Bike racks on automobiles are needed, particularly if you wish to journey to rides, races, and completely different trails together with your bike. However what in case your automobile doesn’t have a hitch or match a correct bike rack?
Plus, trunk mount racks can destroy your automobile if not put in accurately, and brought care of correctly. What’s the following possibility?
Allen is throwing weight behind a brand new suction cup design for his or her all-new app-supported Sensible Suction roof rack, that guarantees to depart zero proof of set up. It additionally works with their new Allen App in your smartphone, guaranteeing your set up is right and protected for the street.
We took the brand new Allen Sensible Suction 1-Bike Rack for a take a look at trip and have quite a lot of ideas on this distinctive setup.
What’s Allen’s Sensible Suction Rack?
The brand new Sensible Suction™ rack is constructed round a patented (and trademarked) suction cup-based attachment with built-in stress sensors. Consider it as the final word in high-tech, stuck-on safety — Bluetooth-enabled, app-connected, and able to latch onto nearly any automobile, together with EVs and hybrids that aren’t all the time rack-friendly.
And rental automobiles, too!
It’s comparable in idea to the Sea Sucker Racks that use high-pressure suction cups to safe the rack to glass.
However Allen’s Sensible Suction makes use of smaller suction cups and 4 cups (vs three on the Sea Sucker) paired with an app to substantiate it’s protected to make use of.
Gimmick or Protected?
Allen’s Sensible Suction System isn’t nearly slapping a suction cup in your automobile and hoping for the most effective. It integrates real-time stress monitoring, consistently checking for lack of suction and sending alerts to your cellphone through the Allen app. If the stress drops, you’ll get a heads-up earlier than something catastrophic occurs.
No extra pulling over each quarter-hour to double-check in case your bike remains to be driving shotgun.
“I’ve all the time been fascinated by suction-based mounting programs. However belief was the difficulty — folks simply didn’t really feel assured in them for long-haul transport. We spent years refining this method, even taking a look at how nuclear submarines deal with stress seals to make sure reliability.”
– Allen CEO Alex Allen.
The SB-01 Sensible Suction 1-Bike Rack
The primary product rolling out with this new stuck-on tech is the SB-01 Sensible Suction 1-Bike Rack.
This single-bike system latches onto a automobile’s roof or rear windshield through high-strength suction cups, making it a simple match for practically any automobile, particularly electrical automobiles, which regularly lack conventional roof or hitch rack compatibility. The built-in sensors guarantee immediate notification if the suction begins fading.
Allen claims the rack is rock strong at freeway speeds, that means your bike stays put even once you’re hammering down the interstate.
Key Sensible Suction Options
Patented Sensible Suction™ Design – Bluetooth-connected stress sensors consistently monitor attachment power and ship real-time updates to your cellphone.
Common Match – Works on most autos, together with hybrids and EVs, the place conventional racks received’t match.
Safe Bike Mounting – Makes use of a fork mount system appropriate with quick-release skewers (9x100mm, 9x110mm) and thru-axles (12x100mm, 15x110mm).
Adjustable Wheel Tray – Helps bikes with a wheelbase from 35.5″ to 52″ (902mm to 1320mm) overlaying most traditional street and mountain bikes. (E-bikes are typically too heavy for this method.)
Fast, No-Instruments Set up – Installs in minutes with out damaging the automobile’s end.
Built-in Safety – Features a built-in locking cable to stop theft.
Compact and Journey-Pleasant – Simple meeting/disassembly makes it superb for frequent vacationers.
Extra Sensible Suction Gear on the Horizon
Allen’s Sensible Suction 1-Bike Rack is obtainable now for $499 $699 at Allen.bike and through Amazon, with further Sensible Suction merchandise coming quickly. Given the know-how’s adaptability, it’s protected to imagine Allen isn’t stopping with only a single-bike system, although extra bikes would require extra suction and possibly bigger diameter cups.
We’ll have to attend and see, however we did have time to take the brand new Allen’s Sensible Suction on the street, and right here’s what we thought.
First Impressions with Sensible Suction
Allen’s Sensible Suction rack comes with many items, however could be very straightforward to arrange. The primary shaft of the rack connects with a small digital coupler and will get screwed into place. Subsequent, you put in the batteries and the proper fork mount on your bike (the rack has the whole lot you want in that division for every type of bikes), and also you’re good to roll.
Plus, these fork adapters are color-coated, so it’s fairly onerous to combine them up. Simply be sure to hold all of them collectively, otherwise you’re gonna have a troublesome time when it’s good to mount a unique bike.
Set up
I used to be prepped for a full combat with the Allen Sensible Suction rack, however the set up was intuitive and painless. Probably the most daunting half was measuring the size to mount the rack on the automobile.
I selected my gravel bike because the take a look at bike as a result of it goes all over the place with me. I eliminated the entrance wheel, set the rack subsequent to it within the grass, and measured the place the Allen Sensible Suction would should be on the roof to line up accurately.
The numbered strains on the sliding rack assist, and it might be good if there have been stickers or sliders to mark the place every bike would line up. I’m positive my 130mm journey mountain bike will likely be longer and require a unique setup than my street or youngsters’ bike, for that matter.
App Motion
Earlier than I put in the rack, nevertheless, I wanted to pair it to the cellphone.
This appears nuts, at first.
But it surely’s safer and makes me really feel higher about rolling round with a brand new rack on my automobile. The pairing is tremendous easy, and the app is sweet. I like that you could examine the set up and suction and get alerts if something goes sideways (like your bike).
Sensible Suction
After determining the size, I put in it on the automobile. I made positive that the glass was good and clear for the set up. The equipped Allen fabric is a pleasant additional and will likely be a very good trip buddy for sharpening glasses.
To put in and interact the suction, you push the tiny “pump” situated on the aspect of every suction cup piece.
This picture reveals the distinction between the “put in accurately” and the “not put in accurately” items. The opposite piece that allows you to know is the app. You may see that progress below the “suction” portion of the app, below “notifications,” and above “easy methods to mount.”
How Does it Work?
Properly, it sucks…. prefer it’s alleged to.
As somebody who primarily transports their bike with a hitch rack, having the bike on prime of the automobile feels barely odd. I used to be unnerved initially, consistently checking my greatest buddy’s well being via the sunroof. But it surely was protected, and the Allen app confirmed this. Although there was extra shimmy within the rack than I anticipated (when wanting up whereas I used to be alleged to be watching the street), it was protected.
Do I belief it?
Going from a hitch rack to the top-of-the-roof rack is barely odd.
I used a standard tray rack for years and trusted it with all my bikes. The one distinction in that account is the suction and the way it attaches to the automobile. So it boils all the way down to “Do you belief these suction cups?” and I need to say “Sure.”
Although I haven’t had any “shut calls or shedding stress” app notifications, I belief that Allen has completed their analysis to make it roadworthy.
Ultimate Ideas on the Allen Sensible Suction roof rack
Are you skeptical about suction?
You’re not alone. However Allen’s tech-heavy strategy — stress monitoring, app integration, and nuclear-submarine-inspired reliability — makes this method value a critical look. This may be the cleanest, most adaptable possibility in case you consistently swap automobiles, drive an EV, or hate wrestling with a trunk rack.
Allen.bike
