I have several of these ...and some I actually purchased. But, I also find them on the road and the bike path. They work well for a small fender, but not as well as a standard fender will and these do nothing for anyone riding behind you. I've never lost one, but clearly people have had issues mounting them to their saddles or I wouldn't have one for every bike in my fleet! I have a few different vintages of these so the ones for sale here have a flip in the fold vs the older wing tabs, but I've found both versions on the ground. I love the one I purchased and the 3 other I've found. They really aren't that complicated to install.
My first hitch rack after years of roof mounts so I can�t comment on how it compares to other hitch racks. My spouse refuses to deal with this thing blocking her access to the rear lift gate so we only plan to keep it on for travel. Thus, easy REMOVAL was really important to us. Initially I was quite concerned with the weight, but I�ve had no trouble as you can carry it easily by the bike trays and similarly leverage it to remove from the hitch. No folding beyond what it does on your car so plan a little storage space if it will spend a lot of time OFF your car. Mounting and removing bikes is utter simplicity. Also love that the holding arms for each bike are independent and allow you to shift each bike in one direction or the other to reduce contact with pedals, bars, etc� simple. You need to crank down on those arms too so that you minimize movement. Lean into it pulling both sides together toward the middle for max leverage!! Also, if you have an auto with sophisticated backup collision avoidance, this rack (probably all of them) may cause fits for those systems. After much frustration over a few days, we found a way to temporarily disable ours. Check forums and manuals ahead to be prepared! Hitch mount is very solid, no movement, easy to tighten down in seconds after you attach to the auto. Not sure if all racks secure the hitch, but this one does have a nice pass-through bolt with a lock that would not be easily compromised. I also like the included cable lock that secures the bikes to the rack. Obviously not high security, but for a quick run into a restaurant or store on your next trip, it should do fine. Highly Recommend. Undoubtedly will outlast my car!!!
I bought this pump for the larger gauge and assumed that it would be good quality. The pump is lightweight, compact, and pumps well. As a road bike rider, the larger, non-linear gauge is of limited value (except for the larger size) as the more detailed pressure reading stops after 30 psi. Regarding the head, I hate it. My other pump has a head where the lock lever is mounted to the side and works great. The way the Silca head is designed I find that I am always pinching my fingers when I snap the lever to release. Maybe it's just me, but I couldn't get use to it. Finally I broke down and bought the Silca Hiro V.2 side lever head. This combination works great, but the pump/Hiro head is way too much $$. I could only recommend buying the pump/Hiro head on sale which I did.
I've been waxing my chains for 5+ years now, previously using a crockpot and another vendor's wax. I purchased the Silca Chain Wax system to have a faster, more compact solution without risk of overheating my wax. As crockpots typically don't have a precise temperature control you need to monitor the temperature with a thermometer to avoid overheating the wax which is a hassle and time consuming. The Silca system is indeed much more compact than my crockpot, and I like the the wire chain hanging tool which allows you to easily suspend the chain over the heating bowl and let excess wax drip back into the bowl. However, there a couple of important things you should know prior to purchasing the system. The documentation and associated product videos from Silca and other reviewers give you the impression that the temperature displayed on the unit is the current temperature of the wax. Thus you can simply look at the temperature display and know when to pull the chain. However, this is not correct. The temperature display shows your desired set point temperature and NOT the actual temperature of the wax. So you have to do some experimentation to know how long it will take for the wax to melt and come up to temperature. I found the time for the wax to melt/come up to temperature is approximately 75 minutes, so not quick and not faster than using a crockpot. Note that I lay the chain on top of the solid wax and put on the cover so I know the chain itself is up to temperature when I pull it from the wax. On the plus side, the temperature control of the unit appears to be very accurate as I measured it with a scientific thermometer. When I set it to 75 Centigrade, that was the measured, stable temperature (after waiting an hour and 15 minutes). While I like the wire chain hanger, it's a bit flimsy and I fear it will break over time.
Regarding the wax itself, it seems just fine. I'm not sure I notice much of a difference from the other wax I had been using, but it certainly runs smooth. As I was already using waxed chains, I did not use the Silca "Strip Chip" to remove the factory lubricant. I simply cleaned my chains with boiling water to remove the old wax as I didn't think it would be a good idea to mix two different brands of wax. I will say if the Silca Strip Chip works as advertised, that would be a game changer as the initial process of stripping the factory lubricant off new chains is big effort using nasty chemicals (mineral spirits, acetone, etc.).
Finally, having waxed chains for years now I'm a total convert. Folks will tell you that you gain a few watts of efficiency over traditional lubricants and that's great. However, my ultimate test in chain lubricants is that if I can't fix a dropped chain with my bare hands and then
