Yakima Holdup 2+2

There are really only two ways that people in Whistler transport bikes around on their car. One is with a vertical hanging rack (Northshore Racks, Artbutus Racks), or with a tray system like the Yakima Holdup.

While hanging racks have some advantages I think they are limited to having a max of six bikes and having a slightly shorter “stickout” distance. Both being nice, but not the best choice in my mine. I much rather prefer tray style racks like the Yakima Holdup 2+2.

Yakima Holdup 2+2.

Coming in a base configuration with two trays, with an option to add on two more trays via a quickly connectable bolt but only if you have the 2”receiver model. The Holdup is rated for 50lbs per tray, so with 200 lbs of bikes + the rack weight of close to 100 lbs, that is the equivalent of 3000 of towing capacity. (Don't try to use an 1 1/4” to 2” adapter, it doesn't work, unless you want your rack dragging on the ground.)

Yakima Holdup 2+2.

If you haven't seen a Holdup before, it has several features that their competitors don't have. The front wheel tray is hinged so that it can fold away when not in use to make the width of the rack smaller. Great feature, but the arm on the alternating tray still extends to the end of the rack, so it still has the same overall width. I like the hinged front wheel tray, but would it make it lighter if it was just fixed?

The Holdup has been through several revisions over the years, and it truly has gotten better each time. New for 2013 is that each tray can be slid horizontally about three inches, giving you some extra wiggle room when getting bikes mounted to the trays. Also they have integrated a lock into each clamping arm body with a lock post on the arm. I found it to be a bit hard on smaller bikes, or ones that have extra gusseting on the head tube to get the cable all the way around. It is meant as a deterrent, so don't park and walk away for hours, but it should be enough to keep the opportunistic thieves away. The hitch pin comes with a lock that has matching keys to the locks on the first two trays.  All of the locks can be swapped out so that you can have one set of keys for all of them, but it would have to be done after purchase.  The Holdup has a quick release to move the rack from horizontal to vertical. I don't think it is completely new to this version, but I'm going to lump it in under new stuff for now. When you setup the second set of trays you get an additional stabilization pin, that pops in the other side of the quick release.

Yakima Holdup 2+2, horizontal sliders.

They have also reconfigured the front wheel tray to work with larger tire sizes and volumes, but there is always going to a wildcard tire that will break that. I found one on my neighbours Ellsworth 29'r, with Bontrager tires. It just didn't want to sit in the tray. I had to let some air out of the tire, then squish the crap out of it with the compression arm to get it to work. But in saying that, none of my other bikes have had an issue, and I have run the gammut from 20” bmx 1” tires, to 650B, all have been fine without any other issues.

Now, when you do have four bikes on the rack, it sticks out pretty far. How far you ask? Well the tape measure had to come out and it was reading 54” from receiver. Pretty far, but not completely like towing an eighteen wheeler being the car. The neck does have a substantial bend in it for clearance, but you do have to think when you are backing up, going up / down steep driveways etc.

Yakima Holdup 2+2.

As mentioned before, the rack is heavy. Kind of a i hope you have been doing some situps and burbies kind of heavy. Manageable, but it can catch you off guard if you aren't paying attention. When moving from vertical to horizontal position with four trays setup, i almost lost it back into my tailgate and window. I would love to see a stop put on it so that it can't extend the wrong way. It can also be hard to move it from horizontal to vertical, unless you have a very good grip on it,, or a second set of hands, but it is doable on your own.

Yakima Holdup 2+2.

Also, if Yakima wanted to design a double quick release pin system, instead of the QR one side, pin on the other I would be extremely happy. I know it isn't needed on a two tray system, but it would sure make it smoother for the big boy setup.

Opinion: In a sea of rack options, i really do think that the Yakima Holdup is the best choice. It can take a wide variety of wheel sizes (20”-29”), doesn't matter what the wheel base of the bike is, it has a locking system in each clamp arm, and it can be trimmed down to a two tray rack if you don't need as many.

Website: www.yakima.com/

MSRP: Holdup $439 usd / $599 cdn.  Holdup +2 add-on. $329 usd, $439 cdn.