Yakima Hold-Up 1.25 in - 2008 BCS

Intuituve and ingenius, yet simple, design makes this the best rack fo your money. The metal is solid yet light enough, est. 42-45 pounds, to transport into the house when not in daily use. Took 10 minutes to assemble out of the box, not looking at the directions. Takes literally 10-20 seconds to load/unload 1-2 bikes first try. Bikes won't move, sway, or budge if you push down on the locking arm and tighten the wheel strap. That means no more scratches to your vehicle paint or the bike finish. And no more studying your rear view mirror in anticipation of the loosening of your precisous cargo. Swings down to let give the dogs easier, albeit side access, into the hatch. With my Jeep Grand Cherokee, I can have the rack the folded upright position and enter the hatch through the rear window. Also can reach into the hatch when the bikes are on or off in the carrying position pretty easily. Haven't tested the bottle opener, but the lock is a seet feature. It's too short to get through two bikes AND lock to your receiver, however, it secures 1 bike or the rack itself just fine. I use the $16 Yakima loop cable to get the extra distance. Since you are front loading staight on, it's very easy to lift and place bikes into the wheel cups. The swing arms are simple to use by depressing the button and pulling into position, however they seem to be the least sturdy of the materials used in this rack. The rubber around the key entry is prematurely scuffed though. If it's anything like my 7 year old Yakima car top kayak rack, it will "hold up" through years of weather and use. Go to Yakima site and get a video tutorial of how to install and use and then go uby the last rack you'll ever use.

I was using a Thule roof rack on a 2002 Honda Civic until that car got totaled earlier this summer. For various reasons I did not want to put a roof rack on the new car (a 2009 Civic) so I started looking at hitch-mounted racks. We already have a Thule T2 rack on my wifes CR-V, and it is great until you try to put a 29er on it - the arm that swings over the front tire does not extend high enough to clear a 29er tire. There are workarounds to make it work, but the arm going over the front tire on this rack does clear my 29er tire (although it is rubbing on the largest volume tires that I have used).

Key features: great for 29ers; folds up into a compact size (smaller than the T2), drops down with bikes loaded to allow access to trunk, with bikes unloaded swings up 90 degrees. Plus, for compact cars like mine, the rack is raised a little bit above the level of the hitch, which gives some necessary additional ground clearance.

Cons: the only thing that is not ideal with this rack is the included cable lock. The cable is not long enough to pass through the frame of my bike and both wheels and still lock fasten into the position where it also locks the hitch onto the car. I ended up buying a Yakima Hitchlock that I never remove to keep the rack locked to the car; with the hitchlock in place, there is an additional locking point on the rack closer to the bike (and easier to access) that lets me securely lock the bike to the rack. I think the cable is still a little short for two bikes though.

Overall: the Hold-Up Its a great rack - my wife wishes that this had been available when we were shopping for hers. A couple of friends have bought this rack after seeing mine.

We bought this hitch mount for our expensive full suspension mountain bikes, and they work great. No need to worry about adapter bars or anti-rotation brackets. This rack simply works. Mounting and dismounting were a snap, and the bikes feel very secure.
The few minor nitpicks are that there's a slight rattle when the rack is folded up not in use, and the rubber material on the StrongArm hooks is quite weak and wears away quickly with any frame/fork contact.