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# 1
Swagman XTC4 Bike Rack for 4 Bikes - 2" Hitches - Frame Mount
After reading several reviews I went with the Swagman for my 2014 Ford Explorer. It worked best for my family, as we have varying sizes of bicycles. Being able to adjust the wheel holders is nice and keeps the bikes secure on the rack. Let me say this is one of the easiest racks to load. Although my kids bikes have the foot pegs on front and back wheels we were still able to load all 4 bikes (2 adults/2 kids) with not much trouble. We did have to put the kids bikes on the outmost mounts due to the foot pegs, but other than that it was no trouble. I have a family of 6 so, we still had to rent two beach bikes when we reached out destination. The bike shop owner commented on the rack and said it was the easiest he had seen to load and unload. Now this is a guy that rents more than 200 bikes out at a time, so he has probably seen his share of bike racks. Overall I would give this rack 5 stars for ease of loading and unloading. If getting in and out of the back of your SUV is must with bikes loaded then this is NOT the rack for you. However, once the bikes are unloaded it is easy to raise and lower the rack to get access to the back hatch. etrailer.com did a great job delivering the rack and answer my questions. I would give them 5 stars!!
Overall this is a very sturdy bike rack. Made from thick steel so I don't see how it'll break anytime soon. One flaw is that the bike placers/clamps, one of them does not work like its extremely difficult to slide up and down but the other three work perfectly fine. Also, you might need like 2 people to set it up it's quite heavy.
# 2
Yakima HoldUp Bike Rack for 2 Bikes - 2" Hitches - Wheel Mount
Works well for transporting two 29" wheeled mountain bikes. However, after one year it's starting to rust in several areas (see attached photos), and the front wheel arms are becoming increasingly difficult to raise and lower. Finally the locking cable is extremely rusty as you can see in the attached photo. I'm not sure how durable this rack will be long term.
We have had this bike rack for one year and use it every week-end. My wife has a Trek e-bike (52 lbs) and I have a regular Trek hybrid (23 lbs). The rack is very sturdy and I have no issues driving at highway speeds, there is no movement of the bikes. Very easy to load and unload.
What our customers are saying:
"I ordered a trailer hitch and a bike rack carrier the order was shipped with in three days. To put the hitch on only took about 30 mins. only had to drill two 1/2 holes. fit like a glove."