General FAQ
Clean the vacuum pad with dish soap and a soft cloth or sponge. Make sure there is no dirt or debris on the sealing edge (the bottom outside edge of the vacuum pad) of the pad. Inspect the sealing edge for nicks or cuts – a nick or cut will allow air to leak under the cup and your SeaSucker won’t hold vacuum. A vacuum pad with a nick or cut should be replaced. The vacuum pump should be cleaned regularly, especially if it is regularly exposed to salt water or used in a dusty environment. To clean the pump, pull the plunger straight out of the pump cylinder. Clean the inside of the cylinder with dish soap and a soft cloth or paper towel. Make sure you dry out the cylinder – any water left in there can cause the pump to make a popping noise when pumped and may interfere with the check-valve function of the pump. The plunger should be wiped clean and the black rubber seal at the tip of the plunger should be re-lubed with a thin layer of silicone-based gel lubricant. We use LubeTube brand lube for this. Push the plunger back into the cylinder and pump it a few times to seat it properly and distribute the lubricant.
There’s no set time limit on our vacuum mounts. It depends in part on the surface you attach to, the condition of the vacuum mount, the load you put on it, and other factors. As for surfaces to attach to, vacuum mounts in general were designed to carry big sheets of glass and other solid surface materials, so smoother, flatter surfaces are ideal. Clean surfaces and clean SeaSuckers go a long way to maximizing the hold time. In any event, if the vacuum mount begins to lose some vacuum, it will warn you so you can get it back to full power before it comes off. As you probably already know, the vacuum pump’s plunger will reverse itself and extend from the pump cylinder when it starts to lose power. Once you see the orange indicator band, that’s your cue to repump your SeaSucker. For car racks, the general rule of thumb is to check the rack before you get in your vehicle, and check it each time you stop for gas, food or the bathroom.
Our basic warranty used to be just one year, but these things are so reliable we’ve extended it to a lifetime warranty. It covers the original purchaser against defects in materials and workmanship.
Of course we do – we want you to be able to use your SeaSucker indefinitely! Pads and pumps, along with a selection of accessory parts, can be found here.
Clean off any surface dirt from the mounting surface before attaching your SeaSucker. While you’re at it, make sure the sealing edge of the vacuum pad is clean too. You don’t have to clean the mounting surface with alcohol wipes, as one overly-enthusiastic customer told us they do, but a quick wipe with a wet paper towel or napkin wouldn’t hurt.
All SeaSucker vacuum mounts have UV inhibitors built right in, so they’re made to last. However, UV rays eventually break down almost any sort of rubber or plastic, so store your SeaSuckers out of the sun when not in use.
Absolutely. Sometimes we say “wetter is better” around here, but don’t take that in a weird way. SeaSuckers will typically hold better when wet, so the rain is no problem.
Using your finger, lift the edge of the vacuum cup away from the mounting surface by pulling the t-shaped tab on the top of the vacuum pad up and towards the center of the vacuum mount. Once the edge of the vacuum pad is lifted, the vacuum seal breaks and you can removes your SeaSucker.
Every SeaSucker vacuum mount comes with a protective cover. Put the cover back on the vacuum pad when you’re not using it. Make sure to press the edge of the vacuum pad all the way into the cover; if it’s not fully seated in the cover, the edge of the cup could deform and make it difficult to attach your SeaSucker the next time you use it. If that does happen, let your SeaSucker sit on a flat surface like a countertop for a few hours until the deformation works itself out. Even though we put a UV inhibitor in the rubber and plastic we use, it’s a good idea to store your SeaSucker inside or in the shade because eventually the sun kills everything.
If it’s rain or fresh water, no big deal. Dry it off if you get a chance. If it’s saltwater, rinse it with fresh water when you get off your boat, maybe hit it with a little soap and water, like you’d do with your rods and reels, for instance. Make sure to drain the water out of the pumps when you’re done.
Our factory is in sunny Bradenton, Florida. We manufacture, assemble, and package our products here. Some parts are made outside of our plant, but we source almost everything we don’t make ourselves from manufacturers in the USA. Our products are MADE IN THE USA!
Rack FAQ
Yes, but be aware that once you remove your rack after using it in the cold, you will have to warm it up again to near room temperature before the rubber is pliable enough to make a solid seal to the mounting surface. Also, we recommend that, in warm weather, you wet the sealing edge of your rack before attaching. DO NOT DO THIS IN FREEZING OR NEAR-FREEZING TEMPERATURES. The vacuum cup will freeze to the surface of your car, which will prevent the vacuum pump and check valve from functioning properly. Additionally, if you wipe you car clean in the cold, make sure to dry it before attaching your rack.
The Komodo is only made for road bikes. Mountain bikes have a somewhat longer wheel base than road bikes and are typically too long for the Komodo. The longest fork-to-wheel distance that will fit on a Komodo is 29.5″. Fork-to-wheel distance is calculated by measuring from the middle of your bike’s front hub to the point on you back tire (on the side nearest your crank/chainrings), 6 inches up from the ground.
The Monkey Bars are really a set of roof bars that can be attached to just about any car, so whatever you can strap to those bars is generally okay. In addition to paddle boards and surfboards, people use our racks to carry kayaks, canoes, ladder, and lumber, among other things.
Maybe. Attaching your rack to the back window is a great way to hold your bikes, but only if your back hatch is mostly straight up and down. If the back window is angled, your bike’s chain ring may touch the hatch, which would mess up your hatch and maybe ruin your chain ring.
No problem. Our new HUSKE Fork Mount is made to easily change from one hub to another. Heck, it’s even referenced in the name of the product: HUbs Standards Keep Evolving. If you get a new bike with a different hub, or the manufacturers stuff a new one down our collective throats next season, we’ll just design a new HUSKE plug to make it work with the existing HUSKE base. The great news is all new racks come with the amazing HUSKE Fork Mount. Old racks can retrofit it because it uses the same bolt hole pattern as our old fork mount.
We don’t recommend it. Our testing shows that our vacuum cups will pull a bubble in the wrap when attached, which screws up the wrap and is not a safe attachment point for a SeaSucker.
Forward. Always forward. We see pictures of people mounting their bike backwards or sideways. This voids your warranty and isn’t a safe way to carry your bike. Please don’t do this.
You’ll need to get a Fork Up Lefty Adapter.
Nope. That’s not allowed. We make the Falcon for use on the back window of a pickup truck only.
If you have a convertible, we recommend the excellent, beautiful, and pricey Komodo. The Komodo holds the entire bike off the car, so unlike the Talon/Mini Bomber/Bomber, your rear wheel doesn’t need to land somewhere on the vehicle.
Bike-stealing jerks are everywhere, so get one of our Cable Anchors to lock your bike to your car.
1. Yes, because someone might steal it. It’s happened – we get calls and emails from poor souls hoping for a theft-replacement discount. 2. Any rack on your car without a bike in it will still negatively affect your gas mileage (as much as 5 mpg!) 3. It’s so easy to remove and remount, just take it off when you’re done using it. 4. It’s always nice to let your vacuum pads have a rest and go back to their original concave shape.
No. But, don’t attach SeaSucker to a freshly-waxed surface until it’s had time to cure, and definitely don’t attach a SeaSucker on vehicle wrap.
You have two options – you can get shorter handle bars, or you can simply angle your rack’s fork mounts to give your handle bars more room. If you unbolt your fork mount from the deck of the rack, you’ll notice a series of holes. These holes allow you to change the position of your fork mount, to angle it in such a way that give you more space in between your bikes’ bars.
One easy way is to align your crank arm with your chain stay and Velcro your crank arm to the chain stay. Currently, racks come with this strap standard. If you bought a rack before the strap was included, you can get one here.
The Talon is our most versatile rack by far. It’s small enough to fit in a carry on bag, weighs only about 6 lbs, and will fit on just about any rental car they give you the airport.
First things first – never mount your rack so that your bike will be sideways or backwards on your vehicle. That’s just not allowed in the SeaSucker universe. Deciding where to mount you rack depends in part on what kind of car you have and in part on what rack you have. If you have a Hornet rack, that can only be mounted on the back window of a hatchback or SUV. If you have a Falcon rack, that can only be mounted on the back window of a pickup truck. If you drive a sedan and you have a Talon, Mini Bomber or Bomber, you should mount your rack either right behind the front windshield or right in front of the rear window. We do this because there’s more structure and strength in most cars’ roofs at the edges, giving the rack the most stable possible mounting place. If you drive a hatchback or SUV with a mostly straight up-and-down back side, you can also mount your Talon, Mini Bomber or Bomber to the back window and let your bikes hang off the back of the car.
Our general advice is to position the rack so that the vacuum mounts on the front and back bars are as close to the corners of your car’s roof as possible. We do this because there’s more structure and strength in most cars’ roofs at the edges, giving the rack the most stable possible mounting place.
The Monkey Bars are really a set of roof bars that you can strap just about anything to, including kayaks, canoes, ladders, lumber, alligators (when sufficiently sedated) and, of course, paddle boards and surfboards.
Try to find a clear spot to mount your rack. The thickness of the paint may actually mean that there will be a teeny tiny gap when you mount a SeaSucker across paint/no paint sections. That gap will eventually let air seep in under the vacuum pad, weakening and ultimately breaking the vacuum seal.
If you’re bike’s rocking the bolt-on wheels/solid threaded axles, replace those nuts with a set of Axle Release quick release adapters. We use them on our beach cruisers and they’re great.
Easy – you just need a set of our MTB plugs, which come with the aforementioned plugs and a quick release skewer to temporarily convert your wheel to a quick release for use in the Flight Deck.
Even though SeaSucker racks are incredibly powerful and fork-mount racks are extremely secure, we don’t want to find out. We’ve speed tested our racks on a NASCAR track up to about 140 mph, but that’s obviously extreme. Our recommendation is that you observe all posted speed limits.
We’re aware of the Tesla glass problem and have written up special instructions that can be found here.