Tech Tips

Insider technical information and tips straight from Lightning designer Tim Brummer and his engineering staff.

Automobile bike carriers

The best bike carriers are the roof mounted and trailer hitch mounted types with wheel trays. Lightning recumbents fit almost all of them. Trunk and trailer hitch mounted types with extended arms that hold the bike can also be used, but for best stability the bike needs to be hung upside down.

Thule

The best rack we have ever used is the Thule T2 hitch type (also available as the Thule T2 Pro). We used these on RAAM and they work great!

Quik Rack

Lightning rider Scott McCullough tells us:

My Thule worked well, but it was heavy and cumbersome. After a lot of research I went and got the 1upusa Quik Rack. It’s light. The rack plus the Phantom weigh 62 pounds. My Thule rack alone was 58 pounds.

This is actually more stable because both wheels are held in place, whereas only one wheel and a Velcro strap was used on the Thule.