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Need to transport your bike, but can't have a roof rack on your car? No problem. The Electric Inverted Sucker Bike Rack, by Chinese manufacturer Fovno, allows you to flip your bike upside down, then attach it to the roof of your vehicle via suction cups.
The system comes with four suction cups total. You strap two of them to your handlebars, one of them to your bike's seat, and the fourth cup holds an electric pump. The pump is connected to each cup by a pneumatic hose.
Once you've flipped your bike over and placed it on your roof, you use the pump to suck the air out of each cup, forming the seal.
Should you start to lose seal on any of the cups while driving, a sensor alerts the pump, which starts sucking again to retain the seal; you're notified this is happening by an attached alarm you keep in the cabin.
The system works on sunroofs too.
The obvious benefit is that you don't have to deal with a roof rack. The system is also aimed at those whose vehicles can't accommodate roof racks, like a microcar or a convertible.
And you don't have to place the vehicle on the roof, but can get creative.
An additional target market is owners of exotic cars who don't want to mar the appearance of their vehicle with a roof rack.
You can also purchase an additional three cups to accommodate a second bike, and the original pump unit will then drive all six cups.
This can apparently be scaled up:
As for the UX, here's what the procedure entails:
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The system is going to retail in the U.S. for $295, but the release date wasn't available at press time.
I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.
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Rack-less Solution for Bike Transport: A Scalable Suction Cup System
I forsee a lot of fumbles and dinged cars when people try to invert and mount the bikes.
Seasucker is the analog version of this and made domestically (USA). I've been using it for several years and haven't had any suction issues as long as you perform proper maintenance
This one hurts to look at.... Almost all of the bikes shown above should not be inverted. This is not my opinion, this is basic bike mechanic facts.....
a very good point!