product reviews
Küat:alpha hitch mount bike rack
MSRP: $349
www.KuatRacks.com
Lighter than a Hunk of Steel The first thing you’ll notice when you pick up the Küat Alpha rack is that you can pick it up onehanded. Finagling a top-heavy, 40-pound piece of iron into a 4-inch receiver hitch isn’t easy, and no matter how snazzy the hydraulically stabilized, swing-out tailgate access mechanism is, you’re still going to need to uninstall and reinstall the rack every time you go on a trip. So Küat made the sub-15-pound Alpha from lightweight 6061 aluminum tubing. Good idea. They also kept the design simple and functional. The Alpha rack is noticeably compact, it doesn’t stick out so far to require flagging and it can fold up small enough to hide in the corner of your broom closet. The same folding mechanism also allows for easy access to your tailgate; pull out the lock pin and the rack folds down and out of the way. The Alpha includes some other well thought out features as well, like an integrated lock system and a unique cam-wedge gizmo built into the hitch mount bar that keeps the rack from rattling around in the receiver. It came with a really slick locking hitch pin but it wasn’t long enough to fit through the reinforced hitch on my Toyota Tacoma. Affixing bikes to the rack also became an easy proposition because the innovative anti-sway cradles can be quickly repositioned by loosening a lock ring to customize the rack’s configuration. Without any cursing, forcefulness or scratched frames, I was able to get three awkwardly shaped bikes on the rack at the same time; my double top tube balloon tire cruiser bike, an XL Ellsworth Full Suspension 29er and my Yeti 575. The powdercoated Alpha rack is available in chrome or candy orange and has a lifetime warranty. –B. Riepe
honey stinger:organic chews
MSRP: $1.89
www.HoneyStinger.com
Tasty Energy Snack with no Scary Side Effects Human Body Trivia: it requires 30 muscles to raise the eyebrows.* So when you pop one of these tasty little gummi, fruit-flavored morsels into your mouth, raise your eyebrows and exclaim, “Mmmm.” You’ll need a few extra calories to power all those extra muscles firing on your forehead. You won’t need to worry about bonking though because the new Honey Stinger Organic Energy Chews, made with 100 percent organic tapioca syrup and honey, are a good source of high quality calories. What’s more, since they’re gluten-free and dairyfree, you can share them with your hyper-vegan friends. And they contain no GMO ingredients so there’s no need to worry about growing a third nipple. Honey Stinger Organic Chews come in assorted fruit flavors and, with just a slight hint of honey, taste great. –B. Riepe *Source: http://home.bitworks.co.nz/trivia/body.htm
Not even close to actual size.
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