and tie down the straps, and I would be ready to hit the road. So this pairing works very well with each other, access the cargo and access to the bike. Now your experience will be different depending on your vehicle and what you're carrying around. For example, if I needed to open up the hatch of this car, that would depend on how much cargo I have stacked up on the car. So, I'm gonna give you some measurements that'll help you figure out what's gonna work for you. First is gonna be the rise, so there's gonna be a seven-inch rise from the bottom inside corner of your hitch receiver, to the bottom of the basket. For example, this shank sits nine inches off the ground, and the basket sits 16 inches up off the ground. So, that will help you figure out where your cargo sits. Another measurement is going to be the distance from the hitch to that basket. So I like to measure at the center of the hitch pin hole. And in our case, that's gonna be 15 inches from that hole to this rail over here, add another inch to that, that's gonna be 16 inches for your cargo. So, all those measurements will help you figure out if you are able to open up your hatch, without hitting, let's say, your cooler, your bags, or whatever else you're carrying. You technically also have another option if you need clearance, but I don't really recommend this option as often, because you can tilt this entire system away. But tilting it away can be very tricky if you have extra heavy stuff and your bike loaded. So there is a handle right here at the end, but instantly you're gonna have the pedals of your bike in the way, and potentially hitting your head. You're also gonna have to reach around your bike tray to get to that handle, and finally, that's gonna be a lot of weight coming down once you pull that lever, so pulling, dropping, this hits the ground, the report tray is a stopper underneath the handle. But now our entire system is tilted away, giving us more space behind the rack if we did need to open up a hatch, lower our tailgate, or open up our truck. So when you're using the MHS to carry around multiple bikes, the concept is that hopefully you'll have another person helping you tilt away, and bring back up. But since this is a solo adventure kit, I don't recommend tilting this rack away as often, just because look at how awkward it is to get everything back up into position and snapped into place. That would be especially more tricky when I have a heavier bike and heavier cargo loaded up. The length this will add to the back of your vehicle. We're gonna measure, again, from the center of the hitch pin hole, to the end of the add-on bike rack, and that's going to be 41 inches. Now that measurement will increase once your bike is loaded up, since you can see the handlebars and the pedal stick out a bit further. So if you need to park inside your garage, or park into a tight spot, you'll want to know that extra length to help see if you'll fit. Finally, for security features, your base is gonna come with extra lock cores, so, you're gonna have this anti-rattle bolt and this lock. You're going to use the extra lock cores on your bike rack, so that way everything is keyed alike. You'll insert that extra lock core right over here on that front wheel mount, and that lock core will prevent pressing this lever in order to take the bike off. Now that lock core is optional, you can use it if you want to. What won't have any security features, though, is gonna be your cargo basket, so, with this being a basket, your cargo is gonna be exposed to the elements, as well as whoever is walking by. So your options for that is gonna be maybe cover it up with a bag just to limit eyes and views on your items. If you have an extra extra large box, you may wanna use a cable lock or a chain to wrap around the box, and you can anchor that to the metal of the basket, but you are gonna have to figure out what works best for you. So all in all, I actually like this kit, I really like how the bike is situated on the outside, and if there weren't any straps around my cooler, then I could just open up the cooler, grab whatever I need, grab my bike, put the bike back. Everything is easy and accessible. Now there are a bunch of different bike cargo options available for your hitch receiver, you'll see them here at etrailer. Oftentimes you'll have the bikes on the inside and then the cargo basket on the outside. So this configuration here I am a fan of, because everything is accessible. But if you really wanted to compare it with something, then I would compare it to the Yakima Exo system where you have that second level. So with that system, you can carry up to two bikes up top, and then you have space for your basket or your box below. So with that, you're able to carry around more. The downside, though, is that it's gonna be a lot of extra weight, as well as extra price that you're going to have to consider. This is gonna weigh less, take up less space, and be at a lower price point. On the other side, if you wanted to carry around more bikes, you have to take that basket off, and then purchase separate bike rack trays for the MHS. You can find those here at Etrailer if you are curious about how that looks though, so, there is modularity to this system, there is a way to make this yours. Hopefully, though, this video showed the perks as well as the cons of the solo adventure kit for your MHS.