Khyber Racks

Founded in Squamish by Mark Haimes - a CAD tech who also founded LoamLab and the Counterpunch - and partner Jaan Hurditch (a mechanical engineer), Khyber keeps it simple with two versions of their super burly racks that hold bikes vertically using a basket for the front wheel: their fixed and multi-pivot models can be ordered to accommodate between two and seven bikes.

Vertically oriented racks have been around a long time, and they make sense for mountain bikers. However, despite seeing countless North Shore racks over the years (on the Shore and off), I was never tempted. Tossing bikes on the tailgate of a truck or making use of the increasingly well-designed tray racks on the back of a car had always suited my needs on the Shore, with a few exceptions. One, piling more than a couple of bikes into a truck takes up a lot of your cargo space - not ideal for road trips depending on how much room you need. Two, if you're shuttling or moving around on FSRs or anything rougher, there's a lot of bike on bike crime taking place when they're draped over a tailgate. Even if you tie them down to a good pad and have plenty of protection in place, pedals are going to rabbit punch anything in reach and brake levers are going to tag the shit out of innocent top tubes.

We're Goin' Vertical

Since acquiring Blue Thunder (RIP), going vertical had been on my mind, however North Shore racks - the local vertical bike rack innovator - never appealed to me. It always felt awkward to properly lift and orient my bike's fork crown into the four-pronged holder. Then I'd worry about my crown getting marred (justifiably), especially if the protective rubber coating had started to wear down. And lastly, over time they'd corrode and start to look ratty. They're still a decent option for lighter duty use, but so were the options I already had, so I stuck to my guns.

From the time I saw photos of a Khyber rack, I knew it presented a strong option for carrying bikes, especially if you ever find yourself off-road, traversing water bars, rough roads, and other places we often find ourselves in search of sweet trails. You may get a sense of co-founder Mark Haimes' style from this IG clip:

Heavy Metal

I got in touch with Mark and he explained that he likes to drive off-road - and he likes doing it fast. I already knew he liked riding fast - Mark raced DH in the past and in 2014, he and Reg Mullet set the Guinness World Record for descending on a mtn bike...on Mt. 7's fabled Psychosis track. Not quite normal.

Mark explained that he and partner Jaan designed a rack that would hold up to rowdy off-road riding while keeping bikes safely aboard, that would also stand up to tough coastal and mountain environments, so pesky things like corrosion had to be factored in. Thus, rather than the painted or coated steel tubes used by their competitors, Khyber's materials are juuust a tad heavier duty.

Here it is in their words: 304 stainless steel (sandblasted and electrolytic treated) mast, front wheel baskets and rear wheel holder. Anodized 6061-T6 aluminum box section, top bar and plates. The hitch spigot is A500 Grade C structural steel, sandblasted and hot-dip galvanized. All hardware is 304 stainless steel.

The Multi Pivot rack rotates on a CNC machined pivot block sandwiched between two 12mm thick 6061-T6 aluminum plates. It is easily serviceable with hard wearing IGUS 28mm bushings and custom nylon bushing plates, for a lifetime of lateral stiffness.

Furthermore, Khyber custom extrudes the mast and hitch spigot (8mm thick), which they say is 25% thicker than standard 1/4" tubing. Looking at one of these racks, you can easily see the quality of design and materials. They're blocky but not without a certain elegance. The stainless steel baskets and hardware communicate a brawny capability, but rather than beefy nightclub bouncer, you're reminded more of a heavyweight rower: big, wide, and strong, but without superfluous mass - it's function first but form was not forgotten.

Lastly, to address hitch slop, Khyber uses a proprietary steel hitch block insert, which is "a solid steel cube with 1" of thread engagement that sits inside the hitch spigot with the hitch pin securely bolting into it, removing side to side sway". Also included is a U-bolt hitch tightener to remove fore and aft motion. Together, they eliminate all play at the hitch and it won't loosen or strip over time - a claim I can verify after two years of use, including one trip where we had six full-sized e-bikes in the Khyber rack - a demanding scenario for a rack if there ever was one - without much movement whatsoever.

All this brawn does come with some weight attached, of course. The Khyber V1 Multi Pivot Rack weighs between 38 kg / 83 lb for a 3-bike rack and 54kg / 119 lb for the seven-bike version. The V2 Five Pivot Rack is slightly less, ranging from 34 kg / 75 lb to 50kg / 110 lb. You're not going to want to pull this rack off and put it back on too often if you can help it.

Easy In and Out

At a glance, it's easy to discern how to load your bike into or out of a Khyber rack. The baskets make things fairly obvious, and as long as you grab a lower fork leg and seat tube and start on the left and move to the right, you're golden. Khyber also uses a clever tie down system they call SpeedLock that is fast, doesn't require knots or other adjustments to adapt to different bikes, and super secure. Khyber uses static 6mm climbing rope and a series of tapered eyelets to secure the front wheel into the basket and the rear wheel to the lower holders. Pull it tight through the wheel and weave it through three eyelets that hold the rope securely and your bike isn't going anywhere. To release, just yank on the end with a little down or up angulation to help it pop out and it'll just 'brprprp' right outta there. After over two years in the elements and lots of use, the rope on my rack looks almost new and works perfectly*. No worn out bungee cord, degraded rubber straps or brittle plastic ratchets that can break down from UV exposure or the cold.

Versatility

Khyber Racks have two basket options: standard and fat bike. The standard basket will accommodate up to 29" x 2.8" tires down to 20" (some 20" forks may need a bit of protection from the basket) and fat bike baskets can accommodate up to 5" tires. Both baskets will work with road tires.

Each basket is rated to carry a bike of up to 25.5 kg / 56 pounds.

As I mentioned, there are two models - Fixed and Multi Pivot. The Multi Pivot Rack lets you select one of three angles, giving you access to the rear door or trunk. I leave it in the most forward/upright angle as that provides the most rear wheel clearance when departure angle is a concern (water bars, etc.). If you need to get the rack right out of the way - as I frequently do to grab a yard of soil or mulch for the garden - you just pop out the cotter pin and stainless dowel and the rack folds down almost horizontally. For such a solidly constructed series of components, it continually amazes me how easy it is to do this and my wife, who chafes at the stubborn action of the 1Up rack on our car, has no trouble dropping the rack and putting it back up in place on her own if she goes to Salish Soils without me to grab yet another truckload of dirt for the veggie garden.

The Fixed Pivot lets you choose between three fixed angle settings, and is more affordable and lighter so that if you're able to forgo on the fly adjustments, ie. when used with an open truck bed or aftermarket swing hitch, you can simplify and save a few bucks.

Both versions allow you to mount the baskets at several heights on the mast so you can tailor the height of the rack to better fit your vehicle's various clearances as well as driver visibility. I have it mounted high on my Ram 1500 and also don't have issues getting bikes up and into the baskets, but a smaller vehicle or shorter user might prefer it mounted lower. I like the added clearance from bike tires to ground, but not everyone will need that.

If you want to have a look at some technical drawings that show dimensions and clearances, this is for you.

Pricing

Khyber's racks are modular and they're designed to be expanded if you need to - so you could start with a 2- or 3-bike rack and add wider rails and extra baskets in future at a cost of only $150 more per bike than if you had originally bought that capacity in the first place. The main structure of the 2-bike rack is the same as the 7-pack, making the 2-bike rack overbuilt as hell but ready for a growing family or expanded bike garage.

V1 - Multi Pivot Rack
Starting at $1,500 CAD, in 200-dollar increments with each bike basket added up to a maximum of $2,500 CAD for the Seven Pack rack.

V2 - Fixed Pivot Rack

Starting at $1,300 CAD , in 200-dollar increments with each bike basket added up to a maximum of $2,300 CAD for the Seven Pack rack.

Shipping is free in Canada and the Continental US. This is actually kind of a big deal for such heavy cargo.

Warranty

This is always an important consideration, but especially when you're spending good money on a hard use item. Khyber Racks are covered by a robust Limited Lifetime Warranty, which covers three years of commercial use, or lifetime ownership of the original owner under non-commercial use. Seems fair to me. I've spoken to Mark directly about warranty and replacement and for starters he's very invested in keeping his customers happy; secondly, according to him, warranty cases are very few and far between. One customer has smashed his baskets into the roof of his underground garage SEVEN times and only had to replace one of them twice (Mark supplied the first basket, but I think the bashful customer bought a few spares after he kept doing it). If you buy a Khyber, it's unlikely you'll need warranty, but if you do, you'll be taken care of.

Corrosion

Khyber has gone to great lengths to reduce or prevent corrosion on their racks, but as any sailor knows, salt is the enemy (whether from coastal sea air or salted roads in winter). They have a section on the site with a few tips in case you experience any. My driveway is about 400 meters from the ocean, and I haven't seen a single spot of corrosion, but heavy use on winter roads could change that - just make sure to rinse it down as you would the decks after time at sea.

The Khyber In Use

After over two years of use and exposure to the coastal elements here on the Sunshine Coast, the Khyber rack I've been testing is as slop-free as ever, shows no signs of wear or corrosion, and has worked flawlessly. In fact, it looks a damn sight better than its beater of a host (dubbed Betty White) but certainly advertises my old truck's intentions: heavy duty shuttle pig. Khyber's racks don't come in on the low end of the cost or weight scale, but as an investment that'll continue to work well and look good after many years and laps of use, it would be my first choice for a rack that's going to hold up to abuse and keep my expensive bikes safe and secure.

Khyber Racks