YAKIMA FullBack 3 Premium Trunk Bike Rack

I used this rack on a 2017 Mazda CX 5 for a 10 hour drive into the North Carolina mountains, with 3 mountain bikes on it. My car did get dents at the bottom, but I don’t believe it was the fault of the rack. A nice man tightened the straps during a gas stop, and after that my car got dented. My recommendations: to secure the bottom straps, don’t use the metal rings at the side of the trunk cargo, just let the anchor hooks rest on the cargo floor, following the install directions. Pay CLOSE attention to the placement of the bottom bar foam (where he says “a good fit looks like this” in the video); the bottom of the foam shouldn’t be resting on any surface. For my car, definitely place it in the license plate well. Tighten the top straps to get the bottom foam into the correct position, then tighten the bottom straps. We had a hard time just getting the bars up and getting the hub selection. When you rotate the center dial, it stops and requires a little more pressure to continue to the unlocked position. When mounting the bikes, don’t pay attention to the orientation of the chain on the first bike, go by the orientation of the stabilization mount to the bike. I threaded the stabilization strap through all three bikes to prevent the wheels from spinning. Also, the security strap to prevent the rack from being stolen: I couln’t thread it through the gap of my trunk, it was too thick. I’ll try again when I’m not in a hurry. It rained hard while the bikes were mounted and I had no water leaking into the cargo area (I guess because that gap is nonexistent!). I have to say, on the way home I felt very comfortable with the rack. I didn’t need to tighten the straps, even after they got wet. I do think one person can easily install. I held the rack up with my body while I threaded the top straps, then I could do the bottom straps while the rack was being held with the top straps. I think the materials are good quality. If the zip clips break, I think it would be from not pulling them out straight. I had one bike that had an unusual bar, but it fit fine. I had no damage to my headliner or cargo area. I was traveling only with two 15 year olds so this install and trip was high anxiety for me. I hope this review helps someone else who is freaking out. This is a good purchase, I can’t imagine a better rack.

No complaints, fits well on my Ioniq. Fast delivery

Great Product!

This is a very good bike rack. It was given 4 stars instead of 5 due to a couple of drawbacks that were minor to me. For reference, I have the 2 bike version and I installed it on a 2013 Toyota Venza crossover vehicle. It carried one men”s and one woman’s bike, and the woman’s bike had an inexpensive crossbar installed which was necessary in my case. Once properly installed, it was all very sturdy with little swaying.

This rack is quite sturdy and does not require assembly. I found the installation quite easy, partly because I have used trunk mounted racks before and they all go on in a similar way. Once the rack is adjusted for a vehicle it does not have to be readjusted, so the extra time spent in the initial installation (setting strap length, learning where to set the hooks) is not repeated. The four mounting straps only need to be slipped on and tightened properly. It is important to not have the rack rest on the bumper once loaded with bikes in order to avoid denting the bumper. This is accomplished by tightening the upper straps.
The minor drawbacks were the rack’s weight and the built in bike lock system. The rack weighs a bit over 20 pounds, a tad weighty but as it seems quite sturdy that appears to be a tradeoff. The built in lock however is annoying as the cable length is quite short-I could only secure the bike located on the outside that is near the lock, with some maneuvering. If you are carrying only one bike, as it must be placed on the inside slot nearest the vehicle the built in cable will not reach, so either use your own cable and lock then looped into the built in system, or buy their extended length cable lock.

There are some other nice features.The rack can be secured to the trunk with a strap to help prevent theft, and the bars holding the bikes can be folded down and out of the way when not in use. The inclination of the rack is easily and securely adjusted with a click lock system in order to fit different vehicles, similarly for the bike mounting bars. There is also a system for tucking away the extra strap length.

Overall this is a very good bike rack which I am happy with.