Raxter Hitch Mount Carrier Review
 

Ive owned a bunch of bike transportation devices. A Swagman, Thule, a couple of Saris's.. But I saw a name pop up here a while back that I wasn't familiar with, Raxter, and thought I'd take a closer look at their products.

The Raxter bike carrier is quite a bit different from the standard fare offered by nearly everyone which consists of some sort of J shaped hook for the front wheel that locks it in place and a strap to hold the rear wheel down. This design works, some better than others.. if it didn't, no one would be used it.

The Raxter take on bike transportation involves two folding arms that you secure the wheels with via velcro straps. Yep.. Velcro.. Yep, I was skeptical. However, it's Raxter's simplicity that make it ingenious. Because of the design of the two arms, the Raxter has a feature they call AutoNesting which essentially allows you to adjust the bikes fore and aft on the rack, allowing you to carry a multitude of combinations of bikes on one rack. Ive loaded road bikes, mountain bikes, a 29'er mountain bike and combinations of all the previously mentioned with no problems whatsoever thanks to AutoNesting.

Below are some photos that take you from unpacking the rack to loading up some bikes. After the photos, I'll weigh in one a few more features the Raxter has along with some final thoughts on the unit.

The Raxter ships in two boxes.

http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/q...xter/001-1.jpg

Upon unpacking the boxes and examining the content, most of the assembly work is done for you at the factory.

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Literally you put in and tighten 5 bolts and you're done. It took me no more than 10 minutes from start to finish to unpack and assemble the rack.

http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/q...xter/005-1.jpg

One thing that's very cool about the Raxter is that it can be installed and removed with no tools using a pushbutton assembly in the hitch insert. Essentially you just depress the button and slide it into the hitch receiver and push it until the button springs out of the pin hole in the receiver. Viola'! You're ready to go.

The downside to doing this, however, is it doesnt lock the rack into place against the side of the receiver and it does allow the rack to sway a little. It's really no worse than the Saris Cycle On Pro using their toolless hitch system but I opted for the optional antisway nut and locking pin instead. After trying out the autolocating feature, I removed the assembly from the rack and inserted the antisway nut. Again, super easy.

Here's the Raxter installed on my car.

http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/q...Raxter/001.jpg

Note that the rack does fold up. Unlike Saris, who uses a pin to allow the rack to fold up and down (They do that on both the Thelma and the CycleOn) and Thule that uses a complicated folding mechanism, Raxter simply uses another pushbutton and pivots on a bolt. Push the button in, fold the rack up, *CLICK*, it locks into place. To lower it back down, push the button in, swing the rack down, *CLICK*, it locks into place. Couldn't be simpler and again, requires no tools or pin removals.

Here's a shot of the button assembly.

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Here's the rack folded down with all the arms secured.

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Now it was time to load a bike up on the rack. Simply undo the velcro straps (4 per bike) and swing the arms up.

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Place the bike on the Raxter and swing the arms back until the wheel sits inside the trays on each arm. Here is where you can utilize the AutoNesting, by rolling the bike left and right on the rack until you get it in the desired position and then folding the arms in accordingly. By offsetting the arms in either direction, you can shift where the bike sits.

One thing worth noting is that unlike the Saris and the Thule, you can't "one hand rack" a bike on the Raxter. With the Saris and the Thule, you can sit the bike in the trays and it will be held upright. This doesnt happen with the Raxter. You can, however, roll the bike into whatever position you want it in and secure the rear wheel with it's arm and that will hold the bike in place while you secure the rest of it.

Here's my Pinarello on the Raxter. Notice the straps on the lower wheel trays. Thats to keep the bike from shifting in either direction going around corners, etc.

http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/q...Raxter/005.jpg

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Here's my Blue joining the Pinarello.

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Here's a side shot of everything so you can see how it's all spaced out.

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Final thoughts and conclusion

I was a little skeptical about the Raxter when I assembled it and put a bike on it. The front wheel has just a tad bit of wobble in it Originally I thought this was an issue with road bike tires since they are so thin. After trying my mountain bike and my 29'er, though, the wobble persisted and I pretty much wrote it off. I emailed Mike @ Raxter about the wobble and he confirmed it, told me it was no big deal and not to worry about it. Ive used the Raxter on two different occasions now traveling pretty good distances and everything has been great.

The Raxter also has a couple of other advantages over the competition. It's about 20#s lighter than both the Thule and the Saris equivalents. I'd bet the Thelma is lighter than the Raxter but as I no longer have my Thelma, I can't confirm that. Beings that the Thelma was junk, it's sort of a non issue anyway.

The Raxter is also cheaper than the competition. The double bike rack is $329 versus $379.00 for the Thule T2 and $359 for the Saris CycleOn. The CyleOn Pro, which has tool less installation is $439.99.

One thing worth mentioning is that the Raxter is not equipped with a way to lock the bikes to the rack. This could be easily resolved by adding a couple of steel loops somewhere on the rack to run a cable through. I just ran mine through both bikes and looped it around the rack a couple of times. Not as elegant but should be effective.

In the rack business, Raxter is definitely a dark horse. In my state (NC), there are no dealers so I assumed the odds of seeing one would be nil. I actually saw one at a ride I went to today, tho. I would wholeheartedly recommend the Raxter over pretty much any other rack Ive used. Every rack has it's own quirks.. some worse than others. My complaints with the Raxter are really trivial in comparison with the Thule and the Saris units. It holds the bikes very well, I didnt have to cut the crap out of the wheel trays to get the rack to fold up, it doesn't drag going down steep hills... I think it's going to be a keeper.

Great review! After I add a hitch to my car, this is the rack I will be buying.

Again, your review was very helpful, thank you.

Is the Raxter Rack easy to take on and off the car or do you just leave it on? I was wondering about how easy it is to put the locking mechanism on after the rack is installed. On Raxter's website they have sell a Hitch Collar which is suppose to make it easy to align the rack so the bolt goes through. Do you use the Hitch Collar?

I have the antisway setup on my rack and its about like any other rack. Uses a 3/4 wrench or socket and you just take it off. I have a locking pin so you have to unlock it of course.

Now if you use it the way they send it, it just slides in until the button pops out of the hitch hole. Literally a 30 second on and off affair.

I dont use the alignment collar.. Its a good idea but I dont think I could get it on my car as the hitch is tucked up under the car and there isnt enough of the receiver hanging down to clear the body.

Thanks for the great review.

Any thoughts on folding vs non-folding Raxter? I assume you got the folding so that the rack can be left on the car?

Do you think the Raxter could work for a touring bike with front & rear pannier racks and fenders? I'm guessing not, looks like the arms would clear the racks but the fenders would be a problem.

Thanks.