I have carried two bikes on the Swagman hanging off the back of my Honda CR-V for more than 10,000 miles and across 20 states.

In regards to the Swagman bike rack on the Honda CR-V, there are two hitch pin holes in the rack. The tire does stick out too far to use the hole that brings the bikes closest to the vehicle. So, you have to use the second hole which pushes the bikes out further. Not a big deal but it can make it more likely that the bikes will drag the ground on a steep incline.

I do have a somewhat unusual installation, however. As Dad noted, I had a trailer shop weld a two-inch receiver on the bottom of the stock one-inch Honda receiver mount. This allows me to use receivers of both sizes. It cost me less than $40 ($20-something for the two-inch receiver and then another $20 worth of labor) and has added a lot of flexibility.

I like the two-inch receiver because it has more surface area. The additional surface area makes for less side to side wobble for the bike rack. There is more torsional stiffness.

Here is a detailed view of the two hitch pin holes in the Swagman bike rack.

You can also check out a detailed veiw of my Honda CR-V two-inch receiver with the Yakima four-bike rack inserted.

All that said about the Swagman model I had, the new Yakima four-bike rack is a far better design.

Cheers,
Matt

My other son’s CRV has a spare tire mounted on the back and he uses the rack successfully.

The CRV trailer hitch uses the smaller receiver and he wanted to use the 2″ rack, so he had the installer weld a 2″ receiver UNDER the factory mount. (He knew he would never HAUL anything heavy enough to go over the hitch limits, but he wanted the ability to use 2″ stuff.)

I’ll email him to see if his receiver gives him any extra clearance or if the rack fit right out of the box.

I do have one concern. I have a Honda CRV with a spare tire and am concerned that the hitch mount will not provide enough clearance for the spare tire. Yakima’s web site indicates not to use a hitch extension with their bike mounts. Did you experience this issue or a need for a hitch extension for the CRV in your picture above?

I do not want to purchase a spare tire mounted rack, but am concerned that it is my only option.

I appreciate thoughts from your experience.
Thanks!

Stuff that involves splashing and running gets blurry for me.

As far as the trestle story, is THAT the reason one of your friends never came by again?

Correction: The bike rack was a present for my first INTERNATIONAL distance triathlon, not my first one. I’ve completed a few sprints and made it 2/3 through a Half IronMan.

I don’t remember getting to play under any trains as a kid, but you and mom really didn’t shelter us as badly as the kids now-a-days are.

Remind me (or not) to tell you the story of walking our bikes across the railroad bridge over the canal between West Palm Beach and Lake Worth. It’s all fun until you see the light coming.

Adam

You could probably strap it to the roof of your car, but (A) I’d hate to be following behind you and (B) I bet you’d end up scratching the paint, even if you went to all the trouble of putting padding up there.

Mr. Keefer, Sir,

Rambling, indeed. Guilty. That’s why I put the digression warning in there.

In retrospect, I wish I HAD dealt with the digression as a separate post. The more I thought about it, the more I think that it is a valid topic for biking discussion.

Except for Scouts and Little League, there weren’t many organized activities for kids when I was growing up. We hiked, camped, fished, rode all over town on our bikes and generally tried out best to stay out of sight and control of grownups until supper time.

To us, the world wasn’t a scary place. It was somewhere to explore and have fun.

I have lots of stories about how dad let me do all kinds of things that would be considered too risky these days, but he made sure I understand the dangers involved and gave me credit for knowing just how far to go.

Letting me crawl under train cars, shinny up crane booms, work on moving conveyor belts and crawl all over heavy equipment gave me confidence that was invaluable as a news photographer.

I was lucky to have a father who got to play with life-size Tonka toys.

It helps if you make up a topic before you start writing.

Spending a ten-year-old life knocking the bottom out of gravel trains would be a dynamite post in and of itself.

When I was 10-years-old my dad took me to the WMCA and beat the hell out of me at handball. It was no fun, but it was not life-threatening.

That wouldn’t make much of a post.

I’d tell you a story, but I’m listening ot Aerosmith and I have my on blog.

Keep writing.

cmk

On rare occasions when I’d like to carry a bike and luggage and such, I wonder if I could strap the bike onto the roof rack without bike parts scratching the heck out of my roof.

Your childhood memories make me recall some stuff I did as a kid and wonder how we all survived before all these safety agencies and warnings were invented.

Nice service on the “nastygram.” They DO help. I bought a chicken carrying a label bragging about their superior birds. It came with two necks, so I sent a sarcasticgram making fun of their “superior” birds. Because of my tone, I didn’t expect a reply, and was surprised when I got a coupon for a free chicken.