Yakima King Cobra Review
Review and photos Mark Mayo

I hate carrying bicycles - especially heavy freeride bicycles with bizarre frames - on cars. It always seems to be an excercise in frustration, with either the tire being too big for the strap, the disk rotor getting in the way of the locking mechanism, or the downtube being too big for the clamp. Considering the suggested retail on today's high-end freeride bikes, there should be a law that bike companies provide pick-up trucks with every purchase.. Only a truck affords you the luxury of loading a pile of dirty bikes, stinky gear, and Big Stench Dave into the back while you and your buddies shuttle up the logging road. Yes. What I really want is a big 4x4 truck. What I've got, however, is a Honda Civic hatchback.

Mark replaces his useless fork-mount with the new Cobra upright

Before you laugh, the reasoning behind the hatch is straightforward: I can only afford one vehicle, and for most of my vehicular needs a small, fuel efficient car makes the most sense. Easy to park, gets me to work, doesn't cost a lot, and yes indeed, the Civic is sufficient to transport me and my bike to the trailhead. Judging by the fact that only a couple of the dozen people I regularly ride with own trucks, I'm pretty confident in saying that most people are in my shoes. They drive cars, and they're looking for a convenient way to carry their bike(s). In my case, a Santa Cruz Bullit with Boxxers (read: 20mm thru-axle), and occasionally Cam's BMX. There are two options for car owners: Put the bike on top, or hang it off the back. The trunk racks are generally fairly easy to load, but you can't access the trunk if you've got bikes loaded. For people with really funky frames, like a Norco VPS, you also might have to hook up a detachable bar between the stem and seat tube since the "arms" on the trunk rack won't have anything to hold onto. Basically, depending on the bikes and car, your average $100 trunk rack can work great, or be a real pain in the ass. If you go up top, your options haven't been much better. First, you've got the sleek fork-mount quick release type racks that are great for holding road bikes and most x-country mountain bikes that use standard quick release - look out for rotor clearance if your XC rig has disc brakes, though. If you're like the growing majority of freeriders who use a thru-axle design of some sort on the front fork, these fork-mount style bike racks are to be avoided, as you'll want to be using some sort of system that doesn't require removing the front wheel every ride (I know, there's an adapter thing you can clamp to your fork and then to the rack, but remember we're looking for convenience, not hassle). Traditionally this has meant using a rack with an arm that comes up and clamps onto the downtube. This works well, assuming your downtube is sufficiently pinner to fit in the clamp - many aren't. Yakima and a few other companies came out with a system a couple years ago that grabs onto the crank arm instead of the down tube. This works well on a much wider variety of bikes than the downtube clamp, but I seem to be coming across more and more BMX-inspired tubular chromo monster cranks that are too big to fit into the clamp. Basically, the downtubes and cranks on each generation of freeride bike have grown much faster than the rack companies ever imagined. So.... what's a guy to do?

The kit - a baby could assemble the Cobra

Enter the Yakima King Cobra, Yakima's answer to my prayers. Yakima has been making various types of racks (roof, trunk, and hitch mount) for some time and has earned a reputation for building a quality product. Like Thule, and a handful of other manufacturers, they sell a universal "rack" (bars and mounting posts) for the top of your vehicle and you choose from a huge selection of attachments for carrying different types of gear. Surfboards, skis, bikes, whatever. I've actually been using Yakima's AnkleBiter Deuce(the crank arm grabbing design) for a year with pretty good results, so I was very anxious to check out the latest and greatest design which claims to be truly universal by attaching to the least changing part of the bike: the tire. The concept is so simple it's incredible nobody thought of it years ago (Yakima has patents pending on the design, so it could be a while before you see this design from another manufacturer). Framesets change, cranks change, forks change, but we've always stuck with just a handful of standard tire sizes: 20", 24", 26", and 700c. The tire width has ramped for freeriders, but 2.1 to 2.7 isn't really a huge change. As you can see from the diagram on the right, the front tire is cradled and held in place by two bars that swing up. The bars lie flat on the tray when not in use. Installing the King Cobra proved to be a snap. You just have to attach the wheel tray to the cradle mechanism (I'm not sure what Yakima calls it, but I'm going to call it a cradle from here on out), and then attach the whole thing to your cross-bars. Two bigs knobs that serve to hold the front cradle bar in place while loading secure the carrier on one end, and another knob secures the opposite end. You just slide the rear wheel strap on through a groove in the tray. No tools required for any of the assembly, which is handy. While in theory you could mount the carrier facing either direction, if you're like me and have a short roof line and/or hatch you may be forced to hook it up with the bike facing towards the back of the car with the tray sticking out over the front windshield a bit - otherwise the wheel tray may interfere with opening the hatch. Fortunately for me, the AnkleBiter works the other way 'round, where I pretty much have to mount it with bike facing forwards or I run into the tray problem. So I end up with one bike pointing forward and one pointing rearward, a nice setup that ensures the handlebars don't clash. Keep this in mind if you're thinking of picking up two Cobras (or AnkleBiters) and you're planning on packing them close together on your rack.

Plenty of room for big tires (2.7" Maxxis shown)

Getting your bike into the cradle is pretty easy. You pull the front arm up (with the red knobs in the photo) and literally just roll the bike forward which automatically pulls the second retaining arm up behind the wheel, preventing any side to side movement of the bike. The fit is snug enough that you can let go of your bike and then you pull a red bolt out of the front wheel cup gadget, secure it in a slot below said gadget, and turn the bolt a bunch of times to tighten the whole thing down which prevents the back cradle arm from falling down (and hence holds the front wheel and bike firmly in place). Phew, long sentence, but it's completely intuitive and only takes 15 seconds or so total. The tray itself is plenty wide with a long strap that holds the rear wheel in place.  My normal back tire, a 2.5" High Roller, actually fits inside the tray snugly. I tested and had no trouble to fit a 3.0" Gazz / Doublewide rim combo onto the tray and strap it down securely.

The King Cobra proudly securing The Silver Bullit(tm)

Yakima actually sells two versions of this carrier; the "King Cobra", and the plain old "Cobra". The only difference between them is the King Cobra includes an integrated cable snake lock that tucks away into the tubular arm of the retainer cradle. You can see it in the photos coming up and looping around the downtube. You pay about $35 extra (CAN buckaroos) for the King model, but it doesn't include an "SKS Locking Core", which is Yakima's interchangable key-lock mechanism. You can only buy pairs of SKS cores even though you only need one, and they cost another $35. So the King Cobra really comes at a $70 premium if you don't have a spare SKS core lying around from your ski attachment or whatever. Personally, I don't think it's worth it, and I'd recommend just keeping a Kryptonite braided steel cable lock in the trunk and go with Cobra model. At any rate, there's nothing you can do to secure your bike enough to leave it unattended. All the King Cobra or your own rigged up lock will do is give you and your buds enough time to put down your beers, leap over the patio wall, chase after the fiend and kick the crap out of him while you wait for the cops to arrive. What? He resisted the citizen's arrest!

The Cobra will handle any bike you throw at it

After a few months of using the Cobra, I've come to appreciate how versatile a system Yakima has cooked up, but it's not without its flaws. For one, when you're loading a big downhill bike with a loooong wheelbase, it's a little clumsy since the tray isn't long enough for you to just pop the bike up and then roll it forward (the rear wheel hangs off the front of the tray). You have to place the front wheel directly onto the wheel cup gadget and roll it forward. I'm nitpicking, absolutely, but it deserves mentioning. On a positive note most bikes are a breeze to load, and the promise of easy loading regardless of frame design or wheel size rings true. To load a BMX, you just use the red tabs on the front arm to move the "crown" down to the 20" notch, pop the bike in, slide the rear wheel strap forward and you're good to go. We're talking maybe 30 seconds, tops, to adjust. Everything from 20" to 29" is fair game for the Cobra. My only serious complaint with the Cobra is with the screw down bolt mechanism that secures the front wheel cradle. The bolt is finely threaded, so you have to turn the knob several rotations to tighten, and then loosen the bolt. Say, 10 seconds of tightening. Not a lot, but it's slightly annoying. The real problem: the bolt came loose on me. More than once. The manual suggests not overtightening the bolt, but trust me, after you pull into the Whistler parking lot and hear your bike slopping around on top and climb out to see the bolt completely undone, you'll be crankin' it down. My fear of the retaining bolt loosening means I probably overtighten it all the time - only time will tell if that leads to premature failure of the mechanism. Fortunately the rear wheel strap keeps the bike from sliding backwards out of the cradle, which means your bike isn't going anywhere... but still, it makes me nervous. Lesson of the day: ALWAYS use the rear wheel strap. Finally, you probaby shouldn't enter any rally car races with a Cobra and bike on the top of your Subaru - Yakima has the same disclaimer you'll find on all upright bike carriers: Not certified for off-road use.

Overall, the Cobra / King Cobra is the most versatile, future-proof upright bicycle carrier I've ever used and I have no hesitations recommending it. There's really nothing better out there. My bet is that Yakima will improve the retaining bolt design over time, which is the only valid criticism of the product. You should have no problems obtaining a Cobra for CAN$150 (US$100) from any of Yakima's retailers, and I should point out that the Cobra fits on any round or square cross bar. RackAttack carries them here in Vancouver and a few other cities on the continent.

 

- Mark Mayo