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From Tyte Rack’s website: Tyte Rack roof racks incorporate a unique design, that make them the best rack today to carry bicycles on a vehicle roof. In addition, this rack is very versatile and adapts to your other recreational and sporting activities, including but not limited to, skiing, kayaking, surfing to name a few.

Product Tested:
Tyte Rack

Website’s MSRP:
$ 99

Specs:
Tyte Rack roof racks incorporate a unique design, that make them the best rack today to carry bicycles on a vehicle roof. In addition, this rack is very versatile and adapts to your other recreational and sporting activities, including but not limited to, skiing, kayaking, surfing to name a few.
(1) Can easily attach to factory racks and will attach to the car without factory racks click here to learn how it will fit both of your cars.
(2) Universal bike attachment, click here to learn why this bicycle attachment is more stable.
(3) Bike frame security without the wheel removal and without the optional wheel holder.
(4) Reduced reach requirements for bike loading and unloading (approximately 12″ ).

Full Suspension bikes, no problem.

About Me:
6’1” 210lbs, 29 year old male. I’m a mountain biking enthusiast who enjoys XC riding.

Testing Grounds:
Streets of Southern California

First Impressions:
When I first saw the rack, I was pretty excited. There are a myriad of trails in Southern California so having a good rack is almost a necessity. This rack intrigued me on two issues: price & unique mounting. Although mounting a bike upside down is not the preferred method of mounting, I liked using the unique seatpost adaptor versus mounting via wheels which I’ll get to later.

Mounts easily with velcro straps.

Strengths:
The Tyte Rack difference is the ability to mount the bike via the seatpost and handlebars. This is different from other roof racks which mount via both wheels or fork and wheel. While either of these mounting options are fine, I find that I always run out of suitable contact points for lifting the bike onto the roof rack and lowering the bike from the roof rack. With the roof rack that mounts the bike via wheels you’re grabbing just the wheels which can rotate and jam your finger into the frame. Ouch.

With the Tyte Rack you get two non-moving points to grab: the top of the seat tube and the headtube/toptube junction. Because these points do not rotate or move, there is no chance of getting fingers jammed into the frame, which my fingers appreciate.

Two bikes are no problem for the Tyte Rack

The Tyte Rack is easy to install onto a car, although my first time installing the rack took about 30 minutes. After a few times of installing and uninstalling, I was down to 10 minutes. Now I easily finish in 5 minutes. I’ve mounted it on a few different cars and pretty much all of them have had no issues with mounting.

I have also not had any issues keeping my bike upside down while being mounted to the rack. On my First Impressions post many friends commented that I may have issues with namely: suspension oil dampers not liking the upside down position, handlebar, seattube stress… Over the course of this long review, I can confidently say that I did not have any issues. Although all of the comments were valid and I dutifully paid attention to them, I have not had any issues.

I still haven’t mentioned the price. The standard economical rack is $89, with a $10 discount, while the high-end rack is $99. Both are great choices, with the high-end rack being a little more durable. These racks are significantly cheaper than other roof mount options from big name manufacturers making the Tyte Rack an economical and simple light duty rack.

What makes the Tyte rack unique? The Seatpost Replacement Insert. Mounts bikes of all shapes easily and keeps your fingers from getting jammed into the frame.

Weakness:
Due to the design of the Tyte Rack, you have to take your seatpost out of the frame each time you mount your bike to the rack. This means I lose my favorite height for my seatpost. I tried different tactics to mark my seatpost so I would not lose my previous height but none of my tactics really worked. I ended up just remeasuring the height each time I reinstalled the post.

The area where the handlebars of the bike interface with the bar of the rack is metal to metal, metal from the handlebar to a metal rack. I’d prefer a softer material to interface with the handlebars especially if its a carbon bar. Because of this I drafted an old tube into service. I cut it and taped it onto the bar and this gave my handlebars a nicer softer place to rest during the ride to and from the trailhead.

Added an tube to the metal bar. Less metal to metal interface

One of the comments left on the First Impressions post was in regards to the longevity of the velcro straps. Lo and behold, on my last ride one of the velcro straps broke when mounting the bike. Since I like for the bike to be pretty tight to the bar, I usually torque the velcro straps pretty good. This time, it must have been over torqued as it just ripped apart. Thankfully, I was able to easily substitute the strap with a bungee cord but stronger straps would be appreciated.

Summary:
The Tyte rack is an inexpensive versatile light duty rack with a unique mounting system that keeps your fingers from being pinched. The simple seatpost replacement insert is a great idea as it easily accommodates most seatposts to carry many different mountain bikes. Designed for the recreational rider, the Tyte Rack combines the qualities of low price, versatility and roof mount in one simple package. Kudos to Tyte Rack for creating a sensible, low cost alternative to meet the needs of this particular market. By the way, the Tyte Rack works perfectly for road bikes too!

For more information, click here.

Economical, carries two, versatile.

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The Luge is finally back open after the fires from 2007. Whiting Ranch, which Joe rode in July the weekend of its Grand Opening, is across the street from the Luge and was also closed for months after the fire as well. I wasn’t able to get out for the initial reopening Luge ride, but a few of us did ride there a couple of weekends later.

The Luge is a great ride if a little short at just under 8 miles. It has a couple of grueling climbs but nothing too long and it ends with a fast singletrack descent from the flagpole.

Donnie, Mark, Tim “Scissors” & me. The Luge starts right behind us and descends along the faint singletrack down the mountain.

Donnie, Mark, Tim & I did something we normally don’t do and shuttled to the beginning of Santiago Truck Trail. This shortened our ride even more by allowing us to skip out on some road riding on Modjeska. Not normally a shuttler, I have definitely found the benefits to this type of riding! By the way, just an fyi, we found out afterwards that parking along the street before the dirt entrance is a big no, no. Some cops were giving out bright orange warnings, not tickets.

The Santiago Truck Trail part of the Luge ride is usually a bit on the boring side. It’s basically a fireroad climb to the flagpole which is the beginning of the “Luge” part of the Luge trail. But this time the STT was different. The trail was the same but the surrounding scenery was burnt making for very interesting views. The best part, though, was seeing how new growth was beginning to push its way through the burnt plants.

The weirdest thing was shooting down the Luge. The luge is fast, singletrack shaped in a sort of small “u” shape… hence the “Luge” name. It was weird riding down the Luge because on my previous trip here, the Redline Mono 9 handlebar got caught on a branch and I went OTB. This time though, the fires made sure that there were no branches to reach out and touch my bar. There were very few bushes at all which although a great relief to me, did take away from the Luge a bit.

The ride up STT didn’t have much vegetation to look at to begin with, but the fires didn’t help with the view either. I’m not complaining though as it’s definitely good to have the Luge back

Since we were strapped for time, the Luge was all we could schedule in for this morning ride. Next time though, with both Whiting Ranch & the Luge open, I’m definitely voting for a 2-fer.

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This weekend was the 5th Annual Le Tour de Tryptophan at the world famous Fullerton Loop. I met Moe & RL at the court house parking lot Friday afternoon. This event runs from Friday noon to Saturday noon (24hrs). I had every intentions of camping out with the guys however plans changed unexpectedly on Thanksgiving that I could only stay until the evening. Below is a brief description of the event:

Ride and Donate to the Fifth Annual Tour de Tryptophan/24 Hours of the Fullerton Loop.
Help Save Kids From Boredom and Protect the Future of Mountain Biking With High School Cycling Programs.

Fullerton, CA – November 25, 2008 – - If you’re in Southern California this Friday after Thanksgiving, come burn your Turkey off for a good cause at the Fifth Annual Tour de Tryptophan/24 Hours of the Fullerton Loop.

Presented by no one, this fund-raiser commences at noon on Friday and finishes at noon on Saturday. As it is a fun ride with no rules, you can start or finish at any time. Do one lap, go home for the evening and do another in the morning. Or ride your brains out for 24 Hours. Seventeen laps seems to be the reigning record.

The Fullerton Loop is an 11-mile network of suburban trails that pass through city parks, horse trails, hidden pathways and creekside wilderness. Originally pieced together by Richard Cunningham of Mantis Bikes and Mountain Bike Action fame in 1983, hundreds of people ride and train on the famed loop every week. This 24 Hour event was conceived as a celebration of the Loop, an excuse to burn off Thanksgiving dinner, and an opportunity to support a good cause. This year’s proceeds will benefit the SoCal High School Cycling League, which will bring cycling to Southern California High Schools in 2009. Former beneficiaries of the Tour de Tryp have included the Tara Llanes Recovery Fund, CHOC Hospitals, and various other charities.

The SoCal High School Cycling League is not even aware that they are the recipient of upcoming proceeds, so therefore are responsible in no way for this event.
The ride will start and end in the upper parking lot of the Courthouse in Fullerton at Harbor and Berkeley. You can show up at any time to donate $30 and receive the Ramones-inspired T-Shirt while supplies last.

As described above, this is more of a fun event; there were no pressure to do more laps than the next guy (unless you wanted to). There was a big turn out by the time I arrived at the parking lot. Moe had brought his pop-up trailer and RL had set-up the Team’s Redline tent. After signing up, we went out for our first lap. RL was pulling his daughter on a trailer while Moe and I followed. On the way to Gus Grissom Park, we were passed by Mountain Bike Action’s Richard “R.C.” Cunningham (see video). As mentioned above, R.C. was the man who made Fullerton Loop possible. In the past I’ve had several chats with R.C. where he shared stories on putting the Loop together in the 80s. Truly an honor to meet the man who created the trail that is shared by hundreds of riders on a weekly basis.

                                        Base Camp.  Not sure what Moe is doing back there…

Approximately 4 miles into the Loop, RL experienced mechanicals with trailer where the attachment was rubbing against his rear rotors. He tried several adjustments and it just wasn’t working out. He decided to head back to the parking lot and Moe and I continued on. From here Moe and I decided to switch bikes. Fortunately we were both using Crank Bros pedals so our cleats were compatible. I have never ridden on a 29er before so I was pretty stoked to try it. Also after reading Moe’s review of the Flagstaff 29er I couldn’t wait to ride it. In turn Moe rode my Intense 5.5. We had a very casual ride for the remainder of the Loop. First lap done!

When we returned to the parking lot, Priscilla had already arrived and will be joining us. Moe and I rested for a bit then the three of us would go for a second lap. RL was staying behind with their daughter. It was another casual ride however at a faster pace as we were losing light.

Making it back to the parking lot, we were greeted by Eric “the Animal” Hunner on a unicycle (see video) while RL was manning the bbq grill. By now it was dark and many participants were taking their breaks and also cooking dinner. There were also some riders heading out for more laps. After having dinner and a beer, I was too full to do another lap. At the same time it was getting cold and my helmet was wet (sweat) from the previous rides. Not so comfortable wearing a wet helmet… I decided to call it the night and return in the morning.

On Saturday I returned for the end of the event. The current record for the most laps is 17. This year the top rider would only complete 15 laps. Still a lot considering one lap is 11 miles. the next rider did 13 laps. The Moe checked in with 5 laps and RL with 3. Awesome job guys!

                 MtnBikeRiders.com with MBA’s Richard Cunningham

This was truly a fun event – I look forward to next year’s Le Tour de Tryptophan!

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