AHHA Toaster Bike Rack
Toaster is an easy-to-use, portable bike rack.
Toaster helps solve both temporary and permanent bicycle parking challenges. It can hold one to five bikes, from skinny road tires to the fatter tires of some downhill bikes, and everything in between. This new, portable rack is made from recycled aluminum, folds completely flat, and only weighs as much as a cat.
The rack is powder-coated to help keep its appearance fresh in both weather and during the rigors of travel. It easily stows in car trunks, truck beds, or similar small spaces. Toaster pops open and folds flat. It is constructed with durable materials and built to last a lifetime.
At first glance, the Toaster seems very simple, almost obvious. It's a durable, portable, folding rack for cyclists who love their bicycles and want to avoid damaging them. It is surprising that, until now, nothing like the Toaster has existed. Despite its simplicity, the design currently has a pending US Utility patent.
The design of Toaster is the result of a focused, iterative process during which an initial napkin sketch was refined, prototyped, and simplified. A major development focus was the creation of a product appropriate for use with today's premium bicycles. Early iterations of the design targeted wood construction. This proved bulky, and cumbersome and didn't reflect the optimized materials typical in today's bicycle industry. Plastic approaches were also considered but discounted for sustainability reasons. Large plastic parts require too much material and additives, like glass filler, to achieve the required stiffness. Such additives also make recycling impossible; something unacceptable for the development team. Creating an unrecyclable, unsustainable product was simply not an option.
The final design is a completely serviceable and repairable aluminum assembly intended to last a very long time. It's light, strong, corrosion-resistant, easy to deploy, stow and handle. Although designed to be mobile, the Toaster is also suitable for use in homes, offices or anywhere bicycle parking is needed. The folding design ships fully assembled in a flat-pack recycled corrugated box.
Product images and videos don't fully communicate the quality of Toaster's construction. Made in the USA, Toaster is an extremely high-quality product, it's a nice object!
Although not necessary, spacer accessories are available to customize the rack based on rider needs and how snug of a fit is desired. Color-coded "Grommet" inserts can be used to optimize the rack for different tire sizes. Big Sky blue grommets reduce the slot size to 51mm for gravel tires. Giro Pink grommets reduce the slot to 34mm for road tires, no grommet is needed for mountain bike tires.
Specifications Slots = 5 Material = Durable, 1/8 inch thick aluminum Dimensions = 30"W x 32"L x 2"D Weight = 14.0 lbs