SeaSucker Talon to solve my transport needs

So recently I acquired a new car, a 2013 Hyundai Elantra GT to be exact. With my old Toyota Camry I used a combination of hitch based systems or simply shoving the bike in the back seat (with the resulting grease stains).

That wasn’t going to work as well with the new car so started to look into options. I had a few criteria.

1- I did not want it to be fixed to a particular vehicle

2- Could it be small enough to take on the road with me?

3- Wanted it to be inexpensive

With that in mind I looked at some of the traditional ones that attached to the rear window or rear hatch but there were all either too cheap and prone to breakage or too expensive and complex!

The search let me to www.seasucker.com. I had seen a prototype news up on bikerumour about a really small kit but I wanted something a bit bigger. I did the usual exhaustive internet review search and 95% of the feedback was great, so took the plunge and about $300 lighter I had the Talon version on the way. On word of note, this thing was shipped as far as I can tell within 10 minutes of my order going in and crossed the US-Canada border in record time. Awesome stuff!

There is the front suckers, the rear sucker, a spare sucker, sucker caps and some minimal instructions. I would recommend playing with the sucking engagement process a bit before you try it out on your car.

So there isn’t a lot in the box but a spare was a nice touch and there doesn’t need to be more.

Time to test them out.

I was with my son at a Hockey Tournament and had these in the back. So I brought it into our hotel room, stuck it to the table and engaged the suckers. Anybody who could remove it without touching the cups would get $5, I still had $5 by the end of the tournament. Once you learn the pumping task (push down on the pad, then pump it up until the White disappears, not the orange as it says in the guide) it attaches with super powers it seems.

Front Suckers

 

This is the main connection with three big suckers to attach to. It is nice to see three here as I think 99% of the holding down of the bike is done here.

Position the pads in a way so that the overall orientation is straight (doesn’t have to be exact) and close to the side of the vehicle that you will raise you bike onto. Pump each down until the white goes away on each one. Then attach the front fork to the QR. I found this a bit tricky but once you figure out the length that works for your bike it works well. When I shifted to different bikes I did find it a bit tricky.

The connection is nice that you can lock it up with the loops, and believe me it is really hard to remove the front forks as long as it is engaged, however you can just pop off the pads and work on it at home.

Rear Suckers

 

At the back it is really just about keeping the rear wheel connected. Its bone dead simple, pump up the pad then attach the very generous velcro strap.

Driving with it

Once its on the top its fairly traditional looking! I have used this a number of times, mostly in sub zero C temps, and it has been rock solid. First time I stopped every 15 mins, but then just gave up, it won’t move. I had the car up to 120 kph on the highway with no problems at all. You can stop thinking about it. When I am done I just pop it off and throw it into the back.

 

And then after you take the bike off the roof you use if for the reason you put it up there for the first place!!

Looking forward to many years of use from this and I hope it holds up well over time, seems to be pretty robust so I have high hopes! I haven’t travelled with this yet but seems like it would just pop into my bike box. If that happens I will let folks know!