Returning to store... poor design on arms holding bikes
The arms that hold the bikes are adjustable. You pull out a handle that pulls "pins" out of a disk that then allows you to reposition the arm along any of the other sets of holes. Easy enough to use... but these pins do not sit far enough through the disk when it is locked. Within a few bumps in the road, the arms kept on slipping down because the pins came out of place. Gave up and put bikes and rack into the trunk of my hutchback (good thing they fit). Returning this piece of junk.

Doesn't fit 350z, leaves nice scratches.
Saris website states that this "fits" a Nissan 350Z if you use the hatch huggers, I ordered both. It did not fit well enough for me to even think about using it for more then 10 miles. Don't waste your money. It also leaves nice scratches on your hatch.

Easy to mount bike rack
We bought this bike rack after researching to make sure it would fit both of our cars. Price and features are what made us chose the Saris. When you first pull it out of the box, it does take a moment to understand where the parts go and how to adjust the straps. Just have the instructions there with you--they are pretty clear. There is a lot of length on each strap and you do have to wrap them around the rack bars so they are not hanging and in the way. Now that we've done it once, it will be quicker in the future--not that it took that long to figure out the 1st time. Remember, too, if you have a woman's bike to buy the Saris bike beam (this is an additional cost). You will need it in order to hang a woman's bike b/c you need a bar (like a man's bike has) to drop into the supports on the bike rack. This item is easy to take on/off, too. You may also want to purchase some cushion blocks to keep the bikes from rubbing against each other at some points. We have not bought those yet. We only had a couple of areas where the bikes could rub during transport and we actually just used rags on the "maiden voyage". The rack has sufficient space for the bikes, but you need to think about the pedals possibly moving during transport and digging into the paint on the companion bike. Overall, a good value and would recommend to others! Happy riding!

so close to a great design but fell short in the details
for starters, i actually own the graber guardian 2, which looks remarkably similar to the saris one pictured. as far as i can tell the design is identical except for one small issue which was resolved.

the design of the product is really good, the way it attaches to the trunk is pretty good as well (six straps). it has nice foam pads, and is very adjustable. i would imagine that it would fit several types of cars. it also has an antisway bar to help protect the car bumper which is marginally effective. mine did not have something to keep the front handlebars from rotating and hitting the bumper, but it looks like this was resolved in this design.

mechanically it seems sound as well, and at i thought it was pretty sturdy. however, thin pins are used to lock the arms in place, and they do not extend very far through the holes. this was a huge issue for me when one of the arms collapsed on the highway, severely damaging both of the attached bikes and the bumper on my car. the damage to the car is probably 400-600 dollars and the bikes might be totalled. i will be contacting graber/saris about being reimbursed for the damages caused, since i am a pretty unhappy rider.

Saris Guardian 2-Bike Rack
Bike rack attached to vehicle quickly, with easy set up right out of the box. It also seems to be quite sturdy. Only used localy thus far but we will soon see how it does on the highway.

great surfboard rack
my sister is crazy with surfing and this is a great fit for her a her friends boards taking the freeway to go surfing on her little kia.

Great buy
Easy to put on and take off. Hold up to two longboards/funboard and six, thats right SIX, shortboards! I went on a trip with my friends 1 funboard and 2 shortboards, we were driving on the freeway at around 70-75mpg, no problems, no noise, etc. Worked perfectly.

The only con, if there are non surfers in the car with you they might be annoyed with the straps hanging down, but all you have to do is wrap it up. Takes a away a little head room in the cabin but not even noticeable!

If you're looking for a soft rack that holds a lot of boards, easy to install and uninstall, then get this one!

amazing surf racks
The surf rack is very easy to install. I am a beginner in the whole surfing thing and I'm starting off with a 8.5 foam-board. Last week I drove from SF valley to San Diego (150mi) and back doing 70-80mph with the board mounted and had absolutely no problems. I drive a TSX so it fit just fine. The only thing that you might wanna consider is that the racks wrap through the vehicle so it might inconvenience the back seat passengers.
I've never used any other surf-racks before so I can't really compare it with other products out there, but for the price this is very good buy.

Could use rubber attachment
The sway attachment does work, BUT you need something like rubber or a rag between the attachment and your bike because it will scratch your bike. I don't know why they didn't put rubber on the part that claps against the bike.
I use cabinet shelving material and it works great.
They just got cheap on the sway cage attachment.

Works Great Until you see the Paint Chipped off your Bike!
The Thule No-Sway Cage does a great job holding my bike in place. I would have given it a 5 out of 5 stars but it chipped the paint off my bike! Like the guy said in an earlier review...I wish I would have known it did this because it could have easily been avoided. I put weather stripping on it and it works great...no paint chipping! This really upset me because I paid a lot of money for my mountain bike and the manufacturer of my bike does not sell touch up paint! Also, I called Thule and they are aware of this problem. They said the No-Sway Cage does not chip the paint off all bikes, just some! Thank you Thule for selling a product that does this. Again, this product works great and holds your bike in place....just make sure you put something on it...like weather stripping or some kind of soft pad. Make sure you take the No-Sway Cage off when you are riding and keep it in your car...it can easily be stolen if left on the bike rack.

Works great
This works great on the Thule bike rack...just make sure you secure the two sides and the bottom...this prevent the bike from swaying. I haven't had any issues with this eating up the paint on my bikes yet.

great product
I bought the thule 963 for my wrangler....these dont say they're built for use with it but believe me this is a wise investment...easy to install and easy to use and its durable ..A+

Good product to have
It is easy to install on the bike rack. Very satisfied. Enable me to secure the bike better on the rack. Unfortunately, I am only able to use 1 anti sway on my thule spare me rack. It is sold 2 in a pack.

I do not recommend this product
When I first went to assemble the two pieces to make a whole basket, the tubes going from one piece (male) into the other (female) did not fit. Further investigation showed that the tubing on the female side was bent (not from shipping), and to make it work, I had to spend about 1/2 hour re-opening the tubes.

After finally putting the basket together, it came time to mount it on the roof of my 2008 Highlander. Keep in mind, before I bought this rack I contacted the company to inqire whether or not it would fit my car. I was told that yes, it had universal fittings so it would fit all car roof racks.

Well it did have universal fittings, but they were so simplistic that I had to spend 1 1/2 days, and trips back and forth to hardware stores, to make it work. The reason, even when the clamps were tightened as tight as they would go, the rack slid back and forth and would not tighten firmly.

To make it work (and I never did get it "tight"), I had to use a metal cutting saw to cut parts of it away, put jerryrigged blocks between the basket and the crossbar, and tape it tightly to the crossbar.

These problems would have been more acceptable if I had paid half as much. I can live with the imperfections in the tubes (since at this price I didn't expect the quality of a Thule or a Yakima), but to have to spend the time and money to make this product safe to travel on my roof at up to 80 miles per hour, is unaccepable.

The only way I would recommend this product to anyone is if Lund puts a truly universal clamping system with it that is uncomplicated and easy to understand. Otherwise, be prepared to use extraordinary measures to safely attach it to your roof.

I do not recommend this product
When I first went to assemble the two pieces to make a whole basket, the tubes going from one piece (male) into the other (female) did not fit. Further investigation showed that the tubing on the female side was bent (not from shipping), and to make it work, I had to spend about 1/2 hour re-opening the tubes.

After finally putting the basket together, it came time to mount it on the roof of my 2008 Highlander. Keep in mind, before I bought this rack I contacted the company to inqire whether or not it would fit my car. I was told that yes, it had universal fittings so it would fit all car roof racks.

Well it did have universal fittings, but they were so simplistic that I had to spend 1 1/2 days, and trips back and forth to hardware stores, to make it work. The reason, even when the clamps were tightened as tight as they would go, the rack slid back and forth and would not tighten firmly.

To make it work (and I never did get it "tight"), I had to use a metal cutting saw to cut parts of it away, put jerryrigged blocks between the basket and the crossbar, and tape it tightly to the crossbar.

These problems would have been more acceptable if I had paid half as much. I can live with the imperfections in the tubes (since at this price I didn't expect the quality of a Thule or a Yakima), but to have to spend the time and money to make this product safe to travel on my roof at up to 80 miles per hour, is unaccepable.

The only way I would recommend this product to anyone is if Lund puts a truly universal clamping system with it that is uncomplicated and easy to understand. Otherwise, be prepared to use extraordinary measures to safely attach it to your roof.

Great bike rack!!!!!!
I will spell it out for you BUY THIS BIKE RACK!!!!! Easy assembly, fantastic design and easy to install on vehicle!!!!!! I did alot of research to make sure I was buying the right bike rack for me and found the bike rack for me. Fits both 2" & 1 1/4" receiver end and no more scratches or hassle putting my bike on my vehicle. No more worries about driving with bikes behind me, no sway, no worries!!!!
Only thing I will tell you is the rack comes with two tiny screws and it does not tell you in the directions but they go on the ends where your bike tires go so the holders don't slide off..
Completely satisfied!!!!!!!!
Now go buy it you will not be disappointed!!!!

I'd give it more than the 5 stars, if possible.
I love it, love it, love it . . . what else can I say. Cheaper than the bigger name bike racks and very nice. I have two Sun recumbent bikes, an EZ-1 and a EZ Sport AX. The Sun Sport has a wheel base of 62" and this Swagman XTC 2 will hold up to a 66" wheel base, this is just what I needed. Loading the XTC 2 doesn't get any easier either, put the wheels into the hoops, ratchet the hook down on the frame and secure the wheels to the hoops with the strap. Your bike is in the rack and solid . . it does not move. My son and I have ridden together a couple of times since buying this rack. My son has a small BMX style bike and my Sport AX both fit on the rack with no problem. Believe me when I say this rack will transport some different style bikes!!!
I have also bought locks for this rack, I bought a 4 pack Masterlock (Model 131Q). You can use the 131 lock to lock the anti-sway pin/bolt as well, just replace the cotter pin with the lock (it does fit), actually locking the rack to the car. Very simple way of locking up the bikes to the rack and the rack to the vehicle.
All of the other reviews seem to sum up this rack very well. I really wanted to include the locking of the anti-sway pin and that it will accommodate a long wheel base recumbent. I will also post some pictures in the image gallery with the bikes loaded and locked. Do not hesitate to buy this rack, you will like it.

A follow up review after using it more:
OK, I've now used the Swagman XTC 2 quite a few times and I am completely satisfied. I wouldn't change a thing on this rack. It does wobble a little bit, but what would you expect when attached to a single 1 1/4" receiver? The anti-sway pin does its job and takes a lot of the sway out. As for the construction of the rack, again, I wouldn't change a thing. If it were made any stronger it would be overkill and weigh more (it weighs about 27 lbs.). When the bikes are locked in . . . they aren't going anywhere, secure, rock solid with absolutely no rubbing. I have used the hanging type racks before and have always worried about rubbing, banging and how secure they are on the rack. With this Swagman, I load the bikes and forget about them. I don't even check them in the rear view mirror any more. No worries at all!!! The best rack I have used, heck . . . the best rack I have ever seen for that matter, and I looked at a lot of racks before I bought this one. NO DISAPPOINTMENTS!!!

An excellent bike rack
I agree with all the reviews that the Swagman is an excellent bike rack; however, I would like to add some cautionary advice.
First of all make sure you chose the XTC model with the wheel tethers. Make sure the bike wheels are sitting completely in the wheel well. This is extremely important. If it isn,t there is a chance the bike can fall off. As an added precaution I would get a rubber strap and tie the bikes together to be super sure. One mishap on the road could prove disastrous.

Great Rack!
I bought this rack to use on two vehicles. I have a full size Ford van and there are no problems with that installation. My other vehicle is a 2006 Jeep Liberty with a spare tire mounted on the back. I had to order a 12in extension for the 2in reciever and this adds another to the cost. I could not find an extension locally. I think that the seller should caution about this need on some vehicles. Other reviews and pictures led me to believe that I would not need an extension. For me, it is not so much that it adds to the cost, but rather the inconvienence of not being able to use the rack until I ordered the extension.

Assembly was simple, no parts were missing, and the rack is sturdy enough with minimal vibration on most roads. I have two Schwinn Comfort bikes that I am using with this rack and its a bit tricky to get the configuration right the first time.

I agree with other comments on here that there is room for improvement to the reciever bolt. This design makes it impossible to effectively lock the bolt and prevent theft. Does anyone have a solution to this problem? I guess I will still have to take my bikes in the elevator at the hotel and lock them in my room while I go to the bar!

Overall, I give this rack a high rating. It is constructed of heavy enough materials to last many years. I like having the weight distributed down through the wheels and balanced better than those racks that I see than just have the bikes hanging from the center bar. If you have very light weight racing bikes, perhaps it does not matter, but with heavier comfort bikes and packs, I would choose this one.

Thanks for reading my review and I hope this helps you make a wise choice.

See you down the road!

Mike C.

A rugged piece of equipment, well worth the price...
Having researched platform-style bicycle carriers thoroughly, I went for the Swagman XTC 2 carrier because it appeared to be well-constructed and thought-out... and I have been very satisfied in all respects! It carries two cruisers with minimal shifting around, has good ground clearance and the ratcheting rubberized arms really secure the bikes well. Recommend you visit the Swagman website for their videos.

Nice Sturdy Unit
Bought this bike rack to use on the back of our class c motorhome. The rack was very easy to assemble. I noticed right away the construction was superior to other racks I have looked at (this is a heavy rack) with all parts fitted and finished nicely. Look forward to many miles of use with this unit!

Allen 3-Bike Premium
She's sturdy. We drove 490 miles with it this weekend and it was great.
Easy installation, quick release allows it to fold down easily, and another quick release allows it to tilt out of the way for liftgate access.
Very satisfied.

Looks better than others but had to struggle a bit to mount it
Had to struggle a little bit to put it on my car (Honda Accord 2005, 4dr, LX).
My system:
400XTR Aero Rapid :
47" Aluminium Aero Bars : I feel these bars look better than the square and round black coated bars.
Thule set of 4 locks :

While the front side installed without much fight, the back side there was some struggle. With the help of a friend we were able to mount the whole rack system in 2 hours. However, before that I had spent 2 hours by myself and gave up. It fits too tight to the car, which is required and good. However, during the installation I felt there was no leeway in the spacing of rubber pads or the base (even a few millimeters). This means everything needs to be in right spots before you start to tighten the screws; otherwise one or other thing will not align later on and you will have to start again.
ex: if you tighten one of the 4 bases first thinking you will adjust the other end, it might not work; or probably later on the locks won't align.

I would recommend a 2 person installation rather than installing alone.


In the end, however the Aluminium bars look good on the car compared to the square or round coated bars.

Works great once installed!
Ordered the Thule Fit Kit for my 2000 Mercedes E430 Sport. Had a little trouble getting the kit installed w/ the Thule RB47 Rapid Aero Aluminum Roof Rack Load Bars and Thule 400XTR Aero Rapid Roof Rack Foot Pack, it was a bit of a struggle getting the screws locked in, since I was performing the install directly on the car roof. Once I took all the pieces off, connected the fit kit to the load bars and fit kit off of the car and then loaded all the pieces together it worked. I need to buy the Thule skirt so that it blocks out the wind noise while driving. While driving there are no issues - at around 75-80mph I had no issues.

Not bad at all
Installed on a 2007 Audi A4 sedan. Install went smoothly. Rack really looks great, much smoother than most. I also recommend the fairing.

Couple of tips for the DIYers:

1. You don't need to twist the foot handle until you break it when installing. If you bend the metal, you are doing something seriously wrong.
2. When putting the rubber weatherstripping in the load bars (do this after installing the feet and bars to your car), press them into the groove in the middle, then tamp down the ends (leave about 1/4" from the end of the bar clear of the weather stripping), then tamp it down evenly. Otherwise, you'll end up with rubber strip overhang that interferes with being able to put the endcaps on cleanly.
3. If you are putting locks on your rack, you can either punch out the holes in the handles first before putting the feet on the car, or you can punch the blank circles out when it is on top of the vehicle. If you choose the latter, have a pair of needlenose pliers available to fish the blanks out from inside the handles.
4. You need to push the handles in hard to close them after screwing them tight.
5. Attaching the fairing is simple. Assembling the fairing, while simple, is not easy. There is a step when you are required to push the middle anchors onto a clasp that requires significant hand strength. I'm a really big guy, and I found it very difficult. Point is, if you have a local bike shop that you can pay -30 for install, it is money well spent.

I like the system. Rackoutfitters had a complete setup for 8, including the load bars and the fit kit. Fairing was extra.

Design & Manufacturing Problems
Pros: Looks nice, aerodynamic. Cheaper than Yakima.
Cons: Shoddy quality. Cheaper than Yakima.

Used for 17' fiberglass kayaks.

To carry our touring kayaks, we purchased the Thule Aero system for our Prius, because it was significanly cheaper than the Yakima. To work properly, one needs to purchase the correct Fit Kit for the specific vehicle; this Fit Kit is attached to the foot with a plastic-handled bolt. The metal parts in the bolt handles bent during installation, and the cheap rivet holding one of the handles to its bolt sheared in two. There are plastic tabs in the handles that are supposed to fit into a slot on the Fit Kit parts, but 3 out of 4 tabs snapped off. Fortunately, the locks still manage to hold the handles onto the feet. The supplied measurements didn't work for our Prius, and we had to improvise.

Another disadvantage is that the aerodynamic bars need to be parallel with the ground, which doesn't happen if the vehicle's roof is curved (again, think Prius or VW bug.) This doesn't seem like an issue until the accessories are added to the bars, and they wind up tilted and not parallel front-to-rear. Since this results in only a single point of contact on the boat hull, this puts undue strain on the kayaks as well as the fittings holding the attachments to the bar. In this case, a round bar would work perfectly, as one could rotate the accessories until they're parallel and horizontal, supporting the boat across the entire pad. Due to the poor contact with the cradles, the boats are not secure while in the rack, and easily wobble 12" side-to-side. Plus, the amount of pressure needed on the straps to minimally hold the boat in the cradles deforms the hull. Bow/Stern tiedowns are crucial to avoid highway fly-aways.

We've got a Yakima rack on our pickup truck, and it works like a charm. I regret not purchasing a Yakima rack system for the Prius instead of Thule.

If you have a flat-roof vehicle, like a station wagon or SUV, the Thule Aero system would probably work very well for you. Curved roof, think round bars instead.

Great Rack
I use this rack on my Hummer H1 with oversized tires. Even if I am going through the most gnarly terrain my bikes are secure and always arrive at the most remote riding areas ready to go! It even fords rivers; I have never had a problem.

Riding everywhere now
The Yakima rack installed easily. It works well and is convenient for casual riders who just want to throw a bike up on the roof and go. No need to take the front tire off and have the special quick release hardware on your front bike tire.

You can reuse key cores from other Yakima racks, which is a plus; however, these racks don't come with cores. I swapped my snowboard rack cores (which came free with the rack) to use on the bike rack. So, if you're both an avid skier/snowboarder and a biker, get the snowboard rack first to get the free key cores and save your money.

My only concern, which hasn't been realized yet, is that while you can lock the bike to the rack with the main A-frame grip bar, you can't actually secure the rack to your car. The rack is attached with three nut-and-bolt clamps, and basically any enterprising thief who looked closely enough could steal the entire rack or rack+bike in about 2 minutes.

If you have a mountain bike with beefy tires, they might not fit. That said, I think most casual mountain bikes would fit just fine. You might check the specs, first.

Solid and Reliable
These racks fit three aside on a Subaru Tribeca. Putting them together took about 45 minutes and yes there are spare parts for different rack styles. It is easy to load if you are over six foot and relatively strong. If under six foot you will likely need help loading if the car is an SUV. The big benefit to this style of rack is that you don't need to remove the front tire. The bikes are very stable on the rack at highway speeds there have been no problems. Yakima does put out a very reliable product. We recommend this rack system.

Great Rack!
This is the perfect rack for transporting one bike on top of my Subaru Forester XT. The product is well made and reasonably easy to assemble & install. My bike stays firm and secure even at highway speeds. All and all...this is a great rack!

YAKIMA RAPTOR AERO ROOFTOP BIKE RACK REVIEW
PUTTING TOGETHER THE RAPTOR AERO TOOK QUITE A BIT OF TIME (AND MORE COMPLEX THAN THE YAKIMA "FORKLIFT" RACK VIDEO I SAW IT SEEMS...I WOULD HAVE PREFERRED THE ''FORKLIFT" BUT THE FIT EXPERTS AT YAKIMA SAID THE RAPTOR AERO WAS BEST FOR MY WIFE'S VEHICLE). ONE REALLY NEEDS TWO PEOPLE TO GET THE BIKE SECURED AS THE CLOSING CLAMP THAT LOCKS THE BIKE UPRIGHT NEEDS LIFTED IN PLACE WHILE THE OTHER PERSON HOLDS THE BIKE UPRIGHT, SO IN THIS SENSE I DON'T FIND THE RACK ALL THAT CONVENIENT. I AM A SIX FOOTER AND I STILL NEEDED A GOOD STEP UP JUST TO CLOSE THE CLAMPING ARM ONCE THE BIKE WAS IN PLACE. THE RACK WILL BE LEFT IN PLACE ON OUR VEHICLE SINCE IT IS A BIT OF A HASSLE TO PUT ON. IT DOES LOOK PRETTY NICE ONCE IT'S IN PLACE. WE HAD TO MOVE THE RAIL THE BIKE WHEELS FIT IN UP A FEW INCHES IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO OPEN FULLY OUR REAR HATCH ON OUR VEHICLE...SOMETHING YAKIMA DOES NOT COMPLETELY ENDORSE. ONCE WE HAD OUR BIKES UP ON THE RACKS, DESPITE WOBBLES AND OUR BIKES NOT BEING COMPLETELY STRAIGHT UP AND DOWN, THE RACKS DID WHAT WE HAD INTENDED, THAT IS WE GOT THEM FROM POINT A TO POINT B ALL IN ONE PIECE (ABOUT 800 MOSTLY FREEWAY MILES) SO IN THAT SENSE THE RAPTOR AERO(S) PERFORMED AS THEY SHOULD...HOPE THIS HELPS IN YOUR DECISION MAKING-KEEP ON BIKIN'!

Effective
This trunk mounted bike rack works nicely on my 2011 Mustang, just be careful to set every strap. I have only used it with one bike. It can hold two.

2 Bike Car Rack
Not sure how to rate the bike rack as it was a gift but I am rating the shipping and the way it was packaged. I received it with a 12" hole broken in the box and it was not packaged in a outer box so the gift was revealed and sitting on my front porch. I would recommend a different shipping and packaging as this was not satisfactory.

Works as advertised
Product worked very well and was fairly easy to mount. We got the 2 bike version but only mounted one bike and it rode very well, even though the car was very small. Due to our car geometry (Nissan Sentra) and large size of bike, we had to use the outer cradle to mount the bike as the inner cradle put the bike up against the trunk lid. However, we use ours only for one bike and it worked great. Made a 200 mile round trip with it and had no problems whatsoever.

Great bike rack at a good price
Transports our bikes perfectly. The bikes have not gotten marred and they do not sway at all. Held securely in place during our 500 mile trip. Not a single problem with this bike rack at all. I would highly recommend this to anyone thinking about getting a bike rack.

Not a very good quality rack.
I purchased this rack from my local bike shop about a year and a half ago. I liked that it was adjustable (I have a Nissan Maxima with a spoiler, which it just barely clears), and that it was cheap. I used it for a while with just one bike on it, and had no problems... at first.

A few months ago, I had my bike and my girlfriend's on it to go to the Grand Canyon from Santa Barbara, CA, which is about a 7 hour drive. On the way there, the saddles of the rack began to shift a bit on the poles they are attached to. I thought nothing of it until the drive home, when the bike in the rear-most position began wobbling noticeably in my rear-view mirror. I pulled over, and found that the saddles were slipping down the poles, working their way toward the ends. I had to take the bikes off three times on the drive and wrestle the saddles back to their normal positions. On a recent 10-hour drive, I had to tie my bike's seat post to the vertical pole on the rack so it wouldn't do the same thing. I no longer trust the rack with more than one bike on it, especially since I came home from the Grand Canyon with fresh pedal scratches all over the back of my car.

Another thing is that the rubber straps became too stretched out and began popping off their attachments. Another problem is that the weight of two bikes caused the rack to make a big depression in my bumper, which luckily popped out again once the bikes came off. You also can't really open your trunk with a bike on the rack, because you have to slam it really hard to get it to latch again with the rack hitting the bumper.

To sum up, I really don't like this rack, and I wish I had a trailer hitch or roof racks so I could get a real bike rack. Hollywood sucks.