Seasucker Mini Bomber review

Laziness gets the better of me sometimes; I’ve needed a roof rack for ages - something to get these large wheeled bikes out of the small car I drive - but the options are limited and complicated. Part 476 to connect to fitment B/7 but only on models older than 2013, never gives you confidence that it'll actually fit your model car.

Buy now: Seasucker Mini Bomber from Tredz for £424.99

I just needed to find something that was a fit and forget and the Seasucker Mini Bomber bike rack delivers in that respect.

Seasucker have been operating since 2005 but it wasn’t until 2009 that some bright spark considered its products for automotive use, previously the marine industry had been its sole beneficiary.

The idea is simple, sucker pads - that can adhere to almost any smooth surface with a simple thumb actuated vacuum holds your beloved bicycle to the roof of your car, and firmly at that.

While there are many different variations of Seasucker’s product the Mini Bomber bike rack consists of a large front wing plate that features two mounting points for forks, and an additional two singular suckers with velcro straps that firmly plant the rear wheel of the bike to the car roof. Meaning the rack offers the ability to affix two bikes of your choosing to the roof of your car each weighing up to 45 lbs or 20.4 kg.

Attaching the Seasucker Mini Bomber couldn’t be simpler, place the rack in the desired position on your surface of choice, apply a little pressure to the rubber cup so it sits flush to the surface, and pump a little thumb sized piston that swiftly sucks the air from within the cup. You have to repeat the process for each cup on the rack, with the Mini Bomber that’s six times, but equates to no longer than 5 minutes of set up time.

It is really important to ensure each sucker is properly installed before use. Each piston has a white tab to indicate that the pad isn't fully engaged. Whilst priming the Mini Bomber pads the white tab will reduce in size and once it has disappeared you are good to go.

You have to remove the front wheel of your bike to fit the bike to the rack but that is similar to most roof racks. While Seasucker do provide other products to mount those spare wheels to your roof at an additional cost, I’ve been sticking them inside the car quite happily, although if that’s a deal breaker and you need the entire bike on the outside of the car then maybe there are better solutions than the Seasucker Mini Bomber.

Although, you can buy attachments to hold your front wheel too.

Let’s talk about the strength factor, the biggest apprehension I had of this rack. At first I was a little nervous affixing my bike to the roof of a car with nothing but a small amount of hand compressed air holding the bikes from oblivion.

The grip and wiggle of a fork leg in the rack puts your mind at ease a little, one can literally hang from the side of the car holding nothing but one’s bike.

Once you’ve established that the fork leg you’re holding onto is seemingly more likely to give way before the Seasucker does it’s time to nervously get behind the wheel for a drive.

Buy now: Seasucker Mini Bomber from Tredz for £424.99

It really does stick the the roof of the car and I was in no doubt it'll fly off. A down side to the rack is the wind noise level, it really does whistle, however, if you are a nervous user at least this sound is reassuring that the rack has stayed attached to the roof!

Finally security is always a concern with roof racks but with the Seasucker Mini Bomber I was always worried about leaving the car at a service station as whipping a bike off could be done very quickly (a simple pull of each sucker pad, again Seasucker offers safety options but it isn't an ideal situation.

For general bike security, it is well worth getting some specific bike insurance – particularly if your bike is expensive, as the amount standard house insurance will cover is generally quite low.