Swagman UPRIGHT Roof Mount Bike Rack

This type of rack has been around a long time, and works well if you, like me, require a roof rack and prefer keeping the front wheel on the bike while it’s being transported. The rack arm grips the bike’s down-tube, holding it upright, and then a wheel strap in front and in back keeps everything in place. The knob for tightening the arm comes with a key lock, so the bike can be locked to the vehicle. Whether this is an adequate theft deterrent depends a lot on how long you leave the bike on top of the car, where you’re parked, and if you can keep it in view. Remember, the rack itself does not lock to the roof, so a would-be thief just needs to remove the rack (five thumb screws) to make off with the rack and the bike. So I give the locking feature three stars. It’s enough to deter an opportunist. Not enough to deter a determined thief. But on the other hand, most bike locks can be defeated in seconds or minutes with a battery powered grinder. So deterrence is probably about all you can hope for anyway.Carrying a bike: Set the bike on its wheels atop the rack’s wheel tray. Then lift the arm up to the bike’s down-tube, and tighten it around the down-tube. Finally, place a strap through the wheel tray in front and in back, securing each strap around the bike’s wheel. It’s pretty easy, and doesn’t take long.Assembly: This step consists of six bolts with nuts and washers, two end caps, and a little measuring to make sure you’re accommodating your car’s rack correctly. It takes a half hour or so.Installation: This step consists of three U-bolts, six thumb screws with washers, and some more measuring and fiddling to get everything lined up right. This takes ten or fifteen minutes the first time. Subsequent installations should take around five to seven minutes.Comparison to “name brand” racks: This rack is sturdy enough. Maybe not quite as heavy a metal gauge as a high end rack, but strong enough and secure enough. Assembly is no fun. It’s like the “ready to assemble furniture” experience but for bike racks. A name-brand rack would come further assembled, and with more refined parts.Additionally, installation takes longer than a name brand rack would since you have to screw on several U-bolts. Typically the name brand products have more convenient mounts. And of course they cost 2x to 3x as much as this rack does.One note about the rack’s overall bike carrying strategy: This rack does require making contact with the bike’s frame where it clamps around the down tube. For nice bikes, and particularly for carbon fiber bikes, you’re probably better off with solutions that only make contact with the wheels (examples include the Yakima Front Loader and Top Loader). For steel or aluminum bikes, and bikes where you’re less concerned with signs of having been rack-carried, this is fine. I have three racks on top of my car; two Front Loaders, for the nicer bikes, and this one which I use for the kid bike. You can mitigate the wear that the clamp will cause by putting a cloth around the down tube where contact is made. But I probably still wouldn’t use this on a lightweight carbon fiber frame.Four stars: It is inexpensive, strong enough, and gets the job done without any fuss. It would be five if the mounting and assembly were easier.

I bought two racks and made great use of them for just over a year, until I ran my car through a car wash and broke them. It was nobody’s fault other than my own, I know you’re not supposed to run your car through the wash with these racks up top but I was being lazy whatever lesson learned. These racks worked amazing for the year I had them, and for the price I paid the value can’t be beat. They’re relatively easy to assemble and set up, and they look pretty great sitting on top of the car without a bike. Once your bike is on and strapped in, the knob has a key hole so that your bike doesn’t come loose with wind, and so no one can unload your bike if you’re parked and not near your car. The material used began to degrade and the color did fade over some time. Then again, they’re entry level, I think some people in the reviews forget they get what they pay for. I had never had a problem with these racks driving up and down California and over mountainous roads with two bikes on the roof of my car. Your bike(s) is safe so long as you assemble the unit properly and lock your bike in as well. Now, you get what you pay for; on most drives, you will hear an unsettling creaking coming from the roof. That’s the most of your worries with these racks but for the price, it is what it is. I probably won’t order these models again now that I have a bit more experience with hauling my bikes, I’ll look into moving up the model line to see what would work better this second time around.