Thule Hitch Bike Racks Review - 2014 Nissan Rogue Select

Review of the Thule Hitch-Bike-Racks on a 2014 Nissan Rogue Select

Today on our 2014 Nissan Rogue Select, we're going to be doing a test fit of the Thule Vertex Swing. This is going to be your hanging style four-bike rack with a swing-away option. This bike rack only comes with a two-inch shank for your two-inch receivers and as you can see, we've already got a bike in place, so you can see what it's going to look like once you have it fully assembled and on the back of your vehicle. It's going to be part number TH9031XT. Let's start off by getting a few measurements. Our closest distance will be from the T-handle here on the front to the back side of the bumper.

Both of them are going to be about 7-1/4 inches from here underneath and from here to the front side. Overall distance that we've added to the vehicle from back of the bumper to the rear of the cradle arms at about 35-1/2 inches and our ground clearance at about 11 inches. Let's move over to the front side and unscrew the T-handle on the front hand side that we got the measurement from. We're going to unscrew this until it falls out of place . Like so. Next, pull up on the pin and remove it on the back side here.

Then, lift up and push out. Once you've cleared the vehicle and you're out far enough, go ahead and rotate it around until it clicks in place, and swing it away to the back side of the vehicle. Always remember to reattach your pin in the middle here and press it all the way down firmly, so that way, it locks it in position. This will give you perfect access to the back of the vehicle, so you place anything in or take anything out, and you have plenty of room to move around and socialize with your friends. Close it up, and we'll go over to the side of the vehicle.

I'm just going to point out one thing. With the Vertexes in particular, you can adjust your anti-sway straps to either side of the bike or either side of the vehicle rather, so you can have your anti-sway on the back side of the bike with the back side of the bike towards the back of the vehicle or the other side with the handle bars. Now, we have to like it this way. That way, if you put on a bike, say a mountain bike that has longer handlebars, that way you don't run in to any interference with your hatch opening, and the back of the bike is going to be slim and narrow, so you won't need to worry about any of inaudible 00:02:38 interference. Let's go ahead and get a measurement from the side of the vehicle off to the side in case if you're parallel parked, that way, you know how far you got on the side of the sidewalk or anything else off to the side of the vehicle. It's going to be about 29 inches. Let's go ahead and rotate our rack back around.

First step in doing so is to remove that center pin. Once you removed that center pin, we'll have lay it over the back over the side that's in between the vehicle. That way, the line doesn't get pinched as we bring it around. Once you're clear of the side of the vehicle, go ahead and rotate that back around by lifting up that T-handle, and then pressing the bike back up onto the platform . Just like so. Next, we'll go ahead and thread back in that T-screw or T-handle on the front. Make sure that you don't cross thread and then it gets thread in nice and easy. Once you have that nice and secure, reinsert the pin into either of the two holes. From there, we'll talk about how the bike is secured. Now, I did talk about the anti-sway strap a moment ago and I'll go ahead and elaborate a little more on that now. We're going to have two straps on top which should be your frame straps. inaudible 00:04:05 to keep the bikes securely fastened to the cradle arms and to keep it from bounding up and down while you're driving down the road. Now, the most important one is going to be that anti-sway strap. inaudible 00:04:14 attached to the down tube and seat post side of the bike, it will be the first and last strap you place on. It will keep the bike securely fastened up against the cradle arms and it will keep it from swaying from from to back as you drive down the road. Let's undo them in the reverse order that they should be placed. Once you've done so, go ahead and remove the bike from the cradle arms and then we'll show you the stowed position. Always remembering to reattach your straps so that way you don't loose them. Once you've done so, locate that grey handle on top, lift it until it clicks and rotate the cradle arm down. This will be your sleek stowed away position. Let's get your overall measurement since that's the only distance that is changed. It's going to be about 12 inches. Now, we'll move down and talk about the shank and receiver and the anti-rattle bolt that's going to help to secure it. You can see there's shouldn't be very be little movement in the bike rack because right now the anti-rattle bolt is tightened and secure making it one item and not a stand-alone item as if we are to loosen it up. You can see that there's going to be a lot more sway, rattle, and wobble in our bike rack. Which is going to be quite unpleasant for any of the occupants inside the vehicle. Make sure that you tighten that up, that way you can ensure that you and the occupants inside the vehicle get to your destination with comfort needs with your all new Thule Vertex Swing, part number TH9031XT on our 2014 Nissan Rogue Select. Let's see how it does on our test course. Here you see it out on our test course. First is the slalom which shows the side to side action to simulate turning corners or evasive maneuvers. Next are the alternating speed bumps which show you the twisting action such as hitting a pothole, road debris, or going over a curb. Finally, we will finish with the solid speed bumps which show the up and down action to simulate a parking garage or coming out of a driveway.