We’ve had our 5-door Jimny now for a few months, and as you’ve seen, we’ve added several Suzuki ‘approved’ accessories to make the already versatile Jimny even more practical.
Just to recap, we’ve…
- Installed Protection Parts from the Suzuki OEM parts catalogue
- Applied ZA Lifestyle ‘adventure’ themed branding courtesy of Empire Graphic Company
- Fitted a set of ‘all-terrain’ Grabber AT3s from General Tire
- Locally made Seat Covers and Interior Protection from Takla Products
- Roof Rack and Ladder from Proudly South African company Front Runner
Continuing with Front Runner, having had the roof rack installed, this not only gives the Jimny a ‘rugged’ look but with a few basic tie-down ring mounting points, strapping larger items onto the roof, such as ladders for example, has made the Jimny so much more practical than in its standard trim.
But why stop there? Front Runner offers an array of adventure accessories from; a range of sports carriers, and a huge selection of camping and expedition accessories including many storage solution options.
So as part of our ongoing Jimny blog, we’ll be testing several of these roof rack accessories, starting with two Pro Bike Carries, Cargo Boxes and Bracket Mounts, a set of Recovery Devices and a Mounting Kit—time to pimp our rack!
Front Runner Pro Bike Carrier
First up is Front Runner’s Pro Bike Carrier, which is constructed with the same weather-resistant stainless steel and powder coating as the Front Runner racks and mounting systems.
As we do regular bicycle features at ZA Lifestyle, we opted for two of these bike carriers to be fitted to our rack.
The selling points for us are that firstly; no front wheel removal is necessary, which just makes things simpler when loading, and secondly the carrier is adjustable to most wheel diameters including road bikes, MTB and fat bikes with tyre widths ranging from 18mm/0.7″ up to 132mm/5.2″ (including e-MTBs), which is vital to us as it gives us flexibility when collecting different bike types from clients.
The installation process was quick and easy, taking approximately 30 minutes in total, we laid things out in a way that we could still put other accessories on—maximising the versatility potential of the rack.
To load a bike, simply remove the fixing bracket, lift the top wheel holder into position and lift the bicycle into place. Then Loosen the knob to lift the bottom wheel holder so it touches the tyre and then adjust the knob to fix the front wheel firmly into position.
Finally, the rear wheel sits into a wheel holder and is tightly secured using a rachet-type fixing mount. Voila! It’s that straightforward…
We’ve tested the rack with both an entry-level hardtail MTB and a high-end e-MTB, both bikes were loaded on/off with ease and what’s nice is that the carrier folds flat and secures onto your rack when not in use.
Bikes can be locked using Rack Accessory Lock.
Front Runner Wolf Pack Pro Cargo Boxes and Bracket Mounts
Next up, we wanted extra storage on our roof rack and for that, we managed to fit a set of Wolf Pack Pro Cargo Boxes in between the bike carriers which mount in seconds using Wolf Pack Pro Mounting Brackets.
These durable brackets will hold your cargo boxes securely in place through any terrain and are designed to work with Front Runner Roof Racks. They are lockable and offer versatile placement anywhere on your roof rack. We found them to be particularly handy for storing our dirty MTB kit after our ride—a superb storage solution from Front Runner.
Pro tip – having the boxes mounted between the bike carriers is great in that they act as seats when you are mounting/dismounting the bikes.
MaxTrax Recovery Devices and Mounting Kit
Finally, as often is the case when out-capturing content for our platform, the journey takes us to some weird and wonderful places that are often off the beaten track, which inevitably puts us at risk of getting stuck.
With a little room left at the rear of our rack, we decided a little ‘peacocking’ was in order so we fitted a set of ‘Orange’ MaxTrax Recovery Devices which mount very neatly using Front Runner’s Recovery Device Mounting Kit.
Better safe than sorry—oh, and they look super cool too.
With the December holidays fast approaching, we’ll be testing a few more adventure goodies from Front Runner so stay tuned…
For more information visit: www.frontrunneroutfitters.com
