It’s a good time to be in the bicycle industry in the United States. In 2022, Americans spent $8.2 billion on bicycles and accessories, an increase of $1.3 billion from 2020. An increasing number of the nation’s 52 million cyclists pedal to work, and the number of riders surged by 9 million since 2015.
Increasing ridership also means more sales for manufacturers of bicycle racks. And like the bikes, there are a range of options. One manufacturer, Colorado-based QuikrStuff, was formed in 2020 by outdoor enthusiasts Bryan Wachs and JT Westcott with the intent of designing a rack that could attach to a vehicle much more quickly than those currently available on the commercial market. “We felt a calling to provide high-quality products that were 100% invented and manufactured in the United States,” Wachs said.
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Tapping Westcott’s expertise in engineering in aerospace and manufacturing, QuikrStuff developed a lightweight rack that is fully assembled, durable, easily installed and resists corrosion.
“This bike rack could last for 20 years,” said Clint Gibbs, a highly-regarded bike expert who has 124,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel. “It works great. The features on this rack are so amazing.”
A Head Start
QuikrStuff started its development of the Mach2 rack by licensing the designs and patents of Cal Phillips, a renown outdoor inventor. Phillips had been working on the design for several years while at his former company, 1Up USA, but the final product required many changes before coming to market.
“We had to do some things to hitch assembly to make it stronger,” Westcott said. “There was a lot of strengthening that we had to do.”
In initial testing, Westcott said it became obvious that some changes were required in the design. “In the beginning, we were trying to make things low-cost and as light as possible,” he said. “Usually, with strength comes weight and cost.”
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Westcott said he faced similar issues during his 20-plus years working as an engineer in the aerospace and manufacturing industries. “Just being around machining and mechanical projects, it’s highly specialized and you’re always working with high tech and lightweight components,” he said. “We had some of the same issues there. There’s a lot of aluminum in aerospace design, and this bike rack is all aluminum. So, there are a lot of synergies there.”
Stronger Pivot Points
One of the challenges that faced the design team was the pivot points on swing arms of the assembly. The assembly can handle up to four bikes of all kinds—including heavy fat tire bikes, trail bikes and e-bikes.
“We started out with a ball bearing but the loads were just too high, and it was basically destroying the bearing,” Westcott said. “We discovered that during the prototype phase, and we knew pretty quickly what we had wasn’t going to work.”
The design team found a solution with components from igus, the manufacturer of high-performance plastics. Each QuikrStuff rack now includes two iglide bushings and four washers.
The washers are custom-made for the application and are constructed with iglide G material. The washer has high wear resistance and is resistant to dust and dirt. It is frequently found in agriculture equipment, automotive applications, construction machinery, machine tools and fitness or physical therapy equipment. It is particularly beneficial for oscillating and rotational movements, such as the bike rack. The material is the most popular iglide material worldwide.
Handling High Loads
The iglide Q2 bushing is wear-resistant and dimensionally stable at high loads. It also offers good abrasion resistance, and solid lubricants reduce the coefficient of friction and improve resistance to wear.
It is also frequently used in agriculture equipment and construction machinery, when high dynamic loads occur and when impacts, shocks and contamination occur in addition to high loads.
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“We looked at other materials, but because it’s a real corrosive environment we were concerned about their durability,” Westcott said. “Basically, it’s on the back of a car. We were concerned that other materials might rust or corrode over time.”
One of the other critical elements of the igus components is they do not require lubrication. “We’ve got other components on the rack, and we don’t want to get any kind of oil or lubrication on them because it can become an issue if it’s cross-contaminated,” Westcott said. “It’s not desirable to have any kind of grease or lubricant.”
Meeting Demand
Soon after QuikrStuff racks hit the market, the company knew it had a product that resonated with the biking community.
The rack is lightweight, modular and easy to install. “I think its lightweight but strong,” Wachs said. “Since it’s modular, instead of having two people lift a 50- to 70-lb rack, it requires just one person to lift 28 lb, and then 22 lb three more times to get the assembly in place for four bikes.”
The rack also includes integrated locks that all work off one key and can handle any bike without adapters. “I think the hitch is what makes this rack rock-solid,” Wachs said. “You don’t need tools. It comes completely assembled out-of-the-box. You can be up and running with your bike in 30 sec.”
The competition is keen in the industry. Some other brands are more well-known, but one of the key distinguishers for the QuikrStuff racks is its durability.
“We’re making something you don’t throw away,” Wachs said. “If you’re going to invest $5,000 or $10,000 on a mountain bike or e-bike, you might switch that out every 3-5 years. We don’t want you to have to switch out the bike rack. It’s not about the bike rack—it’s about the bike. So, our job is to protect that bike and get it where it’s going.”
Thomas Renner writes on trade industry topics for publications throughout the United States.