This Revolutionary Tech Is Reinventing the Bike Rack Game

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If Elon Musk tweets a video of driving over 100 mph with your roof rack on his car, you’ve got something interesting.

Back in 2001, there was a product that came very close to going to market called the "Sea Chair". Essentially, it was a folding beach chair that could be fitted to the deck of a boat with industrial strength vacuum pumps. Product designer, Chuck Casagrande of Bradenton, Florida created it specifically for his father-in-law’s comfort out on the boat.

But right before it went into production, Casagrande had second thoughts. “I thought that maybe we could market and sell it, but I got worried about Jim Bob and Billy Bob mounting on the bow of the boat going for bull rides,” he chuckles.

Though they would have surely made hysterically viral early YouTube videos, there were no bow-bull-rides to come of it. Instead, Casagrande directed the vacuum technology to other marine products. SeaSucker was born at the boating world’s love of cocktails. “I wasn’t convinced that the market would pay almost $100 for a cup holder that actually works and lasts, but I was wrong. We took off from there,” remembers Casagrande.

Anyone who spends enough time on a boat quickly realizes the importance of products that are made to withstand the constant bouncing and jarring that happens on the water, and furthermore that standard suction cups are essentially useless for holding beverages, fishing rods, smartphones and tools. Today, the SeaSucker cup holders start at $65. The Party Barge, at $249, attaches to a vertical surface and can hold two handle-sized bottles of your favorite wine or spirits, plus five cups and snacks.

“It’s not magic. It’s all about creating more vacuum,” says Casagrande, who now has about one hundred SeaSucker products, with 50 more in development with uses far beyond holding a tall boy.

At the source of everything he does is evacuating as much air as he can from between his mount and a mounting surface. Though a perfect vacuum is unattainable in such a setting, Casagrande has pioneered removing air with a simple built-in finger pump to create a once impossibly tight seal.

“The big game changer, obviously, is the indicator band on the pump. With a quick glance, you know how much vacuum is left and you just tap the pump,” explains Casagrande. It makes the idea of licking your old dashboard suction cup seem rather primitive. And the indicator gives you the unequivocal confidence that the mount isn’t coming off until you pull its tab and release the vacuum seal.

SeaSucker started out as a marine product because the act of putting a hole in a boat is counterintuitive. But a few years into the game, Casagrande began to get heavily involved with cycle racing, a sport he had pursued in his younger years. He decided to build a bike rack with a vacuum mount. “I got laughed at when the guys came out and looked at my first go, but within a year it was our best seller.” To prove his point, he fitted his vacuum mount racks to his 1966 Volkswagen bus and lifted it off the ground with a forklift.

“We love the marine market and it is always growing for us, but how many people own a boat compared to how many people own a car? With a 210-pound pull-strength rating on each 6-inch cup, it is just a matter of using the correct number of cups for the application.”

Until the 90s, most vehicles had rain gutters. Roof rack mounts were designed to fasten universally with a bolt and nut. They required a little effort and some bungees, but you could easily customize them to your needs. Ever since manufacturers did away with rain gutters on vehicles, we have been somewhat at the mercy of factory racks (if the vehicle even has them) or elaborate third party rack systems. And that often means spending hundreds of dollars on parts to fit specific models of vehicles and then different components specific to gear.

This makes SeaSucker a bit of a game changer for the outdoor crowd who struggles with the challenge of strapping skis in the winter, a kayak in the summer, a gear box, etc.

A Seasucker Bomber bike rack will fit any car. The Monkey Bars snowboard rack will not only fit any car but you can throw a canoe, surfboard or even a stack of 2x4s up there. You can fix them to the roof or a window at various angles. And they hold.

“Years ago, Elon Musk tweeted about going over 100 mph with our board rack. Then there’s another viral video with a guy testing our racks with a rooftop box mounted on it at 170 mph. The box exploded into pieces, but our rack and cups stayed on,” Casagrande laughs. (The actual speed in this video was 250-plus mph minus the exploding box.)

Casagrande has set out what he achieved to do, but that has not meant kicking back. It allows him to constantly be testing new ideas. SeaSucker is currently creating more products for the RV camp set, off-road vehicles and the growing overland segment of the outdoor industry called the Camp Line that allows better mounting of cook stations, satellite receivers, LEDS, water tanks and other camp accessories.

Just don’t call it a suction cup.