Dr.Tray

Easy enough to install but the arms are always getting stuck. The arms don't slide easily and make it very frustrating to get my bike off the rack. For such an expensive rack, the moving parts need to be easier to manage.

Easy to use and very flexible for various bikes and tire sizes. Bike felt secure and built in locks are nice. Tire lever sometimes was difficult to release but not a big deal once you figured it out.

This is a decent rack and I appreciate how lightweight it is. But for the money, some of the components really are crap. The ratchets for the rear wheel are super cheap and flimsy, and are difficult to use with one hand if you are balancing the bike with the other. For the cost of the rack, they certainly could have done better. The swing arms for the front wheel do not slide well at all. The release button doesn’t always depress and the arm is frequently stuck and won’t slide. These are basic parts that really need to work better for such an expensive rack. It is a good tray rack overall but I wouldn’t buy it again. Go with a cheaper rack and you’ll probably get the same quality.

I was about to purchase this rack at my local shop. Luckily they were cool and let me bring my bikes in to mount of the floor model before I purchased. So glad it did. The versatility of this rack with the tool free adjustability of the tray side to side and front to back is awesome! I have yet to come across another rack that is nearly as versatile and easy to configure more loading different bikes while keeping them from toughing each other. BUUUT... the the tray is way too short for modern trail bikes, the wheel cup/cradle is plastic and hangs off the back of the tray rather than being supported on top of the tray. There's a metal pin that holds two plastic pieces together for the wheel cup and mount on the tray. In the store the bikes were secure, but were easy to sway, and with the rear wheel hanging off the back of the tray it was also easy to rock the bike back and almost off the rack. a big bump or sharp turn I could see a bike falling off. Just didn't seem to be smart or robust design like the rest of the rack. This one major flaw is what kept me from buying this rack. May be fine for around town, but long distances on highways rough back roads and such I wouldn't feel comfortable trusting this rack for an expensive bike. If Yakima were to extend the tray to fully support the rear wheel I would buy this rack in a heartbeat!

Long time review (used for 1.5+ years) - If you are strategic with 3M helicopter tape on the front of your fork, this could be a solid, easy to use rack that will work for you.

However, if the cosmetic or even functional condition of your fork is important to you, use this rack with great care. For standard sized and more traditional designed forks, you will need to consider using an adhesive protecting tape to prevent the hook from wearing into the paint on the front of the fork. I have attempted, numerous times, to position the hook almost 1” forward of the fork, but on long trips, the hook nearly always works its way back towards the fork. This is with proper tire inflation on the front tire and with appropriate pressure on the hook when setting the bike on the rack.

I recently purchased a fat bike with a suspension fork. The fork is the Manitou Mastodon. I was weary of fork damage on my first trip with the rack. On the second trip, it happened. The hard plastic at the end of the rubber on the wheel hook dug into the paint and started damaging the fork seal. I engaged the hook on the tire per the instructions: “on the bike tire 1” or less from the brakes or fork. Compress the hook against the wheel by applying firm pressure”. The damage was minor since it was a short trip, less than 30 minutes, but for the 6+ hour trips we have planned for our fat bikes in the future, the damage could far worse, possibly tearing a seal or rubbing into the upper stanchion of the suspension for.

Bottom line: This is a solid rack that is easy to use. But it will cause cosmetic damage to the fork of your bike unless extra steps are taken. Not recommended to be used with suspension forks with rear brake arch design.

I will be purchasing a different hitch rack to transport our fat bikes.

First off, I was a little scared by the price. Lets be honest, this is not the cheapest rack on the market. However...you get what you pay for. And also - let's just assume you are hauling a couple of nice bikes. Do you really want to hit a pothole on the highway doing 75 mph with a junk rack holding your $5,000 (or more) bike? This rack seats into the hitch receiver easily and then the twist knob (which is also how it locks into the receiver) tightens up to remove any slack. It is bombproof when it is on. Bikes are super easy to load and unload. The handle which raises and lowers it works really well (even for my 5'5" girlfriend). The drop down feature is great to open the rear hatch. Lastly - The integrated bike lock is rad. It is long enough to go through the wheels and frame on your beloved stallion. You can not go wrong with a Dr. Tray.

This is a phenomenal bike rack. I was slightly hesitant at first because of the price but you definitely get what you pay for. The weight is super reasonable...light enough to move around but heavy enough that it is a solid piece of equipment. The latch mechanism which allows you to fold the rack up or down is easy to engage and really solid. I do not own any fat bikes and have put everything on here from road bikes to mountain bikes with no issues. I wouldn't be concerned that because it can accommodate fat bikes that the rack works poorly with other bikes - it has been flawless for me. As far as mounting and securing bikes is concerned the overall system and components work exceptionally well. Easy to lock a bike down and quick to get it off the rack. Yakima did a great job with this one!

tl;dr - The 2018 version of this rack will fit just about any bicycle. Kids bike to 26 x 5" fat bike (It might go bigger, but I haven't tried). No add on kits or compromises. The updated lever is easy to use for raising and lowering. I have been using the 2018 version of the Dr. Tray and EZ +1 weekly since August. The first trip was 400 miles each way with a small hybrid bike, a fat bike and a mountain bike. No problems. No adapters or extra straps needed. Everything worked and was solid. They sent me the original version of the EZ+1 until they had the 2018 in stock which was super nice so we could make that trip with three bikes. Having the pre-2018 EZ+1 tray to compare to the 2018 trays gave some insight. I see why there was some concern about the tire cradle wire thing and the length of the tray in the original version since I could compare them back to back. I could see how a fat bike tire designed to roll over anything could roll over the original wire cradle. I am between a L and XL in mountain bikes, so the tray length was a concern of mine. It's totally taken care of in the updated version. My mountain bike didn't look any different than it did on my old Hold Up for the last few years, so I know it was secure even if it looked like it was on the edge a little. It sits on top a little more on the updated Dr. Tray though. It's so nice to have a rack that fits any bike out of the box. No adapter kits, extra straps or anything. Three fat bikes = no problem. I have 4.8" tires and the fit is perfect. The stock straps are plenty long enough to fit around any deep aero rim and I can get them a few clicks in on the 4.8" tires too. The arms move smoothly and are a cinch to use. The bikes move much less than my first generation Hold Up. I think that wedge that tightens the insert to the receiver deserves most of the credit, but the hardware is pretty stout too. You can install or remove the rack in about a minute. I would normally leave the rack on year round, but I finally took it off a few weeks ago once CX season was done and there wasn't a fat bike race in the near future. Super smooth. The part that goes in the hitch receiver can fold flat into the rack so it hangs on my garage wall without sticking out. Nice surprise. The longer cable locks aren't the easiest to get in and out, but the extra length is much appreciated. They aren't bad, it's just a little bit of work moving that much cable through a small opening right next to your wheel. I can get the cabkle through both wheels and the frame on most of my bikes when previous racks barely made it around the frame's downtube and back. My Dr. Tray is attached to a wagon, so I have to raise and lower it constantly to access the hatch. The actuator to raise and lower moves pretty easily. I can typically get it one handed with my fingers on top and my thumb pulling the lever upwards. Sometimes it takes both hands. I wouldn't want it to be any harder to move, but I haven't ever thought that it was too difficult. If Yakima found a way to make it easier to move and still be secure, I don't think anybody would complain. Making it easier would be on my recommendation list for the next update. Again, I have no complaints about the 2018 version. It's much nicer having that hand lever up top instead of towards the bottom where it gets road junk on it. The first generation Hold Up had a slot where you could keep the straps in the open position all the time. It was super handy to drop the bike on the rack, move the arm in place and then put the strap around the wheel. There's *barely* a spot on the Dr. Tray to position the mega long strap out of the way to put a bike in place and you certainly can't keep the strap there full time. I don't think it was intended for that purpose, but there's enough of a slot to make it work long enough to set your bike in place. I would really like to see a slot to hold the strap out of the way more similar to the first generation Hold Up. If you didn't realize you could put the tip of the strap next to the buckle while loading the rear wheel onto the tray, it would be frustrating to use one hand to move the bike around and another to position the strap. I didn't realize it could fit there for the first month and was admittedly a little sore about that because you would have to set the tire on the strap, then move it around. The trays to move left to right and back and forth don't move super easily. I have to tap them a bit to get them to move. It's not bad and I have only had to move them a couple times when putting on somebody else's mountain bikes. The amount of space between bikes on this rack is huge. Unlike any other rack out there. Keep in mind the EZ+1 doesn't move back and forth or left to right. You're putting 3 bikes into the space other racks fit 4 bikes, so you still have plenty of room though. If you don't need to carry 4 bikes Fantastic customer service from Yakima as well. Thanks a bunch!

I’ve had the rack now over a year. It’s a great piece of kit with the shortcomings seemingly addressed. As I was an early adopter my rack isn’t so easy to operate. Two hands are needed to operate the release lever. The release button for the front wheel is also hard to depress. My next bike will hopefully be a Pole so unless I can retrofit the larger wheel trays someone might get a bargain. Good to see Yakima have addressed these issues and made a good rack great. Weight is very manageable too.

I didn’t consider any other rack than Yakima since I’ve had their ski and bike products in the past, some of which are 25 or more years old and still functional. Overall a nice rack. It’s light and easy to handle and very quick to mount to the vehicle. The adjustability between bikes is very nice and quickly accomplished. The fold down/up feature is great! A couple of things that I don’t like are that the straps for the rear tires, just barely, and I do mean just barely, fit my 5” fat tire. I have a hard time getting the front tire locking arm to release. It takes considerable effort-no way my wife could get it released and I thought for a brief time that I might not get it released and I’m a fit 220 lb weight lifting enthusiast. I assume after continued use that that will work better. The locking arm worries me that it could rub on my expensive front fork, but it’s an off-road bike it gets dings and dents, right? I like the fact that the hitch tightens up securely in the hitch receiver, this is well designed and that it is lockable to the reciever is also a great design. After seeing this feature I thought it would work well on the back of our 5th wheel camper. That is not the case. Although it locks very tight in the reciever there is too much wobble elsewhere in the rack to trust it with a couple of 35-40 lb fat tire bikes on the back of a swaying trailer. However, It is just fine for the back of my truck. The front tire tray accommodates 5” tires very nicely and securely. As far as the locking cables go, well, they could easily be defeated and as with most cables they are no match for bolt cutters. The cables keep the honest people honest and that’s about it. Bring along a Ulock and some extra cables just to make a thief think twice. I definitely wouldn’t trust it in a motel lot overnight. That’s not Yakima’s fault it’s just the nature of cable locks, although the onboard storage design for the cables is cleverly thought out. Overall, I like the Dr Tray, it’s a useful design. Inclusion of the SKS locks and keys is nice. Pricey for sure, but to complain too much about the rack price seems ridiculous if you paid thousands for a bike!