Our bikes are getting more integrated, hiding cables, hoses and buttons. Meanwhile, Avid Essentials has been hiding recovery points and tire mounts inside their aerodynamic yet ruggedly awesome looking bumpers for the Jeep Renegade. Now, being bike enthusiasts themselves, they’ve turned their attention to the unsightly bike rack.
No matter how sleek the racks get, they still stick out from the car. This leaves them vulnerable to theft, or just in the way when you need to access your rear hatch. Or tow something. The Avid Lexicon rear bumper bike rack system solves all of those problems.
The design uses the same pivot hardware they use for their lifted rear tire carrier, which is designed to support more weight than most of our bikes will ever add up to. It’s shown here holding an Adroit Cycleworks Tailwind 29er e-MTB, which is heavier than most of our conventional bikes, too. Total rated load is up to 50lb per bike.
The system works by raising an arm holding two bike “trays”. Rather than resting the wheels inside the tray, these are inverted and instead clamp to the handlebar and seatpost to hang the bike from the top down. As shown in the Low mount position, the clamps are under the top bars. While it looks like the bike is hanging low in the pics with tall grass, they say it’s sitting a good 6″ above the lowest part of the transmission. Need more ground clearance? Pivot the clamps up to hold the bike in the High position with the handlebar above the top bars, and then clamp lower on the seatpost.
The articulating arm is made of 4130 chromoly, and the high strength steel bumper replaces the stock bumper on a Jeep Renegade to improve departure angle and integrate recovery hooks. The whole thing is made in Texas. Pricing starts at $899 for the bumper with integrated bike rack, and an additional 2-bike extension (to carry four total bikes, up to 200lbs combined total weight) will be available separately. A rear view camera relocation kit will come in Q2 2018.
