Swagman XTC 64670 Bike Rack Review
The designers at Swagman Bike Racks decided that “good” wasn’t good enough, and so they hunkered down in the shop to improve upon their popular XTC 2-Bike rack. The fruit of their labor is the 64670, a rack that has been praised for its innovative style and solid reliability. Innovation is featured in the unique tire carriages that support all widths, and adjust along the main support to fit the whole range of wheel bases on the market. Reliability is the work of the tough, tempered steel tube that is 1 ¼ inch in diameter, and provides enough beef to maintain stability on good roads, or off road where some care is used.
The hitch mount makes it easy to install, while the adjustable arms and top ratchet hooks make securing bikes to it a one-handed procedure. Generous padding throughout means that bike finishes and car finishes are unharmed in transit. Bikes of varying size and weight can be loaded without causing instability. The center post keeps the bikes apart, a further safeguard against damage.
Who Should Use the Swagman XTC 64670 Bike Rack
The XTC 64670 appeals to those who desire an easy load so they can save their energy for the ride. And it’s perfect for “his and hers” bikes, or an adult/child pair of cycles, since the wheel carriages adjust easily. And the finish is high-quality paint that will wear well in all climates. FYI, the hardware on this unit is metric, in case you need to tighten anything. Dependability and versatility combine nicely, thus proving that even if it isn’t broke, you can still make it better.
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| User Reviews Send this to a friend | |||||||||||||||
| Swagman XTC Cross-Country 2-Bike Hitch Mount Rack (1.25 and 2-Inch Receiver) | |||||||||||||||
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Transports up to 2 bikes, fits both a 2" and 1-1/4" hitch receiver with a built in anti-wobble hitch device. The XTC2 carries a wide variety of bike frames without the hassle of removing wheels. Push button ratchet arm easily adjust to secure your bike. Bike hooks have a soft-frame friendly coating to protect the bike's finish. Easily adjust to different bike frame sizes with the simple movement of the wheel holders. Rack folds up for easy storage when not in use. Center arm folds down to allow access to the rear of vehicle without removing the rack.
- Transports up to 2 bikes
- Fits 2" and 1 1/4" hitch receiver
- Built in anti-wobble hitch device
- Now with new push button ratcheting arms
- Center arm folds down to allow access to the rear of vehicle without removing the rack
 Fantastic- Greatly Relieved |
| Review Date: July 22, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Miles R. Granger, Libby, MT |
| What a relief! I spent many a hour looking/researching/contemplating on the next rack I should get after my last one suffered an epic failure.
I have a Mazda 3 sedan and my concerns were: -I have an expensive and heavy freeride bike.. which bent my last rack. -My bike is oddly shaped (2007 KingFisher) and hangs on those "racks" very awkwardly... maybe this lead to the rack bending in the first place? -With the sedan, the bike isn't shielded from the wind like a SUV. -I drive 45 min on a regular basis to the trails I like at 65+ mph. Putting it all together was easy peezy. Impressed with the construction. Went for the XTC since I have a semi steep driveway and was skeptical whether the XC would scrape. Once you have the wheel slots lined up. Putting the bike on is so simple its stupid. Makes you feel like you should do something more.. but that bike isn't going ANYWHERE! Enjoy the ratcheting system and the fact you can lock your bikes in. (locks not included) Set my two wheeled, 40lb, 8" of travel fun onto the rack and set off for the trails. Cruising along at a cool 65 I was soon satisfied with it's stellar performance. Very little movement. Mozied along going 75mph now. Within 15min of arriving there was the infamous bridge crossing that when taken at the speed limit 65mph will make a noticeable bump up onto the bridge followed by a vicious bump off.. (did my last rack in) In the spirit of science I took it at 85mph. Very impressive! Very sturdy indeed! Kept a ratchet in the trunk to take it off once I got to the trails, I would advise getting a lock washer when putting the threaded bolt through.. I'm sure it won't come loose without one.. but it provided peace of mind for me. Final Note: Great bike rack, very glad I got it! I used other bike racks and always found myself looking in the rear view mirror to see how the bikes were doing... not anymore! They're staying put! |
| This Style of Bike Rack is the Way to Go! |
| Review Date: May 13, 2009 |
| Reviewer: 10-2-Go, Beaumont, Texas United States |
| I have a 1-1/4" Class I hitch on my 2003 Toyota Camry, and the Swagman XTC2 is great for carrying my and my husband's mountain bikes. The XTC2 comes with an adapter for use with a 2" hitch that seems very sturdy--two pieces of metal that sandwich around the rack's 1-1/4" shank and are secured using the supplied bolt. I didn't need the adapter, though, for my Class I hitch. Putting it together and attaching it to my hitch took about 20-25 minutes. I bought Swagman's locking anti-rattle threaded hitch pin to use instead of the supplied threaded hitch pin. Adjusting the wheel hoops to fit both mountain bikes was not as easy as I thought it would be. Luckily, I only have to do that once since I'll only use it to carry our two bikes! My problem was positioning the bicycles so that the ratcheting bike hook that is in the lower position on the center post was far enough down on the center post so that the upper hook could in turn be pushed down far enough to securely hold down the top tube of the other bike (the padded bike hooks that ratchet to press down on and hold the top tube of each bike are situated one on top of the other on the center post, one hook pointing toward the trunk, the other pointing away from the trunk). I hope that makes sense. Because both of our mountain bikes have top tubes that slant downward from the head tube (at the base of the handle bars) to the seat tube, the only way (after much experimentation and adjustment) I could get both bikes secured was to position them facing in the same direction but with one further forward and the other further backward in relation to the center post. This way, the lower hook is at the lowest point of Bike A's top tube (close to the seat tube) and the upper hook contacts Bike B's top tube closer to the handlebars, where the top tube is higher. Again, I hope that makes sense! And maybe I'm the only one who had this problem, but all the pictures of the bike rack that I could find showed the front wheel hoops relatively close to each other and the back wheel hoops relatively close to each other, which is not how I had to adjust mine. And, I could not find clear pictures of the rack with two bikes on it. The reason I chose the XTC2 over the cheaper XC2 is because the XTC2 has a shank that angles upward from the hitch receiver, allowing extra ground clearance since the Camry is not very high off the ground (the XC2 appears to have a straight shank). So far, I have not had it scrape the ground, although I am careful to avoid really steep driveways. Once I got the wheel hoops adjusted, it's been a breeze. Place the bike wheels in the hoops, lower the ratcheting bike hooks (each hook has a place for a lock--not included--to prevent the hook release from being pressed), hook the supplied sturdy rubber securing straps over each wheel, and off you go--takes a minute or two at most! Watch out to make sure you don't scratch your car with a bike pedal. No more dangling bikes blowing in the wind like the standard bike rack design. The rack folds up easily so it can be placed in the trunk when not in use. It's made of very sturdy powder-coated steel and weighs 33 pounds according to Amazon; 34 pounds according to Swagman. All in all, I could not be happier with this purchase and recommend it to anyone looking for a two-bike, hitch-mount bike rack.
Added 5/13/2009: I forgot to mention that there were two small silver screws (about 1/2" long) included that were not mentioned in the assembly instructions0. I discovered on another website that one goes into the hole on the end of each arm to prevent the wheel hoops from sliding off the ends. 6/11/2009 Update: Took a 5-day, 1100-mile road trip with my husband and the two bikes. The bike rack performed like a champ, even at hubby's standard 80+ mph driving speed! Just wanted to note a couple of things: the road vibration does loosen the wheel hoop knobs, so I got in the habit of checking them regularly. The two round screws on the underside that attach the rack to the shank also loosened, but they only had to be tightened once (make sure you keep the supplied hex wrench easily accessible so you can tighten them--the wrench fits into the center of each hex screw). I did notice that one of the padded hooks became more difficult to remove--the hook release would not depress. We had to use a key to put upward pressure on the bottom of the release and wiggle it a bit. Once it was depressed, the hook was difficult to slide off. I am going to try WD40 to see if that helps. We only scraped the ground twice, both times on very steep driveways (where others had also scraped--you could see the gouges in the asphalt). All in all, a super enjoyable mountain biking trip made more enjoyable by this easy-to-use bike rack! |
| Good alternative to more expensive Hitch Mounted Carriers |
| Review Date: December 8, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Roldan Teroy, Colton, California USA |
| I own several bike carriers, including a Thule Trailblazer hitch mounted 4-Bike carrier, trunk mounted and roof mounted carriers, and fork mount blocks for pickup truck beds.
Advantage of hitch mounted carriers: 1) Secure the bike in the back reduces wind resistance at high speeds. 2) Avoid low height accidents like garages vs roof carrier bikes. Disadvantage of hanging type bike carriers: 1) Bike swings during transit with stop and go traffic. More expensive carriers have brackets to minimize this. 2) Bikes may rub on each other if position too close, which risk marring the paint finish. Two custom road bikes did not fit my hanging carriers, and I was tired of removing the front wheel. I wanted a hitch mounted bike carrier that folded up compactly and did not require removing the front wheels during bike loads. I looked at the Thule, Yakama, and Saris product, but they were expensive, heavy and bulky. Swagman is a Canadian company, and the XTC2 was manufactured in Taiwan. The quality of the product was very good for the price. The advantage of the Swagman XTC2 over the older XC Cross Country Carrier: 1) XTC2 wheel wells are 1/2 loops vs. full loops of the XC. This allows the tires to be tied down with the improved rubber straps vs. the wheel just sitting on the full loop well. 2) The receiver bar on the XTC2 is S-curved that lifts the carrier above the exhaust pipe vs. a straight bar on the XC. This higher ground clearance also helps with deep road dips and driveways. 3) I agree with the another reviewer that the ratchet locking system to hold down the bike to the rack found on the XTC is much better than the friction knob found in the older carriers by Swagman and carriers by Sportrack. The frame grip arms were improved and soft frame friendly to protect the bike's finish. You can lock the bike to the carrier using a padlock for each hook holders to prevent release of the ratchet. The padlock shackle needs to be a 3/16 inch in diameter or less. Anything thicker will not fit the hole. The spacing from the shackle to the lock needs have at least a 5/8 inch or larger clearance. Anything narrower will not lock. I found such a lock made by Masterlock (Model 131T) at a local discount superstore. The lock is covered in scratch resistant vinyl. They sell it in a 2 lock set with matching keys. 4) Assembling the carrier was easy. Only took about 20 minutes with a phillips screw driver, supplied allen wrench, and socket wrench (to attach the hitch receiver bolt). 5) I was pleased to see that the carrier cleared the rear window hatch opening on my 2006 Ford Escape. I use this hatch to access rear storage when the bikes are mounted. The vertical bar folds down in order to clear the rear door opening. The bikes need to be off the carrier to fold down the bar. Disappointments: 1) The outer box arrived damaged. It was made of cheap cardboard material. The content were bubble wrapped and loose in the box. See picture. It would have been better if the shipper opened the box, filled it with shipping popcorn, then re closed the box into an outer, more studier shipping box. Luckily, all the parts were present and with no damage. 2) The main carrier can be removed along with the loaded bikes by a motivated thief with the proper tools even to there was a hitch lock in place. Two allen wrench screws are located in the underside crossbar junction. I added a separate cable lock to secure the rack to the hitch. 3) One item not described in the assembly instructions was that two machine screws need to be installed at the underside of the tip to prevent the wheel wells from sliding off. 4) Although the 1-1/4 inch to 2 inch hitch adapter was made of solid metal, and the screw in type hitch pin did minimize wobble, the 1 1/4 inch tubing used to make the receiver bar still had in inherent sway of a few degrees when driving with loaded bikes. The instruction sheet warns to remove bulky item such as child carriers to reduce wind resistance. Update: December 14, 2009 We recently had a rain storm come through our area. After a few days I noticed a few rust spots on the latch pins which wiped off easily with a rag. The metal not have a rust resistant undercoating, so it is best if the rack is kept dry or out of the elements for long periods of time. I purchased the Swagman 2 inch threaded hitch pin lock from another website and it provides a peace of mind. Overall this carrier was a great value. |
| BUY this one! |
| Review Date: September 8, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Wayne Thornton, Sacramento CA |
| This is an awesome rack. Bikes are loaded in less than 1 minute! I could not be happier. |
| I like it, but construction is "ify" |
| Review Date: August 22, 2008 |
| Reviewer: K. E. Brown, KS, USA |
| I'm going to try a do two different ratings here, so bare with me.
BIKERACK (5 stars): the bike rack has some issues, that seem to be standard with these "import" models (Swagman/SportRack); however, that being said: the bikes are very well secured and very well protected. The ratcheting arm clamps go down tightly and stay there. No friction knobs to keep checking. Once you push them down, they stay there, and there is a place to put a pad lock on each for anti-theft security. The hooks are also padded and did not mark up the bikes even in the slightest. Due to the flexibility of the rack I was able to get a large men's bike and small woman's bike loaded and was able to arrange them so everything made good positive contact; hooks, wheel straps, etc.. Overall, I'm not the least bit worried the bikes will come loose during transit. Excellent design and so very easy to use. CONSTRUCTION (3.5 stars): this is where all these import models seem to fail; but it's due to their flexibility of use. The entire rack is made from 1-1/4" steel tube. This was done so you could use the rack on a 1-1/4" receiver hitch. With this light steel there is some inherent "flex" that allows the rack to wiggle. It would have been much better to use bigger steel that fit a standard 2" receiver, then have an adapter to go down to the 1-1/4" receiver. I'm going to use the rack a few more times as is, but I may make some modifications to it to help sturdy things up a lot more. The anti-wobble bolt, while a great idea probably works well on the 1-1/4" receiver, but with the supplied "adapter" it doesn't do a good enough job on the 2" receiver. In review of both Swagman & Sport Rack, they're made exactly the same, except for the following: Swagman has ratcheting locking support hooks which are excellent; the Sportrack uses a friction lock, don't like that. Both racks use metric hardware, so if you think you're going to replace a bolt with standard hardware, no dice, the threads are different, etc. The Swagman can also be used on Class I hitches and above, whereas the Sportrack is for Class II and above. Packaging of this Swagman rack, finish, easy of assembly and use were nice. |
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