Review: Saris Edge 2-Bike Hitch Rack

Jim’s Tech Talk

By Jim Langley

Rating:

Price: $999.99

Source: https://saris.com/products/edge-2-bike-rack

Hitch size: compatible with 2-inch hitches/receivers

Bike compatibility: standard and e-bikes up to 80 pounds each (bikes with fenders too)

Fits wheelbases: up to 53 inches

Fits wheel sizes: from 24-inch to 29 x 3-inch and 27.5 x 5-inch

RV compatibility: approved for use on Class A, B and C motorhomes

Security: locking hitch pin; stowaway locking bike security cable

Extras: each tray includes a sliding 2.5-inch high riser block to resolve bar/saddle conflicts

Rack weight: 67.5 pounds (my measurement; Saris listed weight: 65 pounds)

How acquired: sample from company

Availability: online and retail

RBR advertiser: no

Hot

• Can be assembled in only minutes with the included allen key
• Tool-free anti-wobble system: just turn the easily accessed knob and the rack gets and stays tight in the hitch
• Ruggedly constructed with oversized trays, arms, body and tilt pivot 
• Spring-loaded wheel arms hold fast and are fixed-position so that they only touch the tires and can’t rub or scratch bikes or contact hydraulic hoses
• Can handle up to 160 pounds of bikes and is approved for RV use
• Oversized and easy to reach handle for tilting the rack with the bikes on it down for access to hatches, tailgates and trunks and fold it for storage. 

Not

• The hitch pin is smaller diameter than I expected for such a beefy hitch rack
• If the integrated bike cable lock was a little longer it would reach around both bikes and wheels
• At 67.6 pounds, some people might need help installing it on a vehicle

Saris’s Edge Gives You the Edge for Carrying Your Bikes

Built For Heavy Duty Use

I learned about Saris’s new Edge rack during the Sea Otter Classic event this spring. It caught my eye because it is RV and e-bike compatible and I have both. RVs pose a challenge for hitch racks because of the whiplash effect. That’s why not all racks are rated for RV use. 

What happens is that, when hitch racks are attached to an extra long vehicle like an RV, the racks and bikes are at the end of the whip when you hit a bump or have to take a rough road. Unless the rack is secure in the hitch and the bikes are fully supported and held in place, things can go sideways quickly.

It happened to my buddy Tony who pulls an Escape travel trailer with two bikes on a rear hitch rack. As we were coming into Winslow, Arizona on I-40 last year, we hit a stretch of road riddled with unavoidable potholes. This bounced around his rack and bikes so much that they started to come out of the trays, which he didn’t discover until we stopped at the campsite.

Looking at the oversize trays, locking arms and body of the Saris Edge rack, along with the rugged handle and massive hinge for tilting, gave me confidence that it could easily withstand the potholes on I-40 and anything else we might encounter. So I requested a sample from Saris.

Easy assembly

I didn’t take any photos while assembling the Edge rack because they made it so simple to put it together. It comes boxed with all the individual parts wrapped for protection. There are only five pieces and everything is labeled with stickers showing which part goes where, A to A, B to B, C to C and D to D. All you have to do is line up the pieces according to the stickers and screw in the bolts.

The working parts of the rack that hold it to the vehicle and that keep the bikes on are already assembled from the factory so the rack is ready for use once you’ve bolted it together. To do that you just slip it into your vehicle’s hitch. Saris provides a locking hitch pin with the Edge, which you push through the holes in the hitch and rack. Once that’s in place, you turn the knob on the rear of the rack by hand to tighten the rack in the hitch so that it cannot wobble inside the hitch.

I was a little surprised by the size of the hitch pin, which is about ⅜ of an inch diameter or 10mm. That’s significantly smaller than the hole in my vehicles’ hitches (both the RV and our Toyota Highlander). I reached out to Saris about this and they explained that due to the anti-wobble mechanism inside the Edge’s hitch shaft, there’s a limitation to how large the hitch pin can be.

A hitch pin ensures that should the anti-wobble mechanism vibrate loose, or if you were to forget to tighten it, that the rack can’t go anywhere. It might move but the pin will stop it from coming out of the hitch altogether. 

Bike and rack security

The other important purpose of the hitch pin is as an anti-theft device. It prevents the theft of the rack and bikes together. That’s why the Edge’s hitch pin comes with a stout lock that works well and has a rubber cap to keep water out of the mechanism too.

To safeguard the bikes on the rack, there is an integrated cable lock. There are two separate cables. One has a lock on the end, which handily uses an identical key to the hitch lock key. For a little more reach the other cable can be extended once you pull it out of its holder in the rack.

Ideally, the cable would be long enough to lock both bikes and the wheels to the rack. But it’s not quite long enough to encircle both wheels. So you’ll probably want to carry a second cable lock long enough to do that.

Safe, secure and simple bike mounting

It’s quick and easy to mount bikes on the Edge rack. The rear wheels go on the trays and the front wheels drop into the holders, which Saris calls “wheel scoops” (in their directions). That makes sense because both ends are shaped so that the tires drop down and are centered and held firmly (see photo). Once the wheels are in place, the bike is essentially locked-in because the gripply hard-rubber inside the scoops hugs the front wheels by the tires. You then keep them in place with the spring-loaded arms that press down on the wheels. The arms lock when they close on the wheels. A button on top releases them for bike removal. 

When you rotate the arms up the wheel, they stop at a fixed position, which is about three quarters of the way up. That’s a smart design. On other hitch racks where the arms rotate right up to the fork, I have had to pad the arms where they touch the fork or else the arms will rub through the paint finish. With the Edge this can’t happen. The only thing the arm touches is the tire, and on the rear wheel, the only thing touching is the tire too with the wheel strap contacting the rim. There’s zero contact on any part of the frame or fork.

Another brilliant Edge feature is the sliding wheel blocks. They can be slid along the tray to either chock the rear wheel or to go beneath it to raise it. When you place it beneath the wheel, it lifts the bike 2.5 inches.

I was excited to try this out because the two bikes I carry a lot, my gravel bike and my wife’s e-bike don’t play nice together. The e-bike handlebars bump into the gravel bike saddle. I usually let a little air out of a tire to make clearance and then put something in between the bars and saddle just in case there’s any rubbing.

Now I can forget about that hassle. In the photo you can see how, thanks to the block under the tire, there’s no problem anymore with handlebar to saddle clearance. Thank you Saris!

The wheel straps are well thought out too. For one thing, there’s a hole in the end of the strap and a holder for it on the side of the strap clamp. You can hook the strap onto the holder to keep it out of the way when mounting bikes (photo). I like that because on other hitch racks the straps can tend to flop onto the tray and get under the wheel as you’re mounting bikes, which means having to pull them out.

Also, the strap clamp has a long release lever, which is easier to use than those strap clamps where you have to press and hold down a button.

Excellent foldability

There’s an easy to access oversized handle for releasing and tilting the rack. By pulling the handle and lifting the rack slightly, it comes unlocked from the position it was in and you can keep lifting or let it drop down. You put it all the way up and out of the way when the bikes are off. It tilts all the way down for accessing hatches, tailgates and trunks. There’s also a halfway up position, which I think is to help lower/raise the rack in stages.

With two e-bikes on the rack, you’re lowering a lot of weight to tilt down the rack to get access to your vehicle. You might want to remove the bikes first. Or if a friend’s along, ask them to help.   The oversized handle for folding is really well designed and helpful. Thanks to that I could lower and raise the rack alone with an e-bike and my gravel bike mounted because it provided such a great grip.

Bottom line

Saris pulled out all the stops with their new Edge rack. It’s a workhorse built to handle heavy bikes and even the worst roads. I gave it a tough test driving over 600 miles with the E and G bikes on board and over some miserably rough roads, such as Highway 101 through Salinas and up 58 to Tehachapi. During all those miles checking on the rack in the mirror regularly, I never saw any sway or wobble out of the rack and it never loosened in the hitch either. 

Forgive the pun, but the functionality is cutting Edge too. I love the wheel blocks that eliminate bike to bike conflicts I’ve experienced with other racks (and potential parts damage). The tilt mechanism and control handle are both up to the task of raising and lowering a sizable load and holding it in place too. And mounting bikes is nearly effortless since the wheel scoops make them drop into place almost on their own. If you’re looking for a rack for RV use, for e-bike use or just an easy to use full featured hitch rack, I think you’ll be delighted with Saris’ Edge. I almost forgot to say that it’s a great looking rack too, but you can see that in the pics. 

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Jim Langley is RBR’s Technical Editor. A pro mechanic & cycling writer for more than 40 years, he’s the author of Your Home Bicycle Workshop in the RBR eBookstore. Tune in to Jim’s popular YouTube channel for wheel building & bike repair how-to’s. Jim’s also known for his cycling streak that ended in February 2022 with a total of 10,269 consecutive daily rides (28 years, 1 month and 11 days of never missing a ride). Click to read Jim’s full bio.