Most Popular Spare Tire Bike Racks for 2018 Smart fortwo

I have aftermarket ExpeditionOne bumpers for my 2020 Ford Ranger. My spare tire is on a rear bumper swing arm (see photos). In my install what worked best was the short arm only, no spacer. If you read the instructions, that will make more sense. I think the instructions are for a Jeep, but my spare tire mount is different, considering I have 265/60 tires. Negatives The thule cable lock for the bike doesn't engage enough to lock, but looking at the design, not sure how robust it is anyway, so I'll just use a bike lock I already have through the swing arm frame and spare tire. Also, for offroading, I think it may be safest to take off both bike wheels and strap the frame separately. I drive on very narrow jeep trails, so I don't want a bike wheel catching on brush/branches that I'm driving by. Those two things are why I only gave 4 out of five stars. Positives The light weight of the rack (15lbs) and the thule bolt lock to the spare tire (different lock vs the bike, see photos), are why I got this rack. Really like that I could offset the rack some, so it's more centered. Really like the spacers that add more contact between the tire and the bike rack, see photos. Summary/Observations I'm lazy, so will try the orange tape, instead of always lowering the arms (see photos) I'm tall, so that should keep me from walking into them. My truck tires aren't huge, so I'm still in the weight range of the swing arm, keep that in mind too, but I'm happy to avoid a hitch bike rack, I didn't want to lose departure angle for off roading. I'll update the review if it doesn't perform like I expect, but I think it'll work well enough. I've had lots of different racks (roof, hitch, rear trunk, etc), so I'm not expecting any surprises.

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This bike rack works great. Took my bike on a cross country road trip from Tampa, Florida to Whistler, British Columbia and back with no issues. There was no slipping or excessive shaking with highway speeds up to 80ish mph. Encountered 105 degree heat, rain squalls and snow storms with no issues. No problems with the set up and the fact that the rear spare tire on my 2011 Toyota Rav4 is off center was not an issue as the rack can accommodate for this. It's a well made product from a reputable company. Make sure to read the directions as they advise against opening the rear hatch with the bike on the rack due to weight concerns. Shipping was quick as were replies to questions to customer service. Follow up correspondence from etrailer was also appreciated. Overall great experience, would highly recommend the product as well as etrailer. Thanks!

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