I bought this rack to replace my Kuat NV 2.0. There was nothing wrong with my NV 2.0 I wanted a rack that didn't touch any part of the bike frame. I found the Piston Pro X and decided to buy it since it was on sale. This rack is a bit pricey but it's well worth the price. It's a high quality rack and it looks great. It has built in LED lights which is a great feature if you travel a lot with your bikes like we do. The rack also comes with a lock cable that is very thick and strong to lock your bikes to the rack while traveling. The rack is very sturdy and has no lateral movement while driving. It is very easy to load/unload the bikes The bikes sit in the trays and the wheel brackets lock into place ensuring the bikes don't move. I will definitely recommend this rack.
I did a lot of research for a new light 2-bike rack, and this one checked all the boxes in my long list. Having used a previous generation Saris Superclamp EX-2 (the one with the hooks over both wheels), I really came to appreciate the lightness and versatility of that rack. This new Superclamp keeps all that versatility (20-29" wheel sizes and fenders compatible, plus 2" and 1-1/4" hitch) and keeps it at the lightest weight I could find in a rack with of these features, 45 lbs! It is very manageable for mounting and taking off regularly which I do between our two cars with different hitch sizes.
The rack uses a very easy front wheel hook and rear wheel strap. The hook comes with a lock which is very useful when you gotta walk away from the car at a gas station or coffee shop, etc. (But use some serious additional locks if you'll be gone longer!) It is very easy and fast mounting bikes. The only holdup happens if you need to use a very different front wheel size from your previous load, and you need to adjust the wheel/tire cradle size. It needs a couple of bolts to come off and then bolt back on for cradle adjustment (Saris has a great video that shows you how). It can take you a few minutes. But since I only occasionally switch between wheel sizes that are very different, it's a minor issue for me. Other racks like the Thule Verse and much faster in this adjustment.
Ultimately, for me it came down choosing this or the Thule Verse with 2" and 1-1/4" hitch compatibility. I chose the Saris Superclamp because it's lighter (-11 lbs.) and can mount heavier e-bikes up to 60 lbs (+5 lbs.) which I do occasionally need. You really can't go wrong with either, but the choice was clear for me.
Happy riding!
I have a gen 1 kuat transfer, my new piston pro is so much nicer. Doesn't rock around in the hitch, holds 4.5 fat bikes and 29r mountain bikes solidly with little fuss. Included cable lock is a great feature
My daughter is a pro/1/2 cyclocross racer (humble brag) (and whatever the fast classes are in gravel bikes and MTBs) who grew tired of a roof rack, and changed to a trailer-receiver rack. She's going to travel this year and do the Belgium Gravel Race/Ride (whatever it is) series, with the longest trip to Arizona. My wife is going to support her in Arizona, and my younger daughter is going to go to Arizona with her dirt bike. (I am going to stay in Boise and watch the dogs.)
Anyway, i bought two of these racks - one for my daughter, and one for my wife. This was based on my daughter's market research - her racing buddies LOVE this rack.
This rack is crazy good - cast aluminum parts, integrated locks and work stand, and quality fasteners and integrated tool. That's the good part.
The bad part is that Kuat includes an inadequate set of printed instructions with the rack. The lack of instructions relates both to the assembly instructions and the use instructions. In particular, shortcomings are with the integrated work stand and the plastic plug to protect the rack when the work stand isn't installed, and the use of the steel ball to take up slack in the rack-receiver interface.
My daughter ended up tightening the slack-absorbing ball OUTSIDE the receiver, and it jammed in the rack. When I went to visit her, I had to take a ball peen hammer, appropriately size socket and extension to hammer the ball out of the rack. Once i explained how this worked, we reinstalled the rack, put a piece of red tape to indicate the depth to which the rack should be installed. Once we made these changes, installation on the vehicle was easy.
The printed included instructions really didn't cover the work stand very well, and not much detail on the steel ball which takes the slack out of the receiver/rack interface.
The other disappointment is the really cheap receiver/rack lock. Tiny, soft steel. I bought a Master lock which is of much higher quality. Given the cost of this rack, i don't want to someone walking off with it. That problem was solved for $15.
WIth just a bit of extra effort on the part of Kuat, this would be 5 stars.
