Malone Folding J-Style Universal Car Rack Kayak Carrier - Perfect for Easy Downloading and Transporting

Katie MacLeod: This was better then expected. Easy to install and easy to load the kayak in. I was not a fan of J style because of the difficulty in putting the kayak into them but this one I have no problem. Can easily load and tie down. Great product!! Worth the extra money!!

Canada on Sep 16, 2023

Shadoe: The Malone carrier I received is the older version with the quick release fold-down handle. The photograph shows the new version with the push button quick release. The model # MPG114MD stated on the website and same number is on my box!
Misleading!

Canada on Aug 21, 2022

J. Nick: I bought these because I thought they were a nice mid range kayak carrier. I've been on the highway with these at 65, probably the max recommended. They do what they are supposed to do. I do recommend them if you are looking for fold down carriers and don't want to pay the price of the Thule version. The straps that came with it work well. I like that it came with bow and stern lines for when you are traveling at higher speeds. I have Thule Aeroblades crossbars and they hold well to them.

The bad. There's a lot more plastic than I thought. But what bothers me the most are the teeth that interlock are plastic. I also dislike the teeth being small making it nearly impossible to set both carriers at the exact same angle. The plastic piece at the top to hold the strap up sometimes will pop off, but worse of all, there's a gap in it and 80% of the time the strap falls out rendering it completely useless to even have on. If I had to do it all over again, I would just get the regular kayak bars that don't fold down. There's is very little advantage other than being able to easily run your strap on the back bar, but once again, it slips out of the plastic and falls down and you're...

United States on Jun 28, 2020

Stephanie: This is my second Malone J-rack and I love them! Easy to use and allows you to safely transport 1 kayak. Fits a variety of kayak styles (play boat, white water, touring and sea). The best feature with the Malone rack is that it folds down when you’re not using it so you don’t have to take it off before going into touchless carwashes and parking garages. With two J-racks I can now bring a second kayak with me on my adventures.

Canada on May 28, 2020

mr.j: Amazing quality bit of kit! I used to have upright bars on my roof rack, which are cheaper but no way near as good and even once had on kayak roll out of position slightly but that won't happen with these. Haven't yet set them all up as still only February but the quality stands out, glad I never went for cheaper and inferior quality j bars. Also went and separately bought the Malone t track kit, which I don't think is available for other j bars......unless you go up the next price bracket to Thule brand but they cost a lot more. 100% recommend these! 👍

United Kingdom on Feb 26, 2020

Frank Giddings: I have to admit 3rd time using this product I broke one of the locks. I was stressed as in a week I was going away kayaking and it was a 3 hour drive and I needed to get a new lock piece. I emailed the company in Maine I believe and they were shocked that it broke but they sent a bunch of new ones by courier free. I kept one in my glove-box just in case it happened again. A year later and thousands of highway km's with my 2 sit in kayaks they are working great. My neighbor has flip down Thule racks and he likes mine better as the shape of the front plate makes it easy to slide them up and holds them in place. Other than the padded sleeves fading in the sun they work like new. This is definitely a great product and a good company to deal with. I have mine mounted on a 2015 Toyota Highlander factory roof rack using the long bolts and they look great even when not in use.

Canada on Sep 12, 2018

Marc C.: I've been researching for a kayak rack for months and I'm so glad I chose the Malone Downloader folding j-style kayak rack for my 07' Element. The quality of the product is superb with heavy duty steel tubes, a folding mechanism that's well built, nice thick padding with their brand on it (I prefer to have no brands on the kayak rack to avoid anyone from snatching the rack), and a plastic base that looks like it can take alot of abuse. The straps that came with the package aren't bad either. Although it would've been nice if the bow/stern straps where ratchet like instead of tieing your own knots, but for the price. These straps and tie downs will do. With some practice, you can tie a knot strong enough to keep that kayak on. Folded down, the malone Downloader was barely noticable.

Assembly
- Assembling the rack on my Thule racks where a piece of cake. It came with two sets of bolts, one longer than the other just in case the rack was too thick. All together it only took me 10 mins to install the rack on my car.

First impressions
- After I installed the kayak rack, I noticed the rack's ramps to slide the kayak up the rack was a bit higher than I expected. I...

United States on Oct 01, 2013

Jenifyyr A.: I've had more than 10 years experience with kayak racks, and over the years have had 3 Thule styles of "J" rack, and 1 Yakima. The Malone racks beat them all, hands down. Seem to be heavier than the others, and more solidly built than the other folding styles I've used. The protective nylon sleeve on the bar padding is nice, and will presumably keep the padding intact; some of the other styles I've had just had "raw" foam pads, and would start to rip up in about a year.

Attachment of these racks to the bar is really nice. It's a single HEAVY steel strap, contoured to hold round, square, or elongated factory bars. I have Yakima bars, and they attach with no problem. Other brands attachment systems have been junk plastic and have broken (Thule), or junk plastic and HAVEN'T broken (Yak). The last Thule rack I had did have a somewhat sturdier attachment than the old junk plastic ones that kept breaking. Anyway, the Malone attachments seem to be the sturdiest of the bunch, and easiest to install.

Where the Malone REALLY shines is one the rack themselves; the little "ramp" with the hole in it. This is multi-purpose. First, when running kayak straps, you can feed the end of...

United States on Sep 26, 2011