Fat Tire E-Bike swing away carrier?

[AndrewInSeattle]

Originally Posted by BrianW

Well, I take back my earlier comment. The Yakima FullSwing rack is rated for 160 pounds (surprisingly). I have this rack on my SMB and like it a lot.

But they also specify a 40 pound max per bike. Thule's offerings advertise 35 pounds. It seems funny to me, but a per-bike limit suggests their straps wouldn't be strong enough for a 50+ pound e-bike. I'm aiming for something to carry 2 e-bikes, and am considering this, but wish I knew what this 40 pound limit was all about, especially since everyone says carrying 4 bikes on the FullSwing is "optimistic", better to do only 2 or 3. Would adding some extra straps be sufficient?

Originally Posted by ShuttlePilot

This is less a recommendation and more of a, I don't think this will work for you even if modified, post. I've been using a Rocky Mounts Backstage swing away since last summer and it works for my needs but I don't think it could handle two 65lb E Bikes. Especially if you added an extension to clear the Aluminess goodies. Not to mention if you go off road with it. Normally my bike on the rack weighs around 50lbs as I will remove the battery, rear bag, and seat while on the rack. With my bike and another regular mountain bike it seems to be at the limit of what the Backstage can handle. When going off road I'll put ratchet straps down to the bumper for stability and if it's really, really rough I'll fold my bike and just put it in the van.

Just wanted to perhaps save you some time if you were considering the Rocky Mounts Backstage. For what your looking for I think you need something stronger. It's a very nice, sturdy rack and compared to some not quite as expensive for a swing away.

After lots of research, I'm this close to getting the BackStage, but this is the first warning I've seen about its suitability for 2 heavy bikes. I don't have any goodies on the back, so don't plan to use an extender, and also expect to store the batteries inside, so it would be about 50# each. When you say it's near the limit on yours, what actually starts to give? We'd probably take these on forest service washboarded roads, but nothing super-rough.

[rltilley]

I ride heavy bikes these days. The two that get the most miles are a Surly fat bike and a Tumbleweed offroad touring bike. Both weigh in at about 38 lbs unloaded.

I carry these on my Aluminess swingarm on 1up racks attached to the Deluxe box but it's a pain to get them up there since they are heavy bikes. I picked up a Kuat (Rakattach) swingaway hitch mount and will buy a 1up hitch rack to attach to that. Right now I use a Thule rack on the Kuat.

The Kuat/1up combo will be very robust. I can't see any problem with two 50 lb bike on that. Not cheap though.

[REF]

I was researching swing away carriers recently for our new fat tire electric folding Rad Minis and reached out to rak attach for some info, here’s the reply I got. Waiting to get anything till these come out to check the specs.

Hi Rick,
Thanks for you interest in the RakAttach.
At this time, we are redesigning out XL version to make sure we distribute the load optimally across the hitch.
We are planning to use an accessory support bracket with the XL version to help reduce the strain when the unit is open.
I am currently out of stock in the long arm version, hopefully in the spring we will be ready to go.
Thanks!
Walter

[BrianW]

We have a Yakima Backswing swingarm attachment that we use on our SMB along with a Yakima Dr Tray platform bike rack. The Backswing has a weight limit of 250 pounds, so you may want to check that out. We don’t have Aluminess boxes, but do have the spare tire on the rear door and the Dr Tray/Backswing combo works fine.

https://www.yakima.com/backswing

[oclv]

After two rack systems, we ended up with a two bicycle
1-Up rack. We saw it on most off road displays at the Overland Expo in Flagstaff, last spring. We also bought a Hitch Swing, by Wilco Offroad. Very heavy duty and designed for off road use. The 1-Up ond Hitch Swing work great together!