I have been through my fair share of bike racks and I think I finally found one that actually works and lasts more than a few trips. This particular bike rack is a best seller for swagman and gets rave reviews. It will hold 2 bikes which works great for me but many of you may need a unit that can mold more.
The unit folds up nice which you can see below and keeps tight to the vehicle when in use which makes it ideal for long trips and RV’ers. You can four chase one at Amazon.com by using the link below.
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The Swagman Cross Country XC 2-Bike Rail Rack is one of the most flexible hitch bike racks on the market today. Because of its innovative design, it can easily accommodate children’s bikes, adult bikes, downhill bikes, cruiser bikes, full suspension bikes, BMX bikes, “Y” frame designs and much more, without the hassle of removing wheels.
The XC easily adjusts to different bike frame sizes with the simple movement of the wheel hoops. The Swagman XC bike rack’s frame grip arms have a soft-frame friendly coating to protect your bike’s finish.
— For 1.25″ and 2″ receiver hitches
— Carries up to two bikes
— Rack folds up for easy storage
— Carries the widest variety of bike frames in its class.
I am interested in the Swagman #64663 XC2 Bike Rack. This differs in that it has a regular 2″ shank to insert into the recieiver. I will mount rack to back of my Honda CRV and I am pulling the car behind an RV. I am using a Trek Y22 carbon fiber as one bike to attach by the padded hooks at the top. I have been told by Trek Corp that as long as I don’t cramp down hard on the carbon fiber upper part of the Y near the seat post, that I should be OK in using this bike rack. ( i.e. it is safeto use on cabon fiber bikes.) In fact, the Trek rep said he worked in the biking industry and actually had customers that had carbon fiber bikes and they were OK with using the above rack. I even asked if I could add foam rubber, using zip ties, to the concave undersides of the hooks to add padding and minimize sway because of loose contact of the hooks. He said was a good idea. Also, do you know if the “hooks” swivel to accomodate an angular down tube such as found on the Y frame of my Trek.???