TESTED: JB Racks 5-bike vertical bike rack
In a world of expensive vertical bike racks, how does an $850 5-bike JB Rack stack up?
Words: Hayden Wright | Photos: Gerard Lagana
In July 2022 we conducted a comprehensive group test of 8 vertical bike racks (VBRs). The feedback from that article and accompanying video was consistent, with many readers expressing their admiration for the functionality this style of rack offers to those without a ute.
Conversely there was also one recurring comment which also popped up, the purchase price. An unavoidable barrier of entry to some, the racks we tested varied from $1,200 to $2,000 + which is a significant investment, especially for families already burdened with the cost of purchasing and maintaining their bikes. Since then, a few more value oriented racks have popped up offering a more ‘no frills’ approach to the VBR.
JB racks is one company offering such a product, with their 5-bike rack coming in at a highly competitive $849.99. While it lacks many additional features we came to appreciate in the racks we reviewed last year, the basics are covered – and I was keen to mount it up and see what the sub $1k VBR market has to offer.
Out of the box
JB Racks are a South Australian based company, founded and run by Jameson Broadbent. What began as a high school engineering project in 2020 has blossomed into a fully-fledged business, with JB offering racks in 3 through to 6 bike capacities, shipped directly to your door.
A quick look at their web page reveals bold claims such as “The world's best bike rack” and “The easiest rack to load bikes”, along with information pertaining to their 3 year warranty and links to a simple yet informative instructional video on how to bolt together your own VBR.
All JB racks come flat packed and partially assembled, with the rest of the build being easily managed by any wrench wielding mountain biker. Assembly took me around 30 minutes, including the time spent discarding the plastic waste from the packaging of this Chinese made VBR.
Constructed of SHS steel throughout, all the primary components are bolted together excluding the wheel hoops, which are welded to a mounting plate which then bolts to the top bar. The bolts themselves vary in size and all use nyloc nuts, which is nice to see at this price point. However, I encountered an issue while tightening two of these nuts to the central mast – the mast itself was crushing under the compressive forces of the bolts. A quick email to JB Racks instructed me that the provided split lock washers have been deemed too small of a diameter, and will be replaced with larger diameter washers to help spread the forces across the face of the SHS in their next shipment of product. JB Racks claim engineering compliance on their design specification and confidently back it with a 3 year warranty, so my experience may be an unfortunate outlier.
On the Car
I mounted the rack up to the 50mm hitch mount on my ute in the closer of the two provided pin locations and tightened up the in-built anti rattle bolt. This provided some stability to the VBR itself, but there was still excess instability which made me uncomfortable. JB racks do offer their own anti-wobble plates as an accessory, an additional $50 cost worth considering if you don’t already have your own. At 25kg, the rack is 13kg lighter than the Rola VBR5 I tested last year, making mounting and removing it from the car significantly easier.
Loading and unloading
Loading bikes in the upright position can be challenging for some. As a general rule, if you can't lift your bike up vertically and get your rear wheel close to a metre off the ground, you will likely need a hand loading it on a VBR on a 4WD ute.
Fortunately, I am tall and have a bike with a generous wheelbase, so getting my bike up on the JB Racks 5 rack was as simple as ever.
Both the front and rear wheels are secured using an elastic bungee, which are quick and easy to fit but do not provide the confidence inspiring “tied-down” feel you get from using nylon straps, which I prefer.
The top wheel hoops are compatible with 26’-29’ wheels and are rated to 25kg each, with adapters available for smaller diameter wheels available directly through JB. Wheelbase compatibility was no issue for me, with bikes measuring from 1080mm to 1325mm having sufficient contact on the bottom bar when in its lowest setting.
When bolting the rack together, you have +/- 170mm of height adjustment in the bottom bar, giving a total dimensional range between the top and bottom bars of 630mm to 800mm and a total stack height of 1200mm – a nice touch allowing users to dial in their VBR to suit their preferred wheelbase. While there is no mechanism allowing for tool-free rack tilting out of the box, JB Racks do have the provision for it in the hitch elbow. By replacing the provided bolts with their aftermarket pins, you can raise and lower it manually, a nice feature when the VBR is empty and you need to get in the back of the car.
On the Road
A friendly reminder to all of those who have or are considering getting their own VBR – don’t forget your accessory plate! On my first road trip with this unit I neglected to fit mine, meaning I was driving around with an obstructed number plate in the dark hours of the morning. Fortunately I received only a warning from the authorities, serving as a reminder to always have the accessory plate in the car.
During the subsequent 320km drive with the fully loaded rack, I noticed that two of the rear wheel bungees had snapped. These straps are designed to fail in the case of an impact, which should help save your bike from damage, however I was a little concerned to see two broken from what I would consider pretty regular driving both on and off-road on the way to a trial head. As stated previously it is always my preference to avoid elastic straps when tying anything down in transit and much prefer to use nylon straps to avoid such issues. They have no bounce and while they don't let your bike ‘release’ from the rack in case of an impact, they’re much less likely to snap. Thankfully, Jameson of JB racks acknowledges this and is currently developing a variation to their rack which includes this update.
Verdict
While following up on the bold claims of “The Best Bike Rack Ever” was always going to be difficult with a value based offering, I still found the performance and quality of the JB Racks 5 bike rack I had on test to be a little lacklustre. Issues with strength and bike security experienced during testing left me feeling nervous while driving, prompting constant mirror checks. Jameson confirmed many design improvements have been made since I reviewed this rack, around the bungees and the crimping of the RHS steel. For light use this would be worth looking at, but for larger bikes, longer trips, rougher use and full loads I'd also look at the models we tested previously and see where your budget is.
RRP: $849.99 (5 bike)
From: jbracks.com.au
Hits:
– Most affordable VBR on the market
– Multiple configurations and accessories available
– To your door shipping
– Took on our review feedback to make changes
Misses:
– Durability and strength concerns
– No frills approach will require some further spending to dial in the setup
