SeaSucker Talon 1 review: a compact, stable bike rack – once you learn to trust it

SQUIRREL_13215157

At first glance, what sets the SeaSucker Talon 1 apart from other bike racks is the US brand’s use of suction cups instead of the regular clips and straps.

But once you get past that – which can take a while, psychologically – its USP is how compact it is.

The Florida-made rack arrives in a box measuring only 390x330x85mm, which contains everything you need to carry one bike on your vehicle, except for the appropriate fork-axle adaptor.

These so-called ‘HUSKE Plugs’ are available separately, costing £25 to £45, but will also fit in said box once purchased.

My kit weighed 2.44kg (including box) once I'd added a single set of plugs.

This diminutive size and low weight make the rack easy to store, and it also means you could easily take it with you on holiday if, for example, you planned to rent a car and hire a bike at your destination.

SeaSucker Talon 1 bike rack preparation

Readying the two-piece rack for use is a quick job, simply requiring you to attach the fork mount to the front section with two bolts, using the provided hex key and short spanner.

This is a slightly fiddly process, because you have to work around the suction cups.

Also, the long end of the L-shaped hex key supplied with my rack hadn’t been made to tight enough tolerances to fit in the bolt head – although the shorter end worked fine.

It only took a couple of minutes though, and to put the rack back in the box, you simply reverse the process.

Once the mount is in place, you press the HUSKE plugs – available for 9x100mm QR and 12x100mm (road), 15x100mm (non-Boost MTB), 15x110mm (Boost MTB), 20x100mm (DH) and 20x110mm (Boost DH) thru-axles – into its ends. You need to apply a little of the provided Lube Tube grease if you intend to switch between adaptors for different bikes.

Your next task is to work out where on your vehicle the rack will fit.

It can go on a roof or boot (trunk), but the bike has to be inline (parallel to the direction of travel), with the front wheel pointing towards the bonnet (hood), and the suction cups need to attach to a clean, solid and uninterrupted surface.

There are three cups on the front section, plus an additional one on the rear-wheel holder.

Making a note of your bike’s wheelbase will help you figure out roughly how far from each other you should place them.

On some cars, it can be hard to find a suitable position. The back of a small Honda Jazz hatchback was too short, while the rear of the roof was too flexible, so I had to mount it on the glass sunroof.

Even then, I had to be careful to place the front section of the rack far enough forward to avoid the rear-wheel holder fouling the aerial mount or placing too much weight on an overly flexy bit of the roof.

Even on a bigger Ford Grand C-Max people carrier/MPV, I couldn’t fit a road bike on the back in any position without the large chainring fouling the boot.

With the front section of the rack at the top of the rear window, a mountain bike fitted, but its back wheel hung below the bumper, which SeaSucker warns against.

Moving the rack to the rear of the roof resulted in the wheel hitting the boot handle/catch instead, risking damage. There were no issues putting either bike on the roof, however.

I should note that I ride an extra-large frame, so those with smaller bikes may not have the same issues.

Also, I didn’t try the rack with a saloon or a van, where rear mounting may be a better option.

SeaSucker Talon 1 bike rack installation

Once you know where the rack’s going to go, you simply make sure that area of the vehicle is clean, take the protective ‘lids’ off the cups and rest the rack in place, then use the mini suction pump attached to each cup to secure the rack in place.

I found it took around 25 pumps, using my thumb, per cup, to get full adhesion, indicated by the button’s orange line disappearing and it not popping back out so readily.

Sometimes I had to put a little weight on the cups while pumping to achieve a secure hold.

Now comes the toughest part – fixing your bike to the rack. As with any roof-mounted rack, getting your bike up on top of your car and supporting it while you secure it in place isn’t always easy, especially with a tall vehicle, a heavy electric mountain bike and/or aching arms after a long ride.

Unfortunately, SeaSucker’s fork mount doesn’t hold the front of the bike securely in place until you have the axle inserted, so you have to support the bike with one hand while threading in the axle with the other.

This isn’t too big an issue with a QR axle, but was a bit of a pain with the bolted, non-QR Manitou Hexloc axle on one of the bikes I tested it with, making me worried that the bike might topple over and scratch or dent my car roof.

Thankfully, once the fork is bolted in and the rear wheel is secured with its tough hook-and-loop strap, you can release the suction and carefully slide both portions of the rack about if needed, to find a better position, with the bike remaining stable.

Once that’s sorted, it’s a simple case of using the suction pumps again, then throwing your front wheel in the vehicle, and you’re good to go.

SeaSucker doesn’t mention this in its instructions, but once you know where the rack can fit, another option is to attach your bike to the fork mount off the vehicle and then lift both onto the roof together.

That way, you don’t have to stabilise the bike while inserting the axle, although the rack does add more weight to lift. I found this to be the best approach for heavier mountain bikes.

SeaSucker Talon 1 bike rack performance

I first fitted the rack on my car roof on a drizzly day (note that SeaSucker advises against fitting it on a wet boot) and it stuck in place instantly and refused to budge, despite me hauling on it.

There is a mental hurdle to overcome though. If, like me, you’ve been using strap-on or tow-bar racks for years, or even decades, and your only experience of suction cups has been on toy arrows or bathroom soap-dish holders, it can be hard to trust the Talon.

It helps that the cups have a 100kg pull-strength rating – more than enough to support even the heaviest eMTB or downhill bike.

Also, if you mount the rack on your sunroof, you should be able to keep an eye on at least a couple of the pump buttons while driving, giving extra peace of mind that there’s been no loss of suction.

I built up gradually, taking my trail bike on a trip down the road to the corner shop, then my (heavier) ebike on a 15-minute drive into the hills and only committing to an hour’s drive on the motorway – in a car without a sunroof – once I had confidence it’d stay in place.

Once you’ve got the psychology side sorted, it really is a very good rack.

The fork mount enables it to keep a 20kg+ ebike super-stable, outperforming my previous benchmark roof rack, the Thule ProRide 598, with its down-tube supporting arm.

I’ve used the rack on everything from 70mph motorways to weaving country roads and in stop-start urban traffic with no issues.

None of the cups has ever detached in transit or lost so much suction that the orange warning section is showing.

One of the four pump buttons on my rack does have the slightly disconcerting habit of popping out a little over time, but only to the extent of needing one or two precautionary pumps for peace of mind.

With the SeaSucker design, there’s no need for fuel-economy-crippling roof bars, paint-scratching clips or flapping straps, or a tow bar that could tank the resale value of your car.

It packs up small, is quick to fit and is easily adaptable to suit different bikes – I tried it with Boost mountain bike forks and both 12x100mm and QR road forks, with the appropriate adaptors, and it worked equally well with each of them.

If you want to carry more than one bike, you can save money by buying a twin-pack, or opt for the two-bike Mini Bomber (five suction cups) or three-bike Bomber (eight cups), both of which require a little less fore-aft space to mount.

Various other options and accessories are available too, via SeaSucker’s website or its UK distributors, Upgrade.

SeaSucker Talon 1 bike rack bottom line

It’d be good if the rack could better support the fork dropouts before the axle is in place, although this is also an issue with arm-based roof racks, where you have to hold the bike until the clamp is in place.

Also, it can be difficult to position initially (but is a cinch to reattach once you’ve found the right spot) and is a little pricey for a single-bike carrier, especially if you need to add more than one set of HUSKE plugs.

However, if you want a quick-to-fit, easily portable rack or have an awkwardly shaped vehicle, it’s a great option.

While you can’t lock the Talon 1 to your vehicle or your bike to the rack, you can remove and reinstall it in seconds, and could always loop a cable through your bike frame and your car’s towing eye.

SQUIRREL_13215157