Best 2013 Volkswagen Routan Bike Racks

The good: I like the way the bikes are held in and the ability to add the upright adapters to the bike frame holders. The straps are quality too. For a jeep with a spare tire, this is the perfect length to clear it. This rack is 5 stars from the bike holders to the base of it. The bad: the 2"receiver adapter and bolt are insufficient. I wish they made this in a solid 2" hitch. The entire setup is held into the receiver by a very short bolt. It only goes about half way into the receiver tube. So your hitch is only "secured" on one side. A hitch pin or bolt should go through the receiver tube completely imo so it can be secured on the other end with a retaining clip or nut. Because this only goes in the one side, the entire weight of the rack plus bikes are held tight to one side of the receiver by the undersized bolt and washer. A few bumps down the road and that bolt loosens. Now instead of distibuting the weight of the rack and bikes on the receiver and post, it's completely up to the bolt to keep you from losing the rack. The bolt threads get damaged too. I took this down a dirt road and nearly lost everything. I had to buy my own bolt with hd fender washers and lock washers to correct this. Thule should've provided this from the start. The current short bolt design where only one side of the receiver secures the rack is unacceptable. This rack is 1 star at best for the connection to the receiver.

Click to Enlarge

Hitch pin broke before I got it. Looks like a poor design for the locking pin, they might want to consider a different design. I got a 3/8 shear pin from Home Depot to replace and it works great. Bike rack is great!

Click to Enlarge

Excellent and prompt customer service! When I first ordered my product it wasn’t in stock— staff were quick to let me know and offered me comparable products. I ended up waiting for my original order and shipping quick and they stayed in touch with ideas! Thule: The instructions could be a little more detailed. I ended up watching YouTube videos to help me instal. Overall it was easy, and this was the first rack I’ve ever installed and I did it by myself! I was surprised to learn the bike rack is in no way secured inside your vehicle, so.. I store it in my garage when it’s on.

Click to Enlarge

Positive: The product is well thought out and works for a wide range of automotive vehicles. It comes with interesting dampers that i think work. Instructions seem to be translated from another language, but are quite good, accompanying pictures make installation straightforward. A test drive over speed bumps shows that the rack will support the bike for all travel needs. It can be disassembled , collapsed and stored in the trunk. Downside: The rack is made for the classic triangular shaped frame: horizontal cross bar, "male" bike. For bikes without the horizontal bar, mounting is a little less satisfactory. Such a bike can only be mounted on the outside mounts. Cannot use the damper on one side. Picture shows the mounting. as to a design solution, maybe brackets could be replaced with smaller profile, some adjustability? however, as it is, vibration control is good and adjustability with smaller profile would have vibration concerns.

Click to Enlarge

First-time rack buyer / owner / installer. The rack arrived in a timely fashion, maybe a day or 2 ahead of schedule. It was well packaged. I’m LOVING this bike rack. It was easy to put together and to mount on my new Honda Passport. Thus far, no squeaks in my 2” receiver. Hardest part of initial set-up is figuring out the best way to position two bikes. Trial & error and some patience. The directions weren’t clear as to where the 2 left-over screws went. I found the answer in another review and have posted a pic in case others have the same problem (photo with pen pointing at screw). These screws go in the underneath side of both of the folding arms. They appear to keep the wheel wells from sliding off in case in you drive with an empty, un-folded rack, and forgot to tighten down the wheel wells. The folding arm push / pull pins can be difficult at times. I coated the tips with some lube. That and a little jiggling seems to solve that issue. I guess it’s better for the pins to be snug vs popping right out. I added a small Master lock to the hitch pin (in lieu of the provided cotter pin) as a theft deterrent. I read that a 3/16 shackle lock will fit into the bike clamp down arms to also act as a deterrent. I had an old 3/16 lock that did snugly fit and appeared to be locked. HOWEVER, I yanked on the lock and it came open as there isn’t quite enough clearance for the shackle to lock. I discovered that longer 3/16 shackle locks are hard to find. Have attached a photo of the lock that actually fits and works (Ace Hardware). One lock on the upper clamp down arm will secure both arms as the lower arm can’t be removed without removing the upper arm. The clamp down arms appear to be coated to prevent damage to your bike. I’ve tried a simple rag and ultimately settled on pool noodle pieces as a precautionary measure. I CAN NOT open my tailgate (regardless of whether or not the rack is fold up and in the bike carry position). If that’s a concern for you, then spring for the more costly titling version. My back-up camera still functions.

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

The Swagman XTC-2 platform bike carrier arrived very quickly from etrailer and in good shape, the actual carrier box is inside another shipper box, which I'm sure helped with its condition. Assembly was relatively quick and painless, even though the instructions could be a little more thorough. Installing the carrier on the back of our Jeep Patriot also was quick, it helps to have an extra ratchet & 3/4" socket laying around for just this purpose. Installing the bikes takes a little patience and trial and error the first time you try and put them on the carrier. It's easy enough to adjust the wheel holders to fit the wheelbase of your bikes, but for us at least, the challenge was trying to swing the vertical support bar up into position after putting on the first bike (closest to the Jeep). We couldn't angle the bike enough toward the Jeep to have the bar clear the bike. We learned that the easiest way to secure the first bike was to remove the ratcheting frame hooks altogether, put the bike in the carrier, swing up the vertical support bar, put in the pin, and then slide one of the frame hooks down on the bar. The outside bike is much easier because you can set the bike in the carrier at whatever angle you need, not being limited by the back of the vehicle. One thing we did to protect the bike frames was to use some foam pipe insulation as cushion between the frame hook and the frame (see pictures). Once you get a system for installing the bikes, it is very quick to load/unload them. The rack seems to be well made and doesn't wiggle excessively when traveling. All in all a good product for a good price, would definitely recommend it for anyone looking for a platform bike carrier.

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

Quick and reliable shipping and was able to take to my mechanic to get it installed and it works perfectly with my bike rack!

This is a very solid product! I have used it for over a year now and love it! I have had up to 3 bikes on this without a problem and have traveled over 8 hours in the car one way with absolutely no issues. Many other bike racks like this one that I see on other cars look unstable this is not unstable in anyway. I did have to file some of the paint off of the rack to get it to fit in my 1 and 1/4" hitch but once that was done it has been perfect. I also bought the locking hitch bolt which is awesome too.

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

Unit doesn't fit a Jeep Rubicon with a spare tire. I tried 4 times and contacted etrailer.com that the unit doesn't work as sold and they offered to sell me a 7 3/4 extension and reduce the load capacity 50%. The length of the 2" hitch needs to be 3" longer for a standard Rubicon to get past the spare. You not going to want to take your spare tire off for the hitch to work. It defeats the purpose. Customer service was excellent, however the product is a flawed design. Can't recommend this hitch. Its also heavy.

Solid rack for half the price of the name brands. Don’t waste your money! Thanks to the extensive reviews on etrailer and a free shipping promotion I took a chance and ordered this along with the three of their crossbars, anti rattle hitch pin and cable lock. All for well less than the name brand rack alone. Shipping was painful. Etrailer said it was in stock but then due to a delay with the manufacturer it took 35 days from order to arrival. I wasn’t in a hurry so I waited patiently, and etrailer reps emailed often to lmk they hadn’t forgotten. I thought some kind of reward for my extreme patience was in order- discount, gift card, free bag of chips- but they politely declined. Oh well. In the end it arrived when they (eventually) said it would, all in one box, in great shape. The rack was super easy to assemble. You’ll need a ratchet or two and you’ll need to crank those bolts to assemble- they don’t just “insert.” But otherwise it’s only a few steps; I had mine hanging on my truck in probably 15 minutes. Swings away and locks smoothly and requires no effort to do so. Everything feels quite sturdy and well made. No rattle on initial test drive either. This will be a once in a while rack at best for our family of four. We have two SUVs so I needed a rack that could get out of the way of the rear hatch WITH bikes on it. This will do that. And now I don’t need to stuff four dirty bikes into the back of my truck, getting them all tangled and scratched!

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

It was obvious that we received a product that was returned by someone else when the box was overly taped shut, a support collar was broken, and most of the pieces were out of their ripped plastic bags. However, it was a great price to hold 5, 26" and/or 27" Trek bikes. I used a piece of the broken collar and went ahead and assembled the rack. Due to the weight of the 5 bikes it did not wobble that much when driving, as one of the bike tires was up against my car. I can only imagine that if we received an untampered product that this review would have been 5 stars. The picture is a little hard to see, but there are 5 Trek bikes on the rack on my 2020 Toyota Seinna.

Click to Enlarge

We received a damaged box, damaged items, no instructions, the nuts and bolts are completely stripped and not inside a bag. This was obviously used, returned, not checked for quality and sent out. We are extremely upset.

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

The Malone rack adjusts to fit my 2017 Trax really snugly and securely. Once we learned how to configure the bikes for best fit, everything traveled without movement. The only downside is that this system seems designed for narrow road bikes rather than the mountain and hybrid bikes we own. Although the anti-sway cradles are sufficiently wide for mountain tires, the close proximity of the individual bike setups sometimes cause a strap to pull loose during travel, so we keep the bikes cabled to the rack frame. We are able to make it work. For narrower bikes, I would recommend this rack without reservation.

Works great! We keep it set up to one position because it's used on my car only. I'm glad we bought the lock feature because we can just leave the rack on at the trail site. This was a great purchase. I'm impressed that you follow up on your product. I recall your staff was quite helpful in making sure I purchased the correct item for my car and set it up correctly. No recent pictures of the carrier but I do have one of myself as "happy camper" on the Fox River Trail which was doable because of the carrier purchase!!

Click to Enlarge

So, one year in, this works well for the price. I have successfully hauled around 5 bikes a couple times now including a couple vacations. Bikes got there securely despite 4+ hours of driving at interstate speeds, including one harrowing stretch on bumpy roads with 70 mph speed limits (wow Texas, seriously?) where the car got significant amounts of "air" at random intervals. Getting the bikes on and off is still a major pain. I had to buy the adapter for 3 womens/children's bikes. My own full size mountain bike barely fits on, too, the pitch between the bars seems a bit challenging and requires me to contort the bike dramatically to get it on and off. If you are trying to actually get 5 bikes on here, figuring out the bike handle tetris game is not easy. Will take you a bit. It still takes me ~15 min to load 5 bikes up every time. On short trips I sometimes skip the tiedown through all the bike wheels and it's fine, although I wouldn't do it for long trips. My biggest regret here is not buying one where the rack will pivot out to allow access to the rear minivan hitch with the bikes attached -- this means this is the last thing to pack in the car and the first thing you unpack, every time on vacation. It requires planning and forethought. The rack does fold down nicely which we used extensively on vacation once the bikes were unpacked, just don't drive around that way. On my Honda minivan the bottom of this sags a bit when fully loaded with bikes, to the extent I scrape hard every time exiting my slightly inclined driveway. We found a few other low spots along our way, from restaurants to other businesses, that resulted in similar cringe-inducing moments. We drove it on the beach quite a bit, after a healthy wash with the pressure washer there is some mild rusting where the handles rotate, but the rack is otherwise in good shape.

Bought several bike racks and trailer hitches from etrailer. They followed up to make sure all was good. I would highly recommend buying from them. Good people and they care about the customer!

Besides taking too long to get since being ordered in July, it is a great Curt 4 bike product......Installed it today and it works great. Curt products are made from a strong quality! My Curt hitch was installed over the Summer, ordered from etrailer and it works great also...Very happy of the outcome. Thanks.....

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

Great bike rack and outstanding customer service. Easy installation, sturdy bike rack and when I encountered a defective support arm, customer service had a replacement part shipped to me in less than one week. Great value and great support. You cannot get better than that.

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

Bike carrier works great. It is built well and does what I expected.

Purchased this after reading some of the other reviews and Q&A on etrailer - i hadn't thought about the fact that how the crossbars on the bike are configured makes a difference - 3 of our 5 bikes wouldn't have fit on a two bar bike rack because the openings are two small (I ended up measuring them before selecting a rack). I still ended up having to use the adapter for one of them which works great. Installation was easy (I had uhaul put a receiver hitch on my 2012 odyssey the week before) - you do have to pull a pin on the bottom of the rack when you tilt it, which some might consider an inconvenience compared to some of the other brands that just have release levers, but i view it as less stuff to break compared to those racks. If you're going to have it on a lot and park in a garage, consider the fact that it doesn't collapse because it does add significant length to the vehicle. 5 bikes are definitely doable if you set it up correctly. I think its the most versatile rack you can get based on the way it holds the bikes and would definitely recommend.

Seemingly well-constructed and supported bike rack. It fits my 2018 Toyota Camry SE just fine and I haven't had any issues with sway or even feeling my bike while driving. I've only carried one bike on it and have used it a limited number of times, so I cannot speak on durability and longevity. Although you shouldn't open your trunk while the rack is attached, I have been able to do so with no issue (without the bike attached).

While getting a bike rack for a sports car isn't ideal, I really wanted to transfer my bike with my own car instead of borrowing my friend's pickup truck. After hours of trying to find a bike rack that would be good for my 07 Mustang, I decided to give this one a try and I gotta say, it has been pretty good so far. It fits very well over the factory spoiler. One of my biggest concerns I was worried about when ordering a rack for my Mustang was ruining the paint, but the feet on the legs haven't left one scratch. I have used this to transfer my bike at freeway speeds (up to 80 mph) on car rides that typically last an hour and my bike was perfectly secure throughout each ride. For extra security, I wrapped both bike wheels with a ratchet strap so the wheels and pedals wouldn't shift in transit. So far, I am very pleased with this bike rack for the price and quality. I would highly recommend this if you want a rack that is affordable and durable.

Click to Enlarge

Great product, great company to do business with. etrailer is the best. Friendly, helpful and they made sure the bike rack was shipped immediately and it was delivered on time.

The quality of the rack is very sturdy and well built. I needed a rack that has a 12” spacing between wheels do to the baskets on each bike, and this rack delivered that. The issues I have with this rack are: I have a GMC Yukon suv and with the rack mounted I have to lift my two Lecritc 2.0 e-bikes, at 60 pounds each up over 24” to get it mounted. It sure could use ramps, which I know it did not come with. The clamp hold down does not work with fenders on a bike. It does not clamp very well on the cross bar (male and female) type do to the width and the angle of the cross bars. When clamping in front of the front fender makes the bike very unstable, and will require additional strapping and tie downs to secure the bikes. It claims it is for e-bikes, but only if it has no fenders. Nice rack, just not for me.

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

Fits perfectly on our Lexus CT200h. Only on the old LS400, the side straps have to be fastened to the wheel arch edge, since the upper trunklid gap is to narrow for inserting the strap hooks. Mounting of two bikes is (with some routine) quickly done, and they stay safe even for longer and faster routes. For transporting three (mountain) bikes, though, the design doesn't seem big and robust enough. Nevertheless, the price-benefit-fun ratios are way better than reasonable.

Click to Enlarge

We are very pleased with the quality and ease of use for our like-new purchase. From the online shopping experience with etrailer.com through multiple outings already, this bike carrier more than meets our needs. Thank you!

Here's what I love about it: It's super easy and secure to put the bikes on and off. Here's what I don't love: It's heavy and difficult to put on and off the car. It's large enough that when it's in the upright position, it blocks my tail lights, so I can't just leave it on the car always. Overall I do like the product, but I am willing to spend more to replace it with a different model which holds 2 bikes and expands to 4, so it will be easier/lighter to mount to the vehicle, and more reasonable to keep on all the time.

Excellent bike rack! Well packaged and very functional. However, the there is not a lock on the hitch pin. The pin threads in and then you insert a clip on the other side to secure it to the pigtail on the truck or RV. Anyone could come along and pull the clip, loosen the pin and run off with the rack and whatever bikes are on it. So, that would be the only detraction.

Goes together quickly, appears that it will fit my needs in terms of being cross-compatible on a variety of vehicles. Fit on a Subaru Outback factory crossbar and transported bike locally with no issues when I got it out to set up and test (not quite warm enough to ride much yet where I live). Instructions are not super, but the assembly is pretty straightforward so that is not a problem. At the price point, if this rack indeed holds up to swapping onto multiple vehicles and lasts me a few years, I'll be thrilled with the purchase.

Click to Enlarge

I purchased two of these racks, along with another rack that is meant to hold bikes with both tires still installed. I am extremely happy with all three of them. This rack specifically is very sturdy. Installation was sort of a pain, but that was mostly due to me installing it on the top of my 2004 GMC Yukon XL...it is so high that it was a little hard to install. But now that it's installed, it's actually very simple to take the bikes on and off. I've made one round trip with these racks, so I've put the bikes up there and removed them twice. Both trips (about 100 miles each way) they bikes were super sturdy and I had no concerns about them falling off or anything like that. I would definitely recommend this rack if you're looking for a fork down roof mounted bike carrier. In fact, I will very likely get another one when we add another bike to the family. I think I'll be able to fit four racks on the top of my Yukon easily. One last note - I was initially concerned about the height of my vehicle when bikes were on top of them. I brushed a couple of tree limbs when pulling into my camping spot, but it was no big deal. I think the total height of my load was about 10 feet, which was lower than the camper that I was pulling.

Click to Enlarge