YAKIMA HANGOVER 4

Weight: 31.5kg | RRP: $899 | Warranty: Lifetime for original owner From: yakima.com.au

ALL ABOUT YAKIMA

Yakima was founded in 1973 in Yakima, Washington in the USA. New owners moved the company and the range has expanded progressively. Yakima USA works hand in hand with Yakima Australia, with their off-road equipment being developed right here in Queensland. They have a wide range of products from roof rack carriers, cargo boxes, hitch mount bike racks and even roof top tents!

HOW DO I GET A YAKIMA RACK?

Yakima racks are sold via their dealers. It’s quite a broad network and you can find your closest dealer via their website. It’s an easy build, fitting the hinge unit with a vertical bar, then the top bar, fork cradles, base bar and then wheel cradles. There are two heights to set the vertical bar at once you’re done. This is about a 30 minute build and there’s a video online.

FITTING UP THE YAKIMA HANGOVER 4

The HangOver 4 slides into your 50mm hitch and has a threaded locking pin which makes it very stable. You can use your hitch’s anti wobble bolt as well to make it snug as a bug. It is important to note this rack is limited to carrying bikes with suspension forks, for how it secures around the fork crown, not cradling the front wheel. The rack also has a 17kg weight limit per bike, so it’s a no-no for eMTBs and some big gravity rigs. The hinge has 3 angles that assist loading and vehicle clearance, and it is easy to operate via the foot pedal.

LOADING AND UNLOADING

Like most racks, left to right suits best. As the mount secures around a suspension fork crown you need to lift your bike quite high, and make sure the rubber straps sit forward. The crown is secured with a strong rubber strap across each side, but it may foul over your suspension adjusters or lockout cables. The amount of room in the crown receiver didn’t work on some bigger forks we had. Additionally, a 29er enduro bike hit the roof of our Isuzu so longer travel forks may not be a good match. Yakima states you can use the rack in the first laid back position for more clearance options. The bikes automatically are more inward given how they are mounted. The rear wheel cradles are a ratcheting buckle, and they can move around on the lower bar to adjust to wheelbase requirements. There’s no included plate holder but the Yakima PlateMate can strap on.

ON THE ROAD

With the threaded and locking hitch pin, the rack is really stable. The bikes sit pretty high so there is good ground clearance at the back of the vehicle, but it does depend on the height of your hitch.

OUR TAKE

The Yakima HangOver 4 is the cheapest rack by a long way, but also the most limiting as it can only work with suspension forks and bikes under 17kg. So eMTBs are out, and there’s a chance mixing kids and adults bikes are too, depending on forks and wheel bases. We did find the fork crown mount had limitations on what could fit, and the compatibility between forks and rack may be difficult to ascertain ahead of purchase. If you’re short, you may also not get along well with this rack. It’s quick to mount, lighter than most, and one of the cheapest racks we know of to transport 4 bikes – as long as they are mountain bikes under 17kg. For people moving cross-country and light trail bikes around with forks like a Fox 34, RockShox Pike and similar crown sizes, this is a fast, light and high value rack. It would also work well on a ute without a rear screen for a front wheel to contact. It will carry fat bikes, plus bikes and kids bikes – as long as they have a suspension fork and the crown isn’t too large.