The Recon 5 I’ve been testing fits, as the name suggests, five bikes hanging vertically. Each front wheel sits in a metal basket at the top, with the rest of the bike hanging below and the rear wheel sitting in another small metal basket. The rack relies on webbing cam straps to hold the bikes in place: a strap is threaded through and around the rear rim, then looped up around the pedal and tightened.
• Carries either five of six bikes (depending on model)
• 24″-29″ x 3″ tire size compatible, additional options for kid or fat bikes
• Anti-wobble hitch
• Capacity: 45lbs per bike
• Rated for off-road use
• MSRP: $1,200 USD for Recon 5, $1,400 for Recon 6
• Available accessories include a cable lock, Rack Stash storage system
• 1up-usa.com
I’ve had this bike rack for a little over a year now. During that time, I’ve used it for all manner of moving bikes around both for utility and shuttling, even using it for the long drive that was part of moving two states over. I have not had any actual problems with it during that time period, and the rack doesn’t show any wear and tear.
PERFORMANCE
My biggest takeaway from using the Recon 5 over the last year is that it is very, very secure. The fact that the rack is rated for off-road use gives me an extra bit of confidence in the rack, and means that when I’m traveling somewhere rough and remote my biggest concern is for my mediocre-condition van, not my bike rack. The strap system adds to that feeling of security, because the loop around each bike’s pedal pulls the bike downward into safety, meaning also that how tightly each bike is attached is dependent on how tightly the user decides to fasten the attachment.
One of my complaints – minor compared to the likelihood or unlikelihood of losing a prized bike – is that the rack includes a lot of moving parts. I like things fairly neat and tidy, and I’m partial to bike racks that stay in one piece when they don’t have bikes on them. This one includes five cam straps that aren’t connected to the rack, which I stored inside my vehicle. I’ve seen one of these racks around Bellingham with the straps all fastened vertically to the rack when not in use, so it’s possible, but not intuitive, and I chose to put my cam straps securely in my van where I knew they’d stay safe.
I have a similar very minor complaint about the cable lock: there’s no neat place to store it when not in use. I wrapped it around the rack and locked it in place, which I feel is a relatively elegant solution, but it still means I have a cable lock wrapped around my bike rack even when there’s nothing that needs to be locked in place.
The rack itself is quite heavy and unwieldy – as you might expect from this style of bike rack – so it’s not easy to move and install. The Rack Stash storage system helps with this. The device is a metal storage piece that fits the 2″ hitch and can be rolled (across flat ground, ideally pavement, I’ve discovered the hard way) to make it much easier to re-situate the rack. That means that the only actual lifting and lowering is the process of moving the rack up to the hitch receiver and back down, which feels plenty realistic.
The rack is compatible with 24″to 29″ wheels using the standard wheel baskets, which will fit tires up to 3″ wide, and baskets for kids’ bikes and fat bikes are available, too. When ordering the racks, users must select what baskets they want in each position, so people are unlikely to end up with a bunch of extras, though the baskets of all sizes are available for purchase as extra, too.
Another minor complaint – I do want to specify that all my complaints are pretty small, since this rack does perform very well in general – is that it’s designed for bikes with pedals on them. As someone who has done quite a bit of bike testing for work, I’ve often moved bikes around without pedals on them. It’s fully possible to route a cam strap through the pedal attachment hole in the crank, but it’s less of a tidy solution than when the bikes have pedals.
And while I’m mentioning the cam straps, I do appreciate that they’re not specific to this product. Any cam straps that aren’t terribly wide will work just fine, and I like that a lot. Although I didn’t lose any of the original ones, it was reassuring that if I did lose some I’d be able to have the rack working again to its full potential within the day.
+ Very secure
+ Nice styling
+ Effective, keeps bikes from running each other
+ No frame or fork contact
– Heavy and unwieldy, though the Rack Stash helps
– Many moving parts
– Pricey
– Meant for bikes with pedals on them
Pinkbike’s Take
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The 1Up Recon rack works very well. I never had any doubts about its security, which gave me confidence to take it everywhere. The most noticeable negative piece is just how many moving parts there are, as it uses cam straps that aren’t attached to the rack and a cable lock that has no good hideaway spot. It’s also pricey, costing $1,200 for the five-bike version. Still, a little bit of untidiness and some extra money spent will be well worth it to many people looking for security. |