# Anyone using a Rola NV2 rack?



## BMJ (Sep 16, 2005)

I'm curious to hear thoughts on this item.


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## Doofusroy (Jul 20, 2009)

Gonna necro your thread, since this is the only one besides my own where this product is mentioned in the search results. 

I just ordered one of these today, as I have 5 bikes for family members and no 2 are alike. Anything from my Trek 4300 to a Dora sparkle princess whatever from Wal-Mart for my 4 year old, so I was really happy to see something that can take a pair of these in any combination, and still be pretty cheap.

Once I get it and play around with it, I'll reply how it goes.


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## gpsmoucer (May 12, 2010)

Doofusroy said:


> Gonna necro your thread, since this is the only one besides my own where this product is mentioned in the search results.
> 
> I just ordered one of these today, as I have 5 bikes for family members and no 2 are alike. Anything from my Trek 4300 to a Dora sparkle princess whatever from Wal-Mart for my 4 year old, so I was really happy to see something that can take a pair of these in any combination, and still be pretty cheap.
> 
> Once I get it and play around with it, I'll reply how it goes.


Looks like there aren't many of these being sold. This still is the only discussion on the web (at least so says Google). So how do you like it Doofusroy? I'm looking at it for a road bike. I'm comparing it to something like the Swagman XTC-2:

LINK


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## Doofusroy (Jul 20, 2009)

Hi,

So far I really like it, although there's one tiny odd thing about it. I wish it had the little extra stabilizer mount for the rear tire as well as the front tire, but there's ample padding for the little bit of swaying the rear wheel does. It's more me being OCD than anything I guess. This is the only "real" bike rack I've ever had, so I don't know how much movement is normal.

The only other annoyance is it plays havoc with my Ford backup alarm, making it think I'm a foot away from backing into a pole, but I guess that happens to any rack.

I'm really liking it though for being able to carry a variety of styles and sizes, including the little bitty kid bikes my girls are still on. I also like that it's not a threaded pin through the hitch, so I can use my same locking pin from my trailer hitch and not have separate locks/keys.


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## gpsmoucer (May 12, 2010)

Thanks for the update. Considering the price is the same as the swagman, I think I may go with it for the simple reason that it doesn't have those rubber straps that you have to pull over tight to secure the bike. I HATE those straps.

On the other hand, the Rola does look like it might handle heavier bikes a little better. And it certainly looks cooler.


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## Doofusroy (Jul 20, 2009)

Yeah, it's surprisingly a conversation piece. I like that there's not a part hanging out at shin level, as I'm fairly clueless and would probably beat the crap out of myself every day with a more standard carrier. As for the straps, they're pretty easy actually, since they are not load bearing per se. The wheel is resting in those pads, which are cupped. They pretty much only keep it from bouncing off on bumps.

Of course my daughters think the NV2 looks like a robot doing the splits.


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## ausgt (Sep 9, 2004)

Hey Doofusroy, any chance you could post some pics of it on your vehicle looking from the side. I am thinking about one for my Rav4 but not sure if it will clear the spare. Even better would be a measurement from the hole for the hitch pin to the first wheel holder. Over here in Aus we dont have near as many choices as you guys, most of the places dont even keep them in stock so cant try them on vehicle. 
Cheers.


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## Doofusroy (Jul 20, 2009)

When I get home from work I'll stick my bike on the inside slot at snag a few pics, as well as measurements. I would bet most likely that it will fit, as if I have my bike on the outside slot, I can open my rear hatch (Ford Edge) and it just touches the handle that I have to pull it like 2 inches for it to pass. A person could easily stand sideways in between the vehicle and the rack when empty.


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## Doofusroy (Jul 20, 2009)

Well, here's a shot of it folded up from the side:










It's 10.5 inches from the edge of the hitch receiver to the farthest in orange hanger. For me, it's 8.5 inches to my bumper, but I have no idea how consistent bumper overhang is in relation to a receiver.

Here's from the other side, with it open in the hanging position. I didn't have a bike handy, but essentially nothing hangs out past those orange hangers other than the one pedal and the handlebars.










If you need anything else, let me know.


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## ausgt (Sep 9, 2004)

Cheers mate thanks for the quick reply. Does it wobble around much with the bikes loaded, looking to carry 2 mtb,s but will only be transporting 1 most of the time. I think it will fit, hopefully they will let me exchange if it doesnt. Once again thanks.


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## Doofusroy (Jul 20, 2009)

There is some wobble, but not the bikes against the frame. Rather, the whole unit has a bit of a sway, but I'm assuming it's because there's such leverage of those long arms against that central focal point. Also, since it uses pins instead of threaded bolts for the receiver, there's the tiny bit of play there. I like that because I can use my locking pin though.

I wouldn't take it rough off-roading, but they advise against that in the 1st place. So far I don't have 1 negative thing to say.


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## ORMTB (Oct 16, 2010)

*Rola NV2*

I have been using this rack for a month or so and here are my comments. First I bought this so 
A. my wife would not have to roof rack her bike on our car and risk damaging the car or the bike when entering the garage with it on.
B we could still access the back hatch easily
C it would fit odd frames like full suspension mountain bike frames
D something quieter and more aerodynamic than a roof rack

It fits all those bills. But here are some things that might be helpful to someone looking to buy one. First if your hitch mount is low it can hit the pavement on abrupt transitions. There is a supper easy fix for this however. Just remove the male adapter for the two sizes of hitches and weld it to a ball mount turned upside down. They are exactly the same width. It took me about ten minutes to grind and weld that. A welding shop should not charge much for that.

It is supper easy to get bikes off and on the rack, however you will need to be able to lower one bike so that the handle bars of one do not hit the seat of the other bike facing the opposite direction. The other option is to remove or change the height of the seat(s). This would not be a problem on a truck but on a car it might put the lower bike tires too low to the ground. This is another reason to do the modification above. I went out to take a picture of it and was reminded that my wife took the car today.

I do not find that this rack is any wobblier than any other hitch mounted rack. They are all going to wobble a bit. Personally I think the rubber straps are far less hassle than tightening cam mechanisms or other rack attachment systems that I have used. Maybe a really week woman might have a problem. My wife doesn't have any issue with them. If you were that week you would probably not be able to lift the bike on to the rack. This brings up one thing worth mentioning though. To mount the bike closest to the car you have to lift it up and over the rack or maneuver it in from the side where you might damage the car if you are not careful or are too week to hold a bike up in the air for very long.

The lower front wheel strap is easier to attach with the post on the inside of the wheel like the other two carriers are otherwise the strap is a bit of a pull to get it around a mountain bike tire.

The only other drawback would be that it only carries two bikes but you could add a roof rack.

Once I got a couple of bugs worked out I am very happy with it and am not looking to buy anything else.


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## ORMTB (Oct 16, 2010)

*Hitch modifiation*

So here is a picture of the simple modification to raise the rack up for a car. If you had a jacked up truck or SUV and needed to lower it you would do the opposite and turn the hitch the way they normally go and then weld it in that position. The hitch pictured was $20 from UHaul. You probably can order ones that are taller.







One other thing that I thought of is that if you do have a vehicle where the hitch is high it is going to be all that much harder to load the bike on the vehicle side of the rack, unlike racks where they all load from the back. To clarify what i said in an earlier post you are going to have to be strong enough to hold the bike out at arms length for awhile to get the inner bike on there. That is not a problem for me but it might be for some folks. Hope this helps.

Tom


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## mooreyfiveo (Mar 28, 2008)

Hey there, just wondering if any of you with this rack find it a bit tricky fitting the first of 2 bikes. Do the arms get in the way? Do you have to lift the first bike over or around the arms?


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## DurtDigglah (May 24, 2011)

Howdy all...just recently picked up one of these racks and thought I'd share...

Firstly I really like this rack because it makes frame shape pretty much irrelevant...good because of my dually and my better half's quite small hardtail. I also like that unlike most platform type racks, it's quite light and when not on the car it's quite compact and doesn't take up excess garage space. I also think it's a pretty nice piece of design work - I like that sort of thing.

Out of the box I give it a 6.5/10 for my application (a van is a 10/10 in my opinion...ha!). Only 6.5? Why:
1. Straight out of the box this isn't a great rack for low cars (I have a Subaru Liberty (Legacy) wagon). As it came I was unable to drive into my drive with the bikes on - a short term solution was to load up the bikes, then pull the pin, tilt the whole rack up, then put the pin back through so that the pin was sitting on top of the hitch. With the whole rack tilted up like this, the bikes would clear the drive. Once clear, I'd then drop the rack back to level and replace the pin.

2. There was more play than I like where the hitch rotates for different hitch sizes.

3. It took some time setting up the fingers and pads for the particular bikes we own...but once sorted it's all good. If you own lots of the different bikes it might take quite some time sorting the best pad/finger positions that suits every bike you own.

4. In my opinion it'd be better if the rack included 4 "anti-sway fingers" instead of 2. I'm trying to see if I can source another pair from Rola...but I'm yet to hear back from Rola (Rola drops points with me as a company for not returning my email). EDIT: I heard from Rola, and they are going to send me a spare pair of additional anti-sway fingers free of charge (used, good condition)...this is pretty darn cool of them in my opinion :thumbsup:

5. Would be nice for the rack to come with a lock for securing the rack to the car while I'm off enjoying the trails...would hate for someone to take a liking to it while the car's unattended. Locking hitch pins are easy enough to find at car accessorie stores though.

However, after some tinkering I'd give it an 8/10:
1. To increase ground clearance for the bikes I've had a couple of "riser tabs" welded on which allow me the drive everywhere with the rack tilted up, giving plenty of assurance I'm not going to bottom the bikes out on any nasty dips at highway speed:



















2. To eliminate the play in the hitch I just threw in some washers and tightened up the through bolt (an easy fix...would be simple for Rola to do straight up):










In conclusion I'm very satisfied with this rack after these minor mods. With everything I've done there's minimal movement in everything...the only remaining source of the play is in the swivel mechanism for the arms...however, this doesn't lead to much movement in situ.

Loading up the bikes is pretty quick and easy...just have to avoid scratching the back of the car when loading the inside bike. Funnily enough the distance the rack hangs off the back of the car, which leads to ground clearance problems, makes loading the inside bike pretty easy.

If I can source the additional "anti-sway fingers" for a reasonable price, I'll give this rack an 8.5-9/10.

Hope this helpful!


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## tamjam (Jan 23, 2004)

ORMTB said:


> Just remove the male adapter for the two sizes of hitches and weld it to a ball mount turned upside down. They are exactly the same width. It took me about ten minutes to grind and weld that. A welding shop should not charge much for that.


I know you included a picture of this, but I am still having trouble visualizing your mod. I am considering this rack for my Subaru Outback wagon and expect I will have clearance issues, so will probably need to do something so I don't drag the rack upon entry/exit of my driveway. Does U-Haul sell these parts?


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## jellytronics (Sep 4, 2009)

*NV2: excellent rack*

My friend has one of these and I used it on my Xterra this past weekend. For reference, I'm comparing this directly to the Rola TX-103 3 Bike Carrier (what I own) in terms of ease of use.

No clearance issues with an SUV obviously. Sway is pretty typical. Mounting bikes onto it is incredibly easy. I never imagined how annoying loading a bike onto the TX-103 would be between cables getting caught on the cradles and trying to maneuver different size/style bike frames onto it. Oh and the rubber straps rip very easily (the straps themselves actually have the words "replace these every year" on them). Back to the NV2...the wheel cradles can be adjusted very quickly as with the padded bumpers which protect the bikes very well. The rubber straps on this rack I think are less likely to tear due the way the holes are spaced. There's no need to over tighten them and the rubber itself feels more durable. Another nice thing about the rack is that with bikes mounted, there's no interference with rear-view mirror visibility. Only downside I see is that it's limited to carrying 2 bikes.

I'm considering purchasing the NV2 but I'm inclined to go with a platform rack such as the Yakima Holdup which has the option for an additional 2 bike attachment if ever necessary. Other quality platform racks I've looked at are made by Kuat.

Here's a shot of the rack from this past weekend:


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## tamjam (Jan 23, 2004)

jellytronics said:


>


Thanks for the review. I am considering this one and the 1UP at this point. My main issue with the NV2 is clearance between the rack and the ground. In your picture it looks like you've done some sort of mod which has elevated the rack more off the ground than is "stock". Stock, it goes straight into the receiver. Yours goes in, then down ~4-6", then into the receiver. This could eliminate the clearance issues I'm concerned with.


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## Fuze911 (Aug 5, 2009)

^ Thats actually my rack and yes there is a mod in that picture. I was using this rack with an Audi A3 and it was too low. I bought a 20 dollar "hitch riser" from a local harbor freight store and fixed the clearance issue. Plus it ads space between the car and bikes. On my A3 i was able to open my trunk with bikes on the rack.


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## tamjam (Jan 23, 2004)

Fuze911 said:


> ^ Thats actually my rack and yes there is a mod in that picture. I was using this rack with an Audi A3 and it was too low. I bought a 20 dollar "hitch riser" from a local harbor freight store and fixed the clearance issue. Plus it ads space between the car and bikes. On my A3 i was able to open my trunk with bikes on the rack.


Thanks for that, simple yet brilliant solution. Overall, you're happy with the NV2? I am leaning towards the 1UP because of the nearly unanimous positive reviews, and because I don't plan to leave the rack on my car all the time (1UP is easy on/off), but am balking due to price. How's the workmanship of the NV2 and is it pretty easy to install/remove from your car?


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## Fuze911 (Aug 5, 2009)

Id say the workmanship is pretty good. It feels solid and its heavy. I'd give it a 9 out of 10. I would give it a 10 if i didn't have to modify it to be higher off the ground but i think it the end, it made it even better and more useful. It definitely has my trust. I've recommended it to friends in the past, and continue to do so.


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## DurtDigglah (May 24, 2011)

Just an update from me....the additional "anti-sway" fingers from Rola turned up...I haven't had a chance to try the rack out with them yet (too much stupid work travel = no riding), but I reckon it's cool Rola Australia hooked me up with some good 2nd-hand fingers free of charge.

Edit...finally got around to using the rack with the extra anti-sway fingers....mad tight like finger cuffs. Really happy with this rack.


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