Who makes this 4WD bike rack?

rancidivy999

Cannon Fodder
Hi everyone,

I saw this awesome rack on the back of a Prado near Chirnside Park in Victoria.

Couldn't quite make out the logo, but was wondering if anyone recognises it?

I suspect the rack might be a custom job? Hoping someone might recognise the handwork and point me in the right direction where to get one?

Why do I like it? Been looking for 12 months for a suitable rack to put on the back of the 4WD that:
• won't decrease my departure angle too much when offroad;
• clears the rear spare tyre mount on the back door
• this rack also seems to have pins allowing it to drop down to open the rear door.

Thanks in advance for the help :)

Cheers,

Chris

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Checkpoint22

Likes Dirt
I am an ABSOLUTE fan of ISI racks, had mine for 4 years now, unbreakable, cradles expensive bikes gently, can load 4 bikes and disappear in less than 5mins flat, Aussie made, AND - can drop the whole shebang down and access the hatchback of the wagon while fully loaded!!!

It is only in the last 12 months have I seen brands like Thule, etc starting to try to copy this design, but NOTHING gets close to the quality of ISI racks - check out the laser-cut hitch, the steel is massive. I have had it on the back of a Commodore wagon, and now a Ford Territory - nothing holds your bike over rough roads as stable as this thing. Expensive - wife nearly died when I told her the price, but use it once and you will forget about the price.

Am in no way affiliated with ISI, have received no incentives from the company, and paid full price for my rack. But anyone who says there is a better rack has just not seen this thing in the flesh, or used it...
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pharmaboy

Eats Squid
I am an ABSOLUTE fan of ISI racks, had mine for 4 years now, unbreakable, cradles expensive bikes gently, can load 4 bikes and disappear in less than 5mins flat, Aussie made, AND - can drop the whole shebang down and access the hatchback of the wagon while fully loaded!!!

It is only in the last 12 months have I seen brands like Thule, etc starting to try to copy this design, but NOTHING gets close to the quality of ISI racks - check out the laser-cut hitch, the steel is massive. I have had it on the back of a Commodore wagon, and now a Ford Territory - nothing holds your bike over rough roads as stable as this thing. Expensive - wife nearly died when I told her the price, but use it once and you will forget about the price.

Am in no way affiliated with ISI, have received no incentives from the company, and paid full price for my rack. But anyone who says there is a better rack has just not seen this thing in the flesh, or used it...
]
Checkpoint, have you got a system that ou follow to load 4 bikes on? I always find myself undoing at least one seat post and loosening a few brakes etc to get them all to fit - wide bars different sized bikes etc. I think the 4 bike I have set up with low cradlles then high, en low then high ( so all on an equivalent slope) and alternate the bikes .

George puts his bikes all facing the same way but I have never found that to work - just not enough movement in the wheel cradles to get me there.
 

Knuckles

Lives under a bridge
They do. The Tilty is on the front page of the site now. ;)
Sneaky bastards, was there just last week, nothing mentioned.....

Still........disappointing its not named the way I first read it, with less Ls and more Ts
 
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I have a Gripsport rack. I went with Gripsport as my previous car did not have a hitch mount - only a towball tongue. (I note ISI now do a towball mount)

I had various Thule racks before. I found the towball mounted Thule racks to be a bit "bouncy". I was not comfortable using them at highway speeds, let alone on unsealed roads.

The Thule hitch mounted racks were better.

The Gripsport & ISI wheel "loops" are heaps better than the plastic troughs used by Thule.
 

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Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member

scblack

Leucocholic
I have a Gripsport rack and love it. ISI also make great bike racks too.

Both are Australian made and very high quality. And they both have great customer service.

Go for one of those two.
 

gcouyant

Farkin Advertiser
Why do I like it? Been looking for 12 months for a suitable rack to put on the back of the 4WD that:
• won't decrease my departure angle too much when offroad;
• clears the rear spare tyre mount on the back door
• this rack also seems to have pins allowing it to drop down to open the rear door.

Thanks in advance for the help :)
Well well Chris, well spotted. I was going to keep quiet about this post because it's a picture of the new model Extreme Duty 4x4x2 off-road 2-bicycle carrier that hasn't been announced yet. May as well fess up now about the range of Modular Extreme Duty PowerPivot carriers from iSi that are now *all convertible between 2 and 4-bike carriers* ..... Yes, start with two and then build on.

Unlike *every* other brand of bicycle carrier on the market, the new 4x4x2 off-road carrier continues to exceed the dynamic operational parameters of 4WD vehicles making the Extreme Duty 4x4x2 off-road carrier head and shoulders the strongest, toughest and most durable bicycle carrier on the planet. Sub 10 second loading and deployment of bikes that totally eliminates the problems with straps, buckles, flimsy hinges and other points of failure and hassle that surface when the going gets rough. Deliver the best and no mucking around.

And OMG, this bicycle carrier has even greater departure clearance.....

On the Extreme Duty 4x4x2 carrier pictured, the 40 degree departure angle exceeds that of every 4WD vehicle out there so you'll scrape the car before the carrier and because the PowerPivot is at the tow bar, the whole carrier clears side hinged rear doors that are on most modern 4WD vehicles. The perfect bicycle carrier positions the bicycles nice and tight to the rear of the vehicle, remains rock solid over the roughest terrain and when lowered delivers great access to the rear cargo compartment.

Several examples that will hopefully highlight this.


The FJ Cruiser is typical of a side hinged rear door – which is one reason why this bicycle carrier is so popular with FJ cruiser owners - including yellow cars ;-)


Or this Prado as another example. Being able to lower the carrier and open the rear tailgate fully has an added advantage if you have a rear drawers and fridge slide fitted because you will be able to open those fully as well.


If there's a rear bar and spare wheel carrier then again, the rear needs to be cleared for the spare wheel carrier gate to swing open. In other words, you don't have to pull the bikes and carrier off to swing the wheel carrier open.

The stellar news with this bicycle carrier though is that it you can at any time expand to a four bicycle carrier and be able to swap between the two quickly and easily without a clumsy joiner system that compromises the integrity of the carrier and requires tools. The thing with all iSi bicycle carriers is that they deliver zero hassle so that you never go looking for excuses to leave the bikes from home.

Possibly even more exciting for existing iSi 4x4x4 off-road carrier customers is that the 4x4x2 option will allow them to convert quickly and easily to an Extreme Duty 2-bicycle carrier. Like most product releases from iSi, new components are backwards compatible where possible so existing 4x4x4 off-road carrier customers can benefit straight away. It's helped so many people on a tight budget who spend wisely to have the best bicycle carrier equipment possible without having to scrap their investment when new features are released.
 

Psimpson7

Likes Dirt
On the Extreme Duty 4x4x2 carrier pictured, the 40 degree departure angle exceeds that of every 4WD vehicle out there
Not quite! the departure angle on my off the shelf Defender 90 is 47degrees

Having said that I have one of the ISI extreme duty carriers and love it!
 

gcouyant

Farkin Advertiser
Not quite! the departure angle on my off the shelf Defender 90 is 47degrees

Having said that I have one of the ISI extreme duty carriers and love it!
Of course - but not if you want to keep the mud flaps on :friendly_wink: ..... Land Rover Defender and Discovery make up a good part of our customer base.
 
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gcouyant

Farkin Advertiser
Psimpson, that leads me to another part of the design brief of this modular bicycle carrier family . 4WD and passenger vehicles aren’t all the one size and neither are bicycles for that matter – so in order to deliver the best possible fit, the iSi brand of carriers isn’t just another wannabe one size fits all compromise. Like I said earlier, we don’t muck around. Because of the modular design of our carriers, we can mix and match components to suit just about every application on the out there. We'll make the selection of the appropriate components for customers but to give you an idea of the iSi modular solutions, the following may assist. It's a simple selection the vehicle attachment(s) for all the vehicles and trailers you may care to use the bicycle carrier on from this list:



Then the relevant main beam(s) from so that you can configure for two bicycles, four or convert between the two carriers from this this list:



And finally populate the carrier with the relevant wheel and frame support components. It allows iSi to address pretty much all applications.

From compact high clearance applications like this Subaru Forester who had recently purchased another brand carrier on advice from “a mate” and then came to us for the ideal solution:


”What a clever idea with two off centre supports! The [another brand aussie rack] single post never held my 575 Yeti steep top tube properly and now nothing hangs over the sides! Rock steady and really quick and easy to get into the back of the car too! Thank you so much!!!”

Or this 4x4x2 carrier on a Grand Cherokee in Banff Canada populated by road bikes.


” I absolutely loved it. My girlfriend and I used it to take our Devinci road bikes for a ride between Lake Louise and Banff, joining the Paramedic Ride that was raising money for the national paramedic memorial & scholarship fund. The bikes were rock solid as we drove. She is a pro racer (road and mountain bikes) and she was blown away by the quality of your product. The carrier gets noticed and people love it.
Thanks for your continued assistance. I love your product!”


to traditional 4x4 applications like this Patrol (4x4x2-500/40):


”I was very impressed with how solid it all feels. Have taken the bikes out a few times on the smaller of the frames and am loving how sturdy they are held down when traversing some of the rougher terrain. I really appreciated his assistance and enthusiasm. Can't wait to take some of my brothers out and try the longer 4x bike frame fully loaded.”

to really long offsets like this Land Cruiser:


By eliminating a long tow bar extension straight out of the tow bar, the iSi modular solution delivers the best departure clearance possible.


And of course, pivots down from the tow bar to deliver maximum clearance for drawers. I can’t begin to imagine the heartache of months on the road and having to pull the bikes and carrier off every time you needed to access the rear drawers.

And with any of those carriers, convert to a 4-bike carrier in a minute - like this customer from the USA where we are now exporting a good part of our total production (who would have guessed that an Aussie bike rack would be taking the rest of the world on – and nailing it….).


”Absolutely love the rack. I love how secure it keeps the bikes. Thank you for the great customer service and building such a quality bike rack. I'm really glad we went with the compact, it really looks great. I love the rack!”

Actually, while we’re rolling along here, the new 4x4x2 off road carrier joins the 4x4x4 off-road carrier as the only Australian bicycle carrier family that is designed and manufactured for sustained operation on the back of a single axle off-road trailer - and continue to support, stabilise and protect the most delicate of carbon fibre bicycles over the harshest off-road terrain on the planet. Back of a car is a breeze in this company.


"I have your extreme bike carrier and love it. We regularly recommend yours as the only one to consider.
I have pawed over your web adventures for some time and was inspired enough to bite the bullet."



"you cannot beat this for function. Drops to the ground at the pull of a pin, and a lock for when lifting it up prior to inserting the securing pin. Solid as a rock. Looks great, and the function A grade. Totally recommend this mod, it will cost a bit more, but it will go anywhere."

Or if the drawbar on a trailer is your thing, then there’s no need to add hassle. How easy is this to access the front storage bin!


Bonus again with that modular solution is swap the carrier over to the car in under a minute – and no tools. It’s so easy.

So, with a handful of different components in a modular bicycle carrier family, deliver the best solution so that there are never any excuses to leave the bikes at home. Best of all, start with two bikes and grow as you need to.
 

gcouyant

Farkin Advertiser
I think the 4 bike I have set up with low cradlles then high, en low then high ( so all on an equivalent slope) and alternate the bikes .
Pharma something that's really handy is loading alternating east/west as you describe *and* adjusting the vertical clearance at each end of each bicycle to allow the handlebar of each bicycle to clear over the top of the saddle of an adjacent bicycle.

See this image and you will note that the front of each bicycle has the wheel support cradle in the high position and the rear of each bike in the low position.



One of the special features of the 4x4 family of bicycle carriers is that you can have the bicycles loaded exactly side by side with the handlebars over the top of the adjacent saddle. With the Subaru pictured above, it means that the entire load is as narrow as possible and indeed narrower than the width of the car.

That's shown below as well where the centre of each bicycle is on the centreline of the car.



More importantly, the frame support is offset so that the bicycle is supported at the low point in the frame's top tube. That's one of the reasons why this carrier can be used at the rear of a single axle off-road trailer and not spit a bike off as the trailer bounces. The bicycle is supported and stabilised without resorting to straps and any additional components that fail when the going gets rough.

Hope that helps.
 

gcouyant

Farkin Advertiser
Isn't there a sponsor section for this sort of stuff?
Apologies if this is taking up space here Boom. There's some good info in there for Pharma and others with a steep top tube.

That reminds me though - the Sponsors Section - we're about to advertise for another full time position in the Melbourne factory for a manufacturing technician. If you know of anyone who has manufacturing abilities well above the norm then we'd love to hear from them. Cycling and off-road adventure travel experience would be good too.
 
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