Ivtec WideGrip Mini – the little brother of the most compact car bicycle carrier

Can the smallest car bicycle carrier become even more compact and practical?

You will not be surprised if we remind you again that the Ivtec^® brand strives to offer universal car bicycle carriers that provide a reliable, stable, comfortable and sparing ride for your bike, at an affordable price without compromising the safety and aesthetics of the car.

That’s why we created Ivtec WideGrip Mini – a new model of bike rack with an even more compact and smart design. It is the latest type of the WideGrip bike racks in which the bicycle is transported in an inverted position on the roof of the car.

As the name implies, WideGrip Mini was developed on the “chassis” of his big brother WideGrip with the idea of being more compact, but at the same time more adaptable and more stable to use. And all this at a lower price … But how?!

Compactness

We achieve more compactness using a simpler design. The front-end holders that support the handlebar are essentially the same as the rear-end holder. The elements are rotated at 90º according to the part of the bicycle it fixes. This improves the aerodynamic profile of the carrier and guarantees lower drag and less noise when driving with or without a loaded bicycle.

Adaptability

This cunning solution also allows for greater adaptability of the carrier to the different standards of vehicle crossbars with a T-slot. WideGrip Mini fasteners meet the requirements of slots with an internal width of 14 mm to 21 mm and a minimum height of 4 mm. But how?! You just have to rotate the rectangular nuts that enter the slot according to the size you want. The range covers most known crossbars with a T-slot on the market.

As you can see, rotation is important to us ;)

We have not forgotten the square crossbars either, but there the mount of WideGrip Mini follows the classic WideGrip version.

Stability

With the more compact design of the bicycle carrier comes the greater stability. The longer handlebar holder of the classic Ivtec WideGrip can, when the bike is placed in the farthest position, cause the crossbars to twist a little, which increases bicycle shaking. In the T-slot variation of the product, this leads to non-specific, eccentric loads on the channel, which puts its durability to the test. Therefore, with the standard WideGrip bike rack for T-slot crossbars, it is advisable to transport bicycles weighing up to 15 kg and drive at speeds of up to 90 km/h. With WideGrip Mini, these restrictions are dropped! The weight of the load is distributed centrally to the crossbar, and the carrier elements are fastened with two nuts instead of one.

Further convenience for future WideGrip Mini users is that it arrives pre-assembled. With the T-slot model, all the elements are assembled and it only remains to adjust the nuts according to the size of the slot, slide the carrier elements in it and tighten. For the square bar version, it will take you a minute more to assemble the fastener elements before mounting the carrier to the crossbar.

All these qualities of WideGrip Mini are easily gathered in a handful. The carrier comes in a beautiful bag with a tool to install. And when the carrier is already mounted on the crossbars, but not loaded with a bicycle, you can use the bag to store the straps along with the tool for which a special pocket is provided.

You can quickly and easily read the detailed safety and usage instructions on your phone by scanning the QR code on the label sewn to the bag. A URL address for manual entry into a browser is also provided, just in case.

It starts to sound too good?

All this WideGrip Mini achieves at the cost of some important preconditions:

• The number of bicycles you can get on the roof of the car is limited to two. They must be of close size, or at least the distances between the handlebar and their rear contact point with the carrier must be the same. Some tolerance is allowed when the bike is strapped through the rear tire, but … again with some reservations (see below);
• WideGrip Mini is best suited for cars, which distance between the crossbars can be easily adjusted. The more compact design reduces the tolerances of the length and position of the bicycle on the carrier – something that the big brother WideGrip provides;
• It is optimal to secure the bike to the carrier through the handlebar and the saddle. The rear tire is not always the most appropriate option because the WideGrip Mini kit does not include a rear lifting element. Without it, and when straining to the rear tire – the saddle, even the seat tube (if you have removed the saddle) can damage the roof of the car. This disadvantage can be overcome if you add a tire lifting extension to your order.

If you are a cyclist who knows well what he wants and what he has, with WideGrip Mini you can save money, get a more compact, more adaptable and more stable carrier for your bikes.