The Euro PitchFork is easy to use, look great and — if the six-year-old PitchFork on my old Subaru is an indication — will work well for years to come.
Unable to load Media
Unable to load Media
Unable to load Media
The PitchFork family has a simple premise: roofrack trays don’t need to be boring. The 45in tubular tray comes in eight hues (black, silver, red, white, yellow, blue, green or orange), and can handle up to 2.7in tires.
If you’re looking for a rack for your trail bike, this isn’t the one. There is a locking thru-axle adapter called the DriveShaft you can use, but you’d probably prefer an integrated solution.
If you need something to tote your road bike and occasionally a cross-country rig, however, the Euro PitchFork is solid. For quick-release frames, the Euro Pitchfork is easy to use. The locking handle operates like a quick release; you rotate it when open to set the width, then you clamp the sucker closed (and then lock it to secure it).
The Euro PitchFork mounts cleanly with hardware that slots into aero basebars like RockyMounts' own Ouray
The ratcheting strap for the rear wheel slides fore and aft to dial in the fit, and get easily be flipped to the other side like the head unit should you want to move the tray to the other side of your vehicle.
One thing to note: Since the handle turns to loosen, thieves can force the thing to unscrew without opening the lever if the lever extends beyond the base bar. Just make sure the lever is set inboard of the bar and you’re good. Also, you'll want to mount the levers facing backwards to prevent them from whistling.
RockyMounts has this same type of PitchFork tray in a few configurations to fit just about any rack. The Euro PitchFork fits slotted crossbars on European cars like Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Volvo and VW, as well as the company’s own Ouray bars shown here, plus Thule’s Aero Blade and Yakima’s Whispbar crossbars.
The standard $109 / AU$126 PitchFork fits round Yakima and square Thule crossbars. I bought four of these six years ago, and despite a little fade from nonstop exposure to the Rocky Mountain sun (garages are for bikes, people!), the racks are otherwise as good as new.
Six years later, this original PitchFork is still good as new, although constant exposure to the Rocky Mountain sun has faded the paint a bit
The TieRod is basically a PitchFork for factory crossbars. It has a bigger frontal profile, but the same sleek and colorful tray and clamping lever.
You do need to lube the clamping mechanism every now and again to keep it operating smoothly. Chain lube works fine.
