RockyMounts TomaHawk Bike Rack Review
This is a RockyMounts TomaHawk Bike Rack Review by Author Russell Eich
About the Author:
Russell fell head over heels in love with bikes in the ’90s, and has been involved in the bike industry ever since. Between wrenching in bike shops, guiding professionally, and writing about bikes, Russell has honed an appreciation for what works, gained knowledge of what doesn’t, and can barely contain his enthusiasm for what comes next. His two-wheeled passion continues in the Rocky Mountains high above Boulder, Colorado, USA.
You can find his original blog at https://www.bikeradar.com/
RockyMounts’ TomaHawk is a roof rack mounted, upright bike carrier that lets you keep both wheels on your bike. It mounts to almost all crossbars (square, round, aero, factory) and what makes it unique is that it works nicely with all styles of bikes, including: road, mountain, cruiser, children’s, and even fat bikes with up to 5-inch rubber.
The hook is mega wide and features a deep V to accommodate a huge range of tire widths
RockyMounts’ TomaHawk makes the ease of use associated with hitch-mounted racks available to those with roof racks. The big key here is being able to leave the wheels on your bike. The majority of roof-mounted bike racks are fork mounts, meaning you have to remove your bike’s front wheel.
While this isn’t a huge deal, and creates a rock solid attachment, it does leave the hassle of stashing your front wheel in your vehicle, or even worse forgetting it or backing over it (not that that’s ever happened to me).
RockyMount’s Tomahawk carries almost all bikes, from 20 &29
Loading and unloading bikes is beautifully simple, especially since RockyMounts cleverly include a small nub to keep the wheel straps tucked out of the way. They should win a prize for this ingenuity.
Whoever thought of this little nub that holds the strap should win a prize.
The arm lends a sense of confidence in the rack, being somewhat firm to pull into place. That confidence is bolstered by the loud ratcheting clicks as you snug the hook over the front tyre. Strapping the wheels is easy too, with plenty of strap length.
For whatever reason, early roof racks had short wheel straps and were a pain to use on mountain bikes with even mildly big tyres. RockyMounts even includes two extra wheel straps for fat bikes. Once loaded, the gratuitous bike shake reveals very little movement and a solid feel. Much more solid than previous wheels-on, roof-mounted bike racks that hold the crankarm, or squeeze the bike’s down tube.
Pulling your bike off the rack is just about as easy!