Hey, I had some trouble settling on a bike rack that could carry my wife’s Aventon Abound, so I thought I’d make a thread detailing what worked for us. I settled on a 1Up SuperDuty pretty quickly, but had doubts it would work until I got it installed, as I couldn’t find any certain confirmation that it would work with the frame design/the passenger rail we have installed on the back.t

We have a 2025 Rav4 XLE hybrid, and I installed a Curt Trailer Hitch Receiver on it. Install was easy, though it took me a couple hours because I didn’t know what I was doing and didn’t have a 19mm torque adapter initially. I did have to lower the exhaust to install it, but did not have to lift the vehicle at all. I think an uninstall/reinstall would go much faster. I did bottom out twice so far, though not badly. Once leaving our driveway because I was going a little faster, and the second time leaving a pizza ranch (don’t like it but it’s good for the kids on a roadtrip) with a rough curb situation.

For the bike rack, I went with the SuperDuty because it can carry 100 lbs per tray, and the Abound is 80 lbs with the battery removed. I initially was going for the SuperDuty double, but the double is 64 lbs. The tongue weight on our Rav4 is 175 lbs. My bike, a trek navigator 200, is somewhere around 30 lbs, which all summed up put us right at the tongue weight, assuming the weights were accurate. Addons or having assumed wrong could have meant that the weight of the rack and bikes exceeded the tongue weight. Instead I opted to go for the SuperDuty single (37 lbs) and the HeavyDuty addon (18.5 lbs, 65lbs tray capacity), which gave a bit more breathing room on the tongue weight for the car.

The SuperDuty comes with the fat tire spacer, so the wheels fit from the get go. The Abound fit and locked into the tray arms, though I was more constrained on placement of the arm over the rear wheel because of the passenger rail (I didn’t want to remove this if I didn’t have to). I did end up having to remove one of the passenger footrests, it jutted out too far into the space above the HeavyDuty addon’s tray. If I was only transporting the Abound, then I wouldn’t have had to remove it. I would strongly suggest picking up the fender cushion. The Abound had a rear fender that the spacer comes in contact with to lock the bike in place. The cushion will protect the fender and spacer from scratching each other

You will also likely want to pick up wheel locks, and a lock for the addon if you go that route. If it’s all on the same order they will key it together, or if you are silly like me and forget to get the locks on the first order, make sure to supply the key number in the comments section of the order and they will set them to the correct key. I was able to put a wheel lock on both the navigator’s wheels. On the Abound I was only able to put a wheel lock on the front wheel, the frame and other attachments blocked my ability to install one on the rear wheel.

We took a 4.5 hour road trip with the bikes on the rack and I felt like it was solid and reliable. Mostly was on the interstate and state highways, usually going 65 mph, but occasionally going around 80 mph. When we got home from the trip I noticed that one of the hex locknuts on the HeavyDuty tray arm’s spacer was missing. I’m not sure if it was a hardware problem, or a user issue (I do have ADHD, so could have forgotten it or just didn’t tighten it enough). I contacted 1Up to figure out the specs for the nut so I could pick a new one up, but they are sending me the hardware free of charge. Luckily the bolt remained in place, I imagine the wheel lock I had installed helped keep the arm together

All in all it worked out great. After I pulled the trigger on the order I was a little nervous that the rack wouldn’t end up fitting the bike, but it fit without a problem. We have decent bike infrastructure near us, but it’s nice to be able to throw our bikes on the back of the car to go to trails/paths further afield or across roads we wouldn’t be comfortable riding on

PS, anyone have any recommendations for a gravel bike, or road bike that can accept gravel tires? I was going to muddle along with my bike until I looked up how much it weighed and now I’m inclined to replace it. I have had it for around a decade and am looking for a bit of an upgrade. I was thinking I’d go for a Specialized Diverge, but am open to suggestions, with probably $2k as the top end of the budget. I would mostly be riding on paved trails and roads, but would occasionally be riding on gravel paths. I would also usually be hauling a burley bee behind me, for at least 3 more years