Kuat Piston Pro X hitch bike rack works great on R1S

[j.w.s]

For those folks shopping for an R1S hitch bike rack: The very expensive but truly awesome Kuat Piston Pro X fits on an R1S with no modifications required.

• It folds up 90 degrees for storage without touching the bodywork.
• Folded down, it holds our two e-Bikes with plenty of clearance between the pedals and the bodywork.
• Liftgate operation is not possible with bikes in place, or with the rack folded up for storage. I disabled the motorized liftgate (using the touchscreen UI) before installing the rack so that I didn't accidentally poke a button and damage the paint.
• That said, this model of rack can fold "backward" by 40 degrees or so to temporarily give more access to the rear of the car. So folded, the R1S liftgate can be operated fully. So you can still get access to the rear of the R1S with the bikes mounted. Nice.
• The integrated brake light works nicely - though you need a "round to square" wiring adapter like this one or equivalent: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SQJHPMY
• The rack and bikes mostly block the rear license plate, so I will now spend a bit more to get the Kuat license plate adapter. This will let me mount a license plate on the rack itself, restoring visibility. The adapter folds up and down as needed.
• With the rack installed and the above wiring adapter in place, the R1S thinks you have a small trailer attached, and it disables many of the rear sensors. This is good, although because bike racks are smaller than trailers, they probably could have disabled just a subset of those sensors instead of all of them.
• The rear camera still works, but you mostly just see a bike rack closeup if you have bikes installed.
• Gotta love the color coordination!

Pictures you say? OK, as an update here are some photos:

Here is a rear view with the rack up. As you can see, the rack blocks the license plate, which is why I added a Kuat license plate holder - which in the photo is just a bracket, wtih no plate mounted yet.

Viewed from the side, you can see that it fits nicely, not too far from the bumper and bodywork, but with plenty of clearance. It looks really tight in the photo, but in fact there is plenty of clearance:

Here it is folded down:

And with a bike mounted - note plenty of clearance to the bodywork. The photo was taken from a slight angle, which makes it look like there is less clearance than there actually is, but a mountain bike with very wide bars might (or might not) have a clearance problem:

And again with a bike, again showing that the license plate is quite obscured, but the brakelights only partially obscured... at least with one bike. But this rack has built-in brake lights, so lighting anyway is not a problem. Oh, and the bike is narrower than the car - but looks wider in the photo due to perspective distortion.

The liftgate can open with a bike mounted, but only if you use the rack's tilt-back function first, as shown:

With the tilt-back engaged, you can open the lower portion of the rear as well, but ONLY if you unplug the magnetic brake light wiring connection first. The photo below shows the rack with that connection unplugged, and the pedal rotated upward:

If you don't unplug the magnetic wiring, or if you put the pedal in the wrong position, there is some interference with the lower part of the rear opening, as shown below:

Here's the Rivian hitch wiring connector with the "round to square" adapter plug installed and the Kuat plug inserted. So configured, you get extra brake lights on the rack itself, euro style:

Here's a closeup of the tilting Kuat license plate holder - no plate attached yet. This tilts 90 degrees to show the license plate properly whether the rack is up or down:

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[kuau]

Thanks for this information I have this exact rack and just ordered the adaptor
cant wait to try it out

 

[S.Mueller]

Pics?

 

[j.w.s]

I just added some pictures, updating the original post.

 

[S.Mueller]

Thanks for the pics. I think that a MTB with their wider bars would have an issue with clearance.

 

[j.w.s]

Thanks for the pics. I think that a MTB with their wider bars would have an issue with clearance.

They absolutely might have a clearance problem. I didn't measure the clearance with a tape measure, but clearance with really wide handlebars, on the inside position at least, would be close at best, requiring some padding perhaps. If the MTB was a tall one, the bars might poke over the top of the Rivian and thus have plenty of clearance, but again I didn't measure for an MTB. I don't own a mountain bike, so someone else will have to weigth in.

 

[9527]

Where are the lights in the rack?

 

[j.w.s]

Where are the lights in the rack?

Looking at the first photo, upper left and upper right of the rack, each a horizontal bar about .75" high and 12" wide. It's dark gray in the photo but glows red like a brake light when illuminated. It's mounted at an angle so that it's visible with the rack folded up or down.

 

[WPRogersR1S]

Very nice!! When had my rack on my Model 3 I had to add a riser because the car was too low. With my R1S I needed the opposite so I flipped it over and stuck it on my R1S. It worked awesome and it also moved it out away from the vehicle about 6” which made it easy to open the rear window. I did buy the Quiker Stuff rack though because 2 of my e-bikes from Vintage Electric weigh 90lbs. Not to mention it’s modular so I can use just one rack most of the time and when I need the second rack I can easily just add it. Nice but your right, they’re crazy expensive but if you ride a lot it’s worth it in the end.

 

[jeeden]

I can't remember, did our Rivians come with the round connector plug for the hitch or do we have to buy one separately?

 

[j.w.s]

I can't remember, did our Rivians come with the round connector plug for the hitch or do we have to buy one separately?

The round seven-pin female "socket" is standard, and that's all we get. The Kuat rack has a "four pin" connector, thus the need for a 7-to-four "round to square" adapter.

 

[jeeden]

The round seven-pin female "socket" is standard. The Kuat rack has a "four pin" connector, thus the need for a 7-to-four "round to square" adapter.

Right, but we didn't get a round plug for the socket from Rivian with the vehicle right? I have one from other vehicles, just was curious

 

[dfacto]

Very nice!! When had my rack on my Model 3 I had to add a riser because the car was too low. With my R1S I needed the opposite so I flipped it over and stuck it on my R1S. It worked awesome and it also moved it out away from the vehicle about 6” which made it easy to open the rear window. I did buy the Quiker Stuff rack though because 2 of my e-bikes from Vintage Electric weigh 90lbs. Not to mention it’s modular so I can use just one rack most of the time and when I need the second rack I can easily just add it. Nice but your right, they’re crazy expensive but if you ride a lot it’s worth it in the end.

Which riser did you buy?

 

[WPRogersR1S]

Which riser did you buy?

Harbor Freight I believe but you can buy those anywhere. The problem I did have was finding a hitch pin that was long enough. Rivian’s hitch is a little thicker than most. Most of the hitch pins I tried were about a 1/2” too short. I also added shim device (can’t remember what it’s actually called) to take the play out of the tongue.

 

[SPITmadFIRE]

@j.w.s thanks for the write up! I've been considering this exact rack, but hoping to pair it with a Kuat Pivot to get it out of the way when I need trunk access. Can you share more details about the brake light cable? Is it significantly longer than what's shown in the image? Does it retract or anything?

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