A while ago I posted on The “what have you bought” thread that I’d spaffed a few quid on a Seasucker Talon bike rack so I could take my precious to Brittany for a family holiday showing the French that bully beef British MAMILs are the bestest. @Sittingduck asked for an opinion and I’ve had a couple of questions IRL so I thought I’d bang out a review.
Intro Waffle
Generally I’m of the opinion that bikes should be ridden, not transported. If they’re being transported then it should at least be inside the vehicle. But I also believe in not getting my knackers kicked into my stomach by the excellent Mrs Dr Bollo, so over the years and not that many cars I’ve acquired a collection of bars, adaptors and shims.
Our current car, a 14 plate Qashqai, did a lengthy commute for 4 years, then frequent 400 mile round trips for parental support and has had a recent run in with a low wall. It’s seen better days. Due to another recent change of circumstance it’s likely that I’ll be changing the Qashqai for something both electric and mental in the next two years, so I didn’t want to add to my growing roofbar mountain.
The Talon Bike Rack
Seasucker started out making vacuum mounts for marine use but have expanded their application to mounts and bars that can be used on almost any type of vehicle, including those that don’t have any rails or connection points. Their mounts are the posh version of those IKEA soap dishes that stick to the tiles in the shower but you find on the floor the next morning. A minor inconvenience for soap, but a big problem if your pride and joy falls off and takes out a couple of lanes of traffic.
I wanted to transport a single bike on the roof, so the Talon was perfect for my requirements. For those wanting to move more than one bike around, there are multi-bike and bar options.
Ignoring the vacuum element, most Seasucker bike racks are quite traditional. The bike attaches to the mount by removing the front wheel and clamping or screwing the fork to a receiving axle depending on type. The rear wheel is strapped to a separate (or for their eye-wateringly expensive Komodo mount an integrated) mounting point to stabilise the whole set up. Seasucker will sell you an accessory to put the front wheel on the roof or wherever. More in this later.
Buying
Seasucker are an American Company. This means that (a) every™️ sentence™️ has about™️six™️ trademarks™️ in it™️, (b) the promo material isn’t subtle - bikes are mounted on muscle cars and drifted around tracks and (c) for the poor U.K. consumer, it’s f***ing expensive. I paid around £260 from Merlin. You may find it cheaper but the usual caveats apply - check where it’s shipping from and whether import duties are applied. In defence (or defense) of Seasucker’s pricing, they don’t appear to outsource most of their manufacturing.
What’s in the box (and what isn’t)
The first thing that hits you about the box is how small it all is. “I paid how much for what now?!”.
In the box you’ll get…
The suckers are made from a soft supple rubber, each with a small hole that passes through to the pump mechanism. The user guide recommends that you use the covers whenever the mounts aren’t in use. While the suckers feel reasonably robust, they do A LOT of work here so I’m happy to take the advice.
So what if you’re trying to mount a bike with through axles? Seasucker has a solution to that but it’ll cost you. Adaptors are available for most through axle standards as an extra. A 12mm road adaptor will set you back around £22+ for what amounts to a pair of machined plastic rounds.
It’s a similar story for the front wheel. Seasucker will sell you a front wheel mount for £120+. Maybe Mrs Dr B won’t mind sharing the front seat? Seriously, there are better and cheaper solutions out here with almost zero extra effort. See below. You owe me a pint.
Seasucker appear to offer spares and support for their products but their European operation is based in the Netherlands and they explicitly state that they don’t deliver to the U.K. so I’ve no idea how easy it will be to get spare suckers, pumps etc if required via theor U.K. agent.
Setup
Compared to any other bike mount system I’ve tried, setting up the Talon was crazy simple. Make sure the mounting surface is free from schmutz and dust, plonk on the mount where you want the forks to be, pump the buttons and then attach the bike. If you’ve mounted the bike before you’ll already know where to put the rear stabilising mount. If it’s the first time then just rest the rear wheel on the roof and then lift it to place the mount in the right place.
Although I’m talking about roof mounting here, the Talon can also be used to attach a bike to the back of an estate or SUV. While this is better in terms of drag and fuel efficiency, it wouldn’t get you out of the requirements for a light board and/or numberplate if the bike obscures either.
The suckers will attach to metal or glass. Seasucker don’t recommend using their products on a wrapped vehicle as there’s a risk of lifting the wrap. I’ve also noticed that matt paint finishes are creeping into the mainstream - I think Kia now offer this as an option. Check with your manufacturer. Or don’t buy a matt car.
The areas where the suckers are attached should be dry, but Seasucker recommend dampening the edges of each sucker with a little water before attaching. I’ve skipped this step a couple of times without ill-effects. Once mounted they’re not affected by rain.
The Qashqai has a panoramic roof so all the suckers were mounted on glass. Some of the Seasucker promo material shows the front mount with two suckers on the roof and the third on the top of the windscreen. I tried this but it did cause the T to bend slightly as the suckers took hold. I didn’t see any advantage in straining the mount so just moved all three to the flatter roof surface, but for sportier cars with a very shallow windscreen angle and limited roof space this might be necessary.
Each of the pump buttons has an orange collar to indicate the suction state. If the collar is visible, you ain’t attached. Give the button a few presses until the collar is hidden. You’ll also see the suckers flatten as they grip the surface. For the four suckers this whole process will take you a couple of seconds tops.
Here are a couple of pics of the set up.
You may notice that the front wheel is strapped to the frame with some funky padded straps. These came with the (paid for) Canyon delivery box and are great, but you could easily knock something up with some Velcro straps and cut foam.
The Talon’s tool and faff-free setup also reveals its greatest weakness - an observant scamp could remove your pride and joy and be on their way in a matter of seconds, without the need for any tools or even criminal skill.
Seasucker will sell you (a pattern emerges) a range of plastic-coated metal doodads that are intended to hook under the boot lid or window and provide a loop through which you can attach a security cable. The U.K. price sits around £40. They’re crap. For the boot hook, the metal is so thick that it won’t fit in the gap between the boot lid and body. Also it doesn’t really work with modern shaped body panels as the hook really needs a straight edge. I tried using a door, but it’s the same story. I’d guess that the fit tolerances for most modern cars are going to struggle to accommodate this. It’s going back.
You can see my homemade solution that made use of an existing cable and padlock in a couple of the pics. The cable is looped through the frame and wheels and the free end loop pushed under one of the car’s coffin rails. The cable loop clamp prevents the cable loop passing completely under the rail but it exposes enough of the loop to fit a chunky padlock that’s also too big to pass under the rail so the cable can’t be pulled out.
The extra strap in the picture was only there as a backstop to make sure the bike at least stayed with the car in the event of catastrophic failure.
This solution is good enough for a wee and a coffee at the services but I wouldn’t leave a bike locked like this unattended over an extended period. Also, I removed and reattached the cable each time I stopped rather than leave it on, just to minimise the risk of rattling while driving.
If you don’t have a convenient attachment point on the car then you may have to get creative but if there’s really nothing and there’s also any chance that you’ll be leaving the vehicle unattended then I’d suggest this isn’t a solution for you.
In use
Once the bike is attached there’s really nothing more to do until you reach your destination. On my trip from Hampshire to Brittany the bike was on the car for a total of 16 hours and 500 miles, most of them at autoroute speeds. The key take away here is that the bike stayed on the car 🥳. What was more reassuring is that the sucker pumps showed no sign of loss of suction or leakage. If the suction is failing then the orange collars will start to show, but they stayed hidden for the entire journey. Also, the pump buttons didn’t feel as though they needed a top up, even though I checked at each stop.
The small size and low profile of the Talon hopefully means that its contribution to the extra drag when the bike is roof-mounted is as small as possible, certainly when compared with full-width roof bars.
Removal and storage
Once the bike is detached, the Talon can be removed in seconds. Each sucker has a pair of tabs. Push against one of the tabs to lift the sucker’s edge and the vacuum breaks and the button pops out to show the orange collar. Do this for the four suckers and you’re done.
Ease of removal means that you’re MUCH more likely to take the mounts off when they’re not needed, which means that you’re not taking a hit on fuel consumption when you don’t have to. As the whole thing is quite compact, you can easily store it in your boot when not needed.
TL;DR;
Good
Works! Can be used on almost any vehicle. Easy to attach and remove. Compact.
Bad
Expensive. Axle options should be standard. Security. Expensive.
Intro Waffle
Generally I’m of the opinion that bikes should be ridden, not transported. If they’re being transported then it should at least be inside the vehicle. But I also believe in not getting my knackers kicked into my stomach by the excellent Mrs Dr Bollo, so over the years and not that many cars I’ve acquired a collection of bars, adaptors and shims.
Our current car, a 14 plate Qashqai, did a lengthy commute for 4 years, then frequent 400 mile round trips for parental support and has had a recent run in with a low wall. It’s seen better days. Due to another recent change of circumstance it’s likely that I’ll be changing the Qashqai for something both electric and mental in the next two years, so I didn’t want to add to my growing roofbar mountain.
The Talon Bike Rack
Seasucker started out making vacuum mounts for marine use but have expanded their application to mounts and bars that can be used on almost any type of vehicle, including those that don’t have any rails or connection points. Their mounts are the posh version of those IKEA soap dishes that stick to the tiles in the shower but you find on the floor the next morning. A minor inconvenience for soap, but a big problem if your pride and joy falls off and takes out a couple of lanes of traffic.
I wanted to transport a single bike on the roof, so the Talon was perfect for my requirements. For those wanting to move more than one bike around, there are multi-bike and bar options.
Ignoring the vacuum element, most Seasucker bike racks are quite traditional. The bike attaches to the mount by removing the front wheel and clamping or screwing the fork to a receiving axle depending on type. The rear wheel is strapped to a separate (or for their eye-wateringly expensive Komodo mount an integrated) mounting point to stabilise the whole set up. Seasucker will sell you an accessory to put the front wheel on the roof or wherever. More in this later.
Buying
Seasucker are an American Company. This means that (a) every™️ sentence™️ has about™️six™️ trademarks™️ in it™️, (b) the promo material isn’t subtle - bikes are mounted on muscle cars and drifted around tracks and (c) for the poor U.K. consumer, it’s f***ing expensive. I paid around £260 from Merlin. You may find it cheaper but the usual caveats apply - check where it’s shipping from and whether import duties are applied. In defence (or defense) of Seasucker’s pricing, they don’t appear to outsource most of their manufacturing.
What’s in the box (and what isn’t)
The first thing that hits you about the box is how small it all is. “I paid how much for what now?!”.
In the box you’ll get…
- The front T-shaped fork mount with three ‘suckers’
- A smaller single sucker rear wheel mount
- a 9mm quick release skewer with fittings for the fork mount
- 5ml of grease (nope, me neither)
- A short Velcro crank strap
- A spare vacuum pump mechanism
- Covers for the suckers.
The suckers are made from a soft supple rubber, each with a small hole that passes through to the pump mechanism. The user guide recommends that you use the covers whenever the mounts aren’t in use. While the suckers feel reasonably robust, they do A LOT of work here so I’m happy to take the advice.
So what if you’re trying to mount a bike with through axles? Seasucker has a solution to that but it’ll cost you. Adaptors are available for most through axle standards as an extra. A 12mm road adaptor will set you back around £22+ for what amounts to a pair of machined plastic rounds.
It’s a similar story for the front wheel. Seasucker will sell you a front wheel mount for £120+. Maybe Mrs Dr B won’t mind sharing the front seat? Seriously, there are better and cheaper solutions out here with almost zero extra effort. See below. You owe me a pint.
Seasucker appear to offer spares and support for their products but their European operation is based in the Netherlands and they explicitly state that they don’t deliver to the U.K. so I’ve no idea how easy it will be to get spare suckers, pumps etc if required via theor U.K. agent.
Setup
Compared to any other bike mount system I’ve tried, setting up the Talon was crazy simple. Make sure the mounting surface is free from schmutz and dust, plonk on the mount where you want the forks to be, pump the buttons and then attach the bike. If you’ve mounted the bike before you’ll already know where to put the rear stabilising mount. If it’s the first time then just rest the rear wheel on the roof and then lift it to place the mount in the right place.
Although I’m talking about roof mounting here, the Talon can also be used to attach a bike to the back of an estate or SUV. While this is better in terms of drag and fuel efficiency, it wouldn’t get you out of the requirements for a light board and/or numberplate if the bike obscures either.
The suckers will attach to metal or glass. Seasucker don’t recommend using their products on a wrapped vehicle as there’s a risk of lifting the wrap. I’ve also noticed that matt paint finishes are creeping into the mainstream - I think Kia now offer this as an option. Check with your manufacturer. Or don’t buy a matt car.
The areas where the suckers are attached should be dry, but Seasucker recommend dampening the edges of each sucker with a little water before attaching. I’ve skipped this step a couple of times without ill-effects. Once mounted they’re not affected by rain.
The Qashqai has a panoramic roof so all the suckers were mounted on glass. Some of the Seasucker promo material shows the front mount with two suckers on the roof and the third on the top of the windscreen. I tried this but it did cause the T to bend slightly as the suckers took hold. I didn’t see any advantage in straining the mount so just moved all three to the flatter roof surface, but for sportier cars with a very shallow windscreen angle and limited roof space this might be necessary.
Each of the pump buttons has an orange collar to indicate the suction state. If the collar is visible, you ain’t attached. Give the button a few presses until the collar is hidden. You’ll also see the suckers flatten as they grip the surface. For the four suckers this whole process will take you a couple of seconds tops.
Here are a couple of pics of the set up.
You may notice that the front wheel is strapped to the frame with some funky padded straps. These came with the (paid for) Canyon delivery box and are great, but you could easily knock something up with some Velcro straps and cut foam.
The Talon’s tool and faff-free setup also reveals its greatest weakness - an observant scamp could remove your pride and joy and be on their way in a matter of seconds, without the need for any tools or even criminal skill.
Seasucker will sell you (a pattern emerges) a range of plastic-coated metal doodads that are intended to hook under the boot lid or window and provide a loop through which you can attach a security cable. The U.K. price sits around £40. They’re crap. For the boot hook, the metal is so thick that it won’t fit in the gap between the boot lid and body. Also it doesn’t really work with modern shaped body panels as the hook really needs a straight edge. I tried using a door, but it’s the same story. I’d guess that the fit tolerances for most modern cars are going to struggle to accommodate this. It’s going back.
You can see my homemade solution that made use of an existing cable and padlock in a couple of the pics. The cable is looped through the frame and wheels and the free end loop pushed under one of the car’s coffin rails. The cable loop clamp prevents the cable loop passing completely under the rail but it exposes enough of the loop to fit a chunky padlock that’s also too big to pass under the rail so the cable can’t be pulled out.
The extra strap in the picture was only there as a backstop to make sure the bike at least stayed with the car in the event of catastrophic failure.
This solution is good enough for a wee and a coffee at the services but I wouldn’t leave a bike locked like this unattended over an extended period. Also, I removed and reattached the cable each time I stopped rather than leave it on, just to minimise the risk of rattling while driving.
If you don’t have a convenient attachment point on the car then you may have to get creative but if there’s really nothing and there’s also any chance that you’ll be leaving the vehicle unattended then I’d suggest this isn’t a solution for you.
In use
Once the bike is attached there’s really nothing more to do until you reach your destination. On my trip from Hampshire to Brittany the bike was on the car for a total of 16 hours and 500 miles, most of them at autoroute speeds. The key take away here is that the bike stayed on the car 🥳. What was more reassuring is that the sucker pumps showed no sign of loss of suction or leakage. If the suction is failing then the orange collars will start to show, but they stayed hidden for the entire journey. Also, the pump buttons didn’t feel as though they needed a top up, even though I checked at each stop.
The small size and low profile of the Talon hopefully means that its contribution to the extra drag when the bike is roof-mounted is as small as possible, certainly when compared with full-width roof bars.
Removal and storage
Once the bike is detached, the Talon can be removed in seconds. Each sucker has a pair of tabs. Push against one of the tabs to lift the sucker’s edge and the vacuum breaks and the button pops out to show the orange collar. Do this for the four suckers and you’re done.
Ease of removal means that you’re MUCH more likely to take the mounts off when they’re not needed, which means that you’re not taking a hit on fuel consumption when you don’t have to. As the whole thing is quite compact, you can easily store it in your boot when not needed.
TL;DR;
Good
Works! Can be used on almost any vehicle. Easy to attach and remove. Compact.
Bad
Expensive. Axle options should be standard. Security. Expensive.
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