Review: Saris Bones 3 bike rack

The Saris Bones is a boot mounted design which has been around for some time and claims to offer a sturdy tow bar free solution with bike protection in-mind. Although convenient and generally less pricey, boot mounted bicycle racks are notoriously unstable, often rubbing and scratching their precious cargo. We were interested to see just how well Saris’ three bike version, the Saris Bones 3, would fair.

Features

• Carries 3 bikes (16 kg/bike).
• Spring buckle straps with vinyl-coated hooks.
• Strongest frame on the market.
• Built with 100% recyclable materials.
• Rust-free injection molded plastic.
• Articulated rubber feet to protect paint.
• Ratcheting anti-sway straps for a secure hold.
• Arc–based design separates bikes on different levels.
• Frame fits over most spoilers.
• Available in grey, yellow, blue, orange, black, green, red and pink.
• Compatible with most vehicles—consult the Saris Fit Guide for approved fits.
• Meets European Union regulations. View this product’s European certification.
• Lightweight at 5 kgs.
• Price: RRP R 2,995.00 for the Bones 3 and RRP R 2,495.00 for the Bones 2.

Assembly

Out of the box no tools are required for this one as the Bones 3 arrived completely assembled. The bracing arms are plastic with articulated rubber feet and attach to a central aluminium shaft. It arrived with all arms folded up in a very compact and impressively lightweight package. Overall the construction of the rack gave the impression of good quality materials and a solid design.

Fitment to vehicle

Setting up the Bones 3 to fit my car was a little overwhelming at first but after a few minutes of playing around I managed to get head around the Bones design, which turned out to be pretty smart and straightforward. I had the Bones 3 adjusted for my car and attached in 10 minutes.

Setup is done by rotating the arms of the Bones 3 around the central shaft. The four arms that connect with car need to be adjusted to fit the shape of your boot while the two arms holding the bikes need to be set to an angle that will hold them level. The feet on the arms contacting the car are made of a soft rubber and shouldn’t cause any scratching or scuffs.

The rack is secured by straps which connect above, to the side and below the rack on the rear door edges or underside of the vehicle. The straps felt strong and the latches are metal with a thick coating of paint to attempt to prevent scratching to the car. The straps are tightened using a familiar ratchet. Once all properly tensioned, trying to dislodge the Bones only resulted in shaking the car.

Attaching bikes

The straps holding the bikes in place are plastic with a ratchet clip to fasten. There is softer inner layer which appears to well suited to protecting the frame.

I found that bikes with small front triangles, either due to frame size or a simply snug design, were a bit of a squeeze. The combination of the top buckle straps and anti-sway straps underneath did leave too much room to work with.

During testing the Bones 3 was mostly used with two bikes and it excelled at this. When testing with 3 bikes it was a very tight fit requiring a fair amount of alignment of pedals, handlebars and saddles was required to get the bikes secured safely. Given the compact design and snug fit with three bikes some additional padding between them would be advised.

On the road

Once the bikes were attached, the Bones felt secure on the car and bike movement was kept under wraps by the anti-sway straps. An additional strap may be needed though to keep the front wheel and handlebars in place.

Conclusion

The Saris Bones 3 proved to be solid boot mounted rack. It feels like it is build last and secures the bikes to the car as good if not better than most other boot mounted racks we’ve used. Although the setup was a little overwhelming at first, once you get the design fitment is simple and intuitive.