How can I transport bikes on my car?

[quick_scar]

Headquarters: Malmö Municipality, Sweden

They are by no means local.

[Mar]

The guy at B&P Cycle told me they're here in Calgary......or is that Swagman and I got them mixed up? Last time I was down there I asked him all about the racks they had in stock and he was telling me one of them is local so naturally I just believed him. This is how I get into trouble.

[Disoblige]

Swagman Racks

300-1880 Government St.
Penticton BC, Canada
V2A 7J1

I dunno man, in this day and age when Google is your friend and easily accessible, I'd hate to see what you were like in the 90s.

[Mar]

Originally posted by Mar
Now that I've got the hitch receiver, I need to get the actual hitch rack. I have a $75 coupon for U-Haul so I thought I would buy it from them. Which of these would you suggest?

http://www.uhaul.com/MovingSupplies/...Two-Bike-Racks

I like the idea of buying Thule since they're a local company but they are more expensive than the others. I'm also wondering if there's an advantage between the strapped hanging style and the style where the wheels drop into the slots. I already know I should be looking for features such as:
a) folding rack for rear entry access
b) lockable rack so I can leave my bikes on over night

I was thinking about going with the SportRack 2 bike locking hitch rack unless someone points out a reason why not:
http://www.uhaul.com/MovingSupplies/...-Rack?id=15677

So someone lied to me, no big deal. Any advice on which rack I should get? Are the tire-supported racks better or worse than the frame hanging racks? I'm assuming they're better since it doesn't matter if I'm carrying a ladies bike as well.

[Tik-Tok]

Tire supported is better. Bikes have pretty lightweight frames these days, and they can bend on a frame support.

[viff3r]

Bump

So... what did you end up going with Mar?

I found this thread when I was researching roof rack systems for my '06 Civic coupe and figured I'd come back & update with my final setup. I recently got into cycling, and I park & ride to my office. Sliding the bike in & out of my trunk was stupid so I picked up some Yakima q towers & round bars off kijiji. Had to buy the clips new from Hitch Experts (A++ would recommend). I then found a bike rack whose minimum required bar spread matched the tiny spread of the bars on my coupe - the Yakima sprocket rocket.

Lessons learned:
- RackAttack's fit guide is a great starting point to see which rack systems will work on your vehicle. http://www.rackattack.com/fit/
- Yakima Q Towers are pretty universal, minus the q clips which are $50-60 per pair new, as these are the parts that adapt the towers to fit on your vehicle.
- Hunt on kijiji before buying any rack gear new - plenty of good deals to be had. Plus your bars are gonna get scratched/beat to shit anyway, might as well buy them already broken in
- Installation was done solo, having an extra set of hands would have been helpful, but it only took me a couple hours - most of which was dicking around to get the measurements correct, then ensuring the tower tension was even on both sides of the car.

[ExtraSlow]

No hitch no care.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[Mar]

I ended up getting the Swagman 2 bike rack from UHaul with my coupon and it has been amazing. Anytime I have an appointment downtown I just pop my bike onto my car in 5 minutes, park just outside downtown in a free area and then bike 5 minutes to my destination.
Right after I got the rack I brought both bikes out to Fernie for a camping weekend and right before I left I somehow managed to mangle the threads on the bolt that holds the hitch onto the car. I sheared off the bolt head and it took me all night to cut through it with a hack saw but I succeeded. I called Swagman to see what they could do for me and they were one of the best companies I've ever worked with. They looked up bike suppliers along the route and offered to overnight the thread receiver to one of them so I could pick it up along the way. They were in credible.

When I got back I brought the rack to a guy at work and asked if he could get the rest of the bolt out. The next day he brought it to me and his only question was, "How the hell did you do that?" He had to use a plasma torch to cut it out. Now it's all good again and I use it all the time.

[J-hop]

Shearing bolts and stripping threads keeps me up at night man. It is literally the worst feeling in the world

[speedog]

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I ended up getting the Swagman 2 bike rack from UHaul with my coupon and it has been amazing. Anytime I have an appointment downtown I just pop my bike onto my car in 5 minutes, park just outside downtown in a free area and then bike 5 minutes to my destination.
Right after I got the rack I brought both bikes out to Fernie for a camping weekend and right before I left I somehow managed to mangle the threads on the bolt that holds the hitch onto the car. I sheared off the bolt head and it took me all night to cut through it with a hack saw but I succeeded. I called Swagman to see what they could do for me and they were one of the best companies I've ever worked with. They looked up bike suppliers along the route and offered to overnight the thread receiver to one of them so I could pick it up along the way. They were in credible.

When I got back I brought the rack to a guy at work and asked if he could get the rest of the bolt out. The next day he brought it to me and his only question was, "How the hell did you do that?" He had to use a plasma torch to cut it out. Now it's all good again and I use it all the time.

Are you actually removing the hitch from your car or the hitch receiver that's a part of the bike rack? Considering you contacted Swagman, I would have to assume you're talking about the hitch pin assembly which could've probably been replaced by any hitch pin assembly as they're all pretty much built to a standard.

[g-m]

[zieg]

This might work if you have a bike...

[90_Shelby]

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Are you actually removing the hitch from your car or the hitch receiver that's a part of the bike rack? Considering you contacted Swagman, I would have to assume you're talking about the hitch pin assembly which could've probably been replaced by any hitch pin assembly as they're all pretty much built to a standard.

The swagman rack has a bolt as the hitch pin so the rack and bikes don't rattle around as they would with a normal pin.

Interestingly, I also had issues with the threads on mine and I believe the threads galled while the bolt was on the way out. Threaded in fine, but after I was done with the rack and went to remove it, 1/2 of the way out the threads were NFG and would not thread out anymore. I was able to torque on the bolt enough to shear it off and remove the rack. Ordered a new insert free of charge from swagman and lathered the bolt with anti seize. No issues since.

[Mar]

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The swagman rack has a bolt as the hitch pin so the rack and bikes don't rattle around as they would with a normal pin.

Interestingly, I also had issues with the threads on mine and I believe the threads galled while the bolt was on the way out. Threaded in fine, but after I was done with the rack and went to remove it, 1/2 of the way out the threads were NFG and would not thread out anymore. I was able to torque on the bolt enough to shear it off and remove the rack. Ordered a new insert free of charge from swagman and lathered the bolt with anti seize. No issues since.

This is correct, they have a small aluminum block inside the rack that has a threaded hole through the center of it. The block goes inside the rack and the threaded bolt threads through that. I had to buy a new bolt and Swagman sent me a new aluminum block (bolt receiver) for free. After I had a guy cut it out with a torch. I haven't had any issues with it since, and I use it all the time.