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This handy, lightweight rack lets you carry your bike on top of your vehicle, and you don't have to remove the front wheel. Installs easily on most roof rack crossbars.
Features:
Specs:
The Upright has a clamp with soft pads that grip your bike by the frame. Push your bike forward on the rack until the pads click around the downtube, then spin the hand knob to tighten the clamp. The lock on the hand knob secures the rack to your vehicle. The hand knob will spin freely when locked so a would-be thief can't operate it to remove your bike from the rack.
The long wheel tray accommodates bikes with different wheelbases. With your bike locked into the upright arm, use the included cinch straps to secure your bike's wheels to the tray.
The rack clamps to your roof rack without the need for tools. Set your rack on the crossbars and slide the long U-bolts underneath the bars on the front mount and through the bracket. On the rear mount drop the bolts down through the bike tray and around the bar and place the mounting plate underneath. Use the included thumb screws to tighten them down.
Customer Satisfaction Score:
95% were satisfied with this product
5% of customers were not satisfied
Ratings & Reviews
I used this to transport my bike from Phoenix to San Diego. I had no problems and I would recommend it to others. I have no other experience with bicycle roof racks so cannot compare quality but this suited me fine.
I did a lot of research before I purchased two of these racks. I found a company from CA that had something similar for almost half the price. However, they had really bad reviews and when I called them, some guy picked up his cell phone, knew nothing, and his phone kept breaking up. The customer service staff at eTrailer were great. I was concerned about the size of my bars because they are bigger than standard. They assured me that the rack comes with two sets of brackets and that they would fit my car. They did, and the rack was very simple to put together and install. The bikes are very secure and even my GIANT fits on there with no problem. I'm very happy with the product and everyone at eTrailer who helped me with the purchase.
Coach J.
5/26/2016
All is well. The racks are holding up well. I do have some marks on my frame from where the clamps keep the bike in place but I really dont care. I do alot of deep woods riding so a couple of scratches really dont bother me.
This product is easy to install on manufacturer's roof rack and easy to use when mounting bikes. One word of caution - using the provided tie-down straps on the bike wheels is essential for safety. I made the mistake of forgetting the straps one windy road trip day. At highway speeds, the bike eventually came out of the frame lock.
Drake
4/1/2014
I have 2 carriers on my roof rack, mainly used for traveling long distance. Ive found it helpful to use a bungee cord between the 2 bikes for extra stability at highway speeds.
We just installed the bike rack this weekend for a trip down I95S. The assembly was easy, but I recommend you finish the assembly on the vehicle to make sure the crossbars correctly align with the rack. Someone also recommended you install the upright bar to make sure it faces to the outside of the car. This means you will have to switch the orientation for a passenger-side installation. It is a little more difficult to tighten the upright bar if it is located to the center of the car. Finally, though the clamps may seem narrow, you can fully remove the tightener knob to full pull apart the upright bars. We needed to do this to get my husband's bike to fit within the clamps.
The installation was simple. It did require two people to put the bikes on top of a Tacoma Pick-up due to the height of the rack. The bikes were stable on the racks, and we noticed no issues while going down the road. Excellent product for the price.
Dvo
9/21/2016
We have used this product successfully several times. We traveled across the Bay Bridge in MD with two adult bikes installed on top. The assembly remained stable, and the bike remained tightly clamped. Excellent product. One recommendation may be to buy larger wheel straps for a mountain bike. Due to the location of the strap hole, you may need more strap to fully reach around your tire.
So far good for the money. This bike carrier is clearly not as good quality as most of the Thule or Yakima or other higher-end racks, but they work. It's a bit of a contraption. More parts to put together and the parts are definitely flimsier than the better racks. The lock mechanism should have been left off an replaced with a more solid knob imo.
All that said, I have not had any problems at all so far. I've carried the bike over bumpy roads, curvy roads, highway, city streets, all without incident. I did not experience bikes tilting or anything like that.
One thing to look out for is that the clamp has to fit around your down tube. The bike I mainly carry (Trek 7.3) has a fairly large down tube, and the clamp barely fits over it. The clamp might not fit on a bike with a larger tube.
I would also suggest replacing the screws that hold the two halves of the bottom rail together. I am certain they're going to rust quickly. That's probably true of the other exposed parts as well.
Works similarly to the better carriers, just that all the parts are lower quality. After springing for all Thule parts for the other parts and a kayak carrier I had to cut costs somewhere. So far it's working out fine.
George M.
6/8/2016
After a year, theyre still holding up. No complaints. Still not the best Ive seen, but theyre working just fine.
This appears to be a quality solution for mounting bike at a budget friendly price! Assembled easily and seems to hold the bike firmly.
Great product. Easy to install. Went camping with the bikes on top of the vehicle. Travel approx 150 miles on State Roads and Interstate. No noise, no problems, no worries.
Jeff F.
7/23/2014
Ive used the bike rack about six times and each time it works perfect. No complaints. Good product.
As always with products I buy from e-Trailer, this item is exactly as advertised and works perfectly. Easy assembly, I bought 2 but only installed one until I check the fit with my rooftop carrier.
These were a big help in building the bike / kayak rack for my 55 chevy truck
Hi this bike rack set up is holding up well its very stylish and ive gotten a lot of great compliments on it. Thank you so much for selling me a quality bike rack five star rating
I love how compact it is when it is not being used. It gets the job done.
Nick S.
9/22/2025
That is great to hear! I am glad it is working well for you. How often do you get out to bike? I mainly ride trails but it looks like you have a pretty solid road bike.
We mounted it to the top of our tonneau cover - very pleased with purchase. It works perfectly for our needs. We now have the space for our 2 addl bikes while traveling with our RV trailer.
The rack instruction were fairly simple, the pictures helped a lot. It took 2 try's to get everything lined up so the bike would fit. At first I had the front of the tire tray and the front of the rack lined up and my bike didn't fit, so after taking it all apart and moving everything forward everything lined up nice. It does say that it fits tires up to 3" I'm running 2.5" tires and it dosent fit in the tray completely. That's really my only complaint!
I got this bicycle rack for my daughter who has an old car and an old bike and I didn't want to spend a lot of money on one of the name brand bike racks. This rack fits the bill perfectly. Although it is not quite as high quality as the more expensive brands, it is absolutely functional and more than up to the task. It was exactly what I hoped to get and was a more appropriate price for the application. It's plenty sturdy and works just fine.
For the price, this bicycle carrier well exceeded my expectations. It is very easy to use and quite stable. I carry my Cannondale Adventure 3 bike on it. I actually mounted it in the bed of my Nissan pickup. I made 2 simple cross bars to attach to the cargo tie-down rails on the floor of the truck. It is very secure and can be removed and installed very quickly.
Planning on bringing bikes while camping. I mounted 2 of the Swagman bike racks to my new Sportrack on my pop-up camper. The bikes fit perfectly. The racks seem sturdy enough. Not heavy duty, but for my needs they should be fine. Assembly was relatively fast and easy.
so far works well on my 2014 mazda cx-9 with original cross bars. I would give the product 4 stars, but etrailer deserves 5 stars - the videos help a lot when I picked this model,as well as the installation. The real test will come when I drive on the zig-zags on CA-1 in Marine county and 50 in Tahoe
one minor issue : u bolts are unnecessarily long, this makes it tricky to mount the rear part. Both brackets have to be put on at the same time, the space between the cross bars and the roof is limited, fortunately there are grooves on the roof. Otherwise it could be a headache
Very Happy with the bike carrier. We took our first trip using the carriers on top of our popup and the bikes rode without any wobble or sway.
Al
8/1/2013
What is the max gapwidth of the jaws?
I purchased this rack along with two fork-down car top bike racks. This one specifically I used to hold my daughters 18" bike. This rack works like a dream. It holds the bike very securely.
I mounted this bike rack along with two of the fork-down bike racks on top of my 2004 Yukon XL and took off to go camping. Installation of this rack was a little bit of a chore (I would not want to remove it and re-install it every time I use it), but that is not a big deal as I am planning on just leaving it installed on top of the Yukon.
I was towing a camper, and because the front window of the camper reflected the bike racks perfectly, I was able to look back and "check on" the bikes anytime I wanted to. I was amazed at how rock-solid all three of the bike racks that I purchased were. There was no swaying or anything. When I arrived at the campsite (about 100 miles away) the bikes were still just as secure as they were when I left them.
As I mentioned, installing the bike rack was a little bit of a chore, but actually getting the bikes up and down was a breeze (I was very surprised).
I would definitely recommend this bike rack, and depending on the type of bike that my other daughter gets, I will be getting another one of these (or perhaps another of the fork-down models).
All in all this is a great bike rack and I have had issues with it whatsoever.
I bought two of these for adult mountain bike and they are great product. I own standard CCM and Raleigh bike and they fit like a glove on these racks. I did some long travel with bikes attached and i did not have any issue at all even in high side wind.
The only draw back is that you have to unscrew the lock to the max then fit the bike's frame and refit it all the way back until it firmly sit.
If you screw too far you might rip the threads so be carefull.
In comparison with the Thule SR4611 this is a lot cheaper and does the job well. If you plan on using this rack very often i would recommend the Thule but if you plan on casual use the Swagman will be great
We have used the Swagman Roof Rack a number of times when we have needed the additional bike carrying capacity. It took a couple attempts to get the initial spacing of the bike rack properly balanced on the van’s roof rack as recommended by the instructions. But it was easy to do and once set was very easy and quick to put on and take off. The rack works great, the bike is easy to put into place and secure. The bike and rack are very stable and quiet and haven’t required any mid-trip adjustments. We always put the cheapest bike on the roof (lol) but do use a bit of duct tape to protect the finish just Incase. We are very satisfied with the rack and consider it quite a deal for the money.
All parts were present, the instructions were clearly written and illustrated, and it took about 35 minutes to unpack, examine and mount the rack on my after-market Volvo cross bars. The last five minutes of the installation were to remove and flip (180 degrees) the pre-mounted down tube clamping assembly so the tightening handle and key lock would be facing me after I hoisted my bike in place. (I probably should have done this before mounting the rack on my cross bars, but no harm, no foul.)
You might notice a Thule roof rack mounted alongside the Swagman. The Thule does a great job holding my Cinelli 10-speed, but because the front mount is made to handle a fork rather than a wheel, it was useless for my Electra which has (for all practical purposes) non-removable wheels. The Electra has internal hub brakes (and eight speed gear box), and the idea of fiddling with those hubs and cables and all their adjustments was more than I wanted to face. So the Swagman was the perfect solution. The Electra is a relatively heavy bike, but the Swagman supports it in style and security.
Thanks again for all your help and getting this wonderful rack to me so quickly.
I read the great reviews and purchased this Swagman upright for my 2017 VW Golf. It was tricky to size it properly for the width of my newly installed OEM crossbars (which I don’t like). Took 3 try’s to assemble the Swagman and the rear clamps still don’t feel secure to me. They don’t rest UNDER my base bar, but sit flush with it (if that makes sense). I bought this budget setup to replace my wrecked Rhino Rack aero bars and bike rack. A big mistake for me because I know how secure (and quiet) those well-built products were. This Swagman upright may work for most but it’s a no for me.
This Swagman bike rack is exactly what my family needed. Great quality at an affordable price. We go biking weekly in our Scion XB and with 2 on the roof and 2 on the hatch its perfect. Thanks to the folks at etrailer for a smooth purchase and fast delivery.
Brandon R.
3/21/2015
UPDATE**** Its been over a year using this rack and if I had the chance to go back in time, I would have spent the extra $$ on another brand. These work, BUT they do not feel secure. The bikes rock back and forth no matter how tight you secure it. One lock will not lock and the other is sketchy at best. The downtube clamps scratch the bikes paint and the tightening mechanism stripped on one of my units. My kids walmart bikes are one thing but my Trek road and mtb deserve better. You get what you pay for.
Great product for the price. Pretty easy to set up. Only issue I have is my mountain bike, which is an XL frame with 27 inch wheels, is pushing the limits of the base. Wish this rack was just 4-5 inches longer that way you have the perfect overlap amount in the middle without pushing the current frame to the limits. With that said it does hold my bike just have to find the sweet spot. But this fits my son’s youth bike perfectly!
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Bruce
8/17/2019
Just like new. I only use this rack occasionally because I have different setups for other vehicles. I store this rack inside and it’s good to go when I need it.