OR - Yakima SwingDaddy Bike Rack - Kathy Waters

Dear Editors,

 

Dreary weather!  Here's another OR for your editing pleasure.  HTML is in
the OR test folder at:  http://tinyurl.com/owcsbpm

 

Text is below.  I await your edits and comments.

 

Thanks for your hard work!

 

Kathy

__________________________________________AKIMA SWINGDADDY BIKE RACK   

Yakima Logo 

BY KATHLEEN WATERS 

November 15, 2014   

 OWNER REVIEW   

 

TESTER INFORMATION   

 

NAME:    Kathleen Waters   

 EMAIL:    kathy at backpackgeartest dot com   

 AGE:    63   

 LOCATION:    Canon City, Colorado, USA   

 GENDER:    F   

 HEIGHT:    5' 4" (1.60 m)   

 WEIGHT:    125 lb (56.70 kg)   

 

Living in Colorado and being self-employed, I have ample opportunities to
backpack. There are over 700,000 acres/280,000 hectares of public land
bordering my 71-acre/29-hectare "backyard" in addition to all the other
gorgeous locations which abound in Colorado. Over the past 15 years, my
husband John and I have also had the good fortune to hike/snowshoe glaciers,
rain forests, mountains and deserts in exotic locations, including New
Zealand, Iceland, Costa Rica, Slovenia and Death Valley. My hiking style is
comfortable, aiming for lightweight. I use a tent (rainfly if needed).
Current pack averages 25 lb (11 kg) excluding food and water.  

 

PRODUCT INFORMATION   

 

 

 

Manufacturer: Yakima

Year of Manufacture: 2013

Manufacturer's Website: http://www.yakima.com

MSRP: US $ 399.00

Listed Weight: 50.60 lb (23 kg)

Measured Weight: 53 lb (24 kg)

Measured and Verified Dimensions: L 39.50" X W 11.00" X H 44.00" (75 x 28 x
112 cm)

 

Other details: From Manufacturer's website and instructions

 

* Swings away with bikes loaded for complete access to vehicle.

* ZipStripsT to secure bikes to the rack .

* Tool-free SpeedKnobT tightens and locks the rack to car. 

* Anti-sway cradles eliminate bike-to-bike contact.

* Comes pre-assembled out of the box

* Comes with integrated bottle opener

* Carries up to 4 bikes with a maximum of 40 lb (18 kg) each

* 2" (5 cm) hitch receiver only. 

 

* Covered by Yakima's "Love It Til You Leave It" Limited Lifetime Warranty 

SwingDaddy Opened 

Pictures Courtesy of Yakima 

 

SwingDaddy Folded  

 

 

FIELD USE AND PERFORMANCE   

 

Last summer, my family and I were sitting around the campfire musing about
how having our bikes at our base camp would be useful and fun. Not having a
car rack for the bikes made those thoughts simply wishful thinking.

 

When Christmas time came around, I had the brilliant idea to gift the family
with a bike rack for the car. After much research, I settled on the Yakima
SwingDaddy, a car carrier for 4 bikes.

 

Christmas morning the BIG package was the center of attention and was a
bigger hit when the wrapping paper was torn off and SwingDaddy was revealed.
Once the festivities died down a bit, my son, Shawn, and I took the
SwingDaddy outside to see how it would fit on his JEEP which is equipped
with the required 2" (5 cm) hitch. (I found out that the leasing company
would not allow a hitch on our leased Subaru Forrester. Dang!)

 

Quite frankly, I found the SwingDaddy to be a bit unwieldy and heavy to work
with, so I let my son do the initial installation. Once installed however, I
found I can easily attach and detach the bikes as well as remove the rack
from the car if I have to. However, with a "kid" around to do it, I
generally delegate such physical chores. Besides for the sake of pictures,
someone (me) had to work the camera and Shawn is more photogenic anyway!

 

Since a picture is said to be worth a thousand words, I thought I'd save
10,000 written ones with the following pictures from the initial
installation Christmas 2013 afternoon.

 

 

 

Reading Directions 

Step to any project - Read Directions! 

 

SpeedKnob Base 

Base with SpeedKnob is attached to hitch 

 

 

Rack Bar 

Vertical rack bar is attached to SpeedKnob 

 

Rack is mounted 

Horizontal bike rack is attached 

 

 

Almost Read for Bikes 

Almost ready for bikes 

 

Putting the first bike on 

First bike going on SwingDaddy 

 

 

Second Bike on SwingDaddy 

Second bike on SwingDaddy 

 

Tightening it all up 

Tightening it all up 

 

 

SwingDaddy opened away from Car 

SwingDaddy opened for cargo access 

 

Cargo door opened with SwingDaddy 

Cargo is fully accessable with SwingDaddy installed 

 

 

The installation went fairly quickly - about 20 minutes even though the
directions were sort of cryptic at times. And once the SwingDaddy was
completely installed and tightened up, we checked out the "swing" open and
close function of the SwingDaddy and were really pleased with the ease of
operation. It was particularly exciting to see that we had full access to
the complete cargo space of the JEEP. There is no need to have to squirm
into a small opening and squish gear under or around the SwingDaddy. 

Oh yeah, the very last frame of the installation direction pictorials shows
the location of the bottle openers! Cheers! The SwingDaddy is ready to go!

 

 

 

Demo of SwingDaddy bottle opener 

SwingDaddy rewards job well done with bottle opener 

 

 

 

 

 

Bikes Ready for action in AZ 

Getting bikes ready for action in Superstition Mountains, AZ 

 Since the SwingDaddy was installed, it's been on the car about 25% of the
time. We use it often for close-in biking destinations, and day trips.
Multi-day trips included a 5-day base camp in the Superstition Mountain near
Phoenix, Arizona and a 4-day base camp in the Great Sand Dunes National Park
and Preserve in south central Colorado. Temperatures ranged from freezing to
over 100 F (38 C) 

 

Roads traveled on ranged from rural dirt roads to interstate highways with
probably the farthest distances covered on interstates where the speed
limits exceed 65 mph (105 kph), but a good portion of the miles/kilometers
during this time period being on roads with lower speed limits averaging
45-50 mph (72-81 kph). As advised by Yakima, we never took the SwingDaddy
off-road and when on bumpy dirt roads, we drive slowly, 5-10 mph (8-16 kph)
max.

 

How the SwingDaddy Performed on the Road

 

In a word "GREAT!" Oh, I need to explain? Sure!

 

On our first outing, we mounted all four bikes - son Shawn's, his wife
Julia's, mine and then granddaughter Jillian's with the heaviest, largest
bike loaded on first - to the SwingDaddy. Checked and re-checked all
tightened parts and slowly backed out of the driveway all the while looking
back at the bikes crowding the rear window. One block away from the house,
we were pulling over to re-check everything as the bikes seem to really be
wobbling. All looked good so we were off trying not to constantly think
about bikes scattered on the interstate and the ensuing insurance claims! 

 

Well, we really didn't need to worry, everything was just fine (the next 5-6
times we checked) and after that first trip, we never looked back -
literally! The bikes wobble, but they don't fall down (name that toy! -
Weebles, for the under 30 set). A pleasant surprise was that there isn't any
"whistling" noise from the rack, either.

 

It's so simple to move the SwingDaddy out of the way when we need to get our
gear out of the rear cargo area of the JEEP. It's just a simple "twist,
pull, then click" and the whole kit and caboodle swings to the right. So
nice!

 

The only downside of the SwingDaddy Bike Rack - and this has been addressed
with the latest model - is the need for aftermarket accessories to insure
total security of the four bikes. As our SwingDaddy was installed, while no
one could remove one bike easily, they could, theoretically, remove the
whole danged vertical bar with the rack and the four bikes by simple pulling
out a connector pin. Since that would involve lifting up roughly 200 lb (91
kg) of unwieldy metal and carrying it away, I'm not too worried about that
possibility!  

 

STARRING ATTRACTIONS   

 

1.) Fairly easy to assemble right out of the box.

2.) Holds our 4 various-sized bikes securely.

3.) Gives us complete and easy access to the rear contents of our vehicle

4.) Allows us to take our bikes anywhere!  

 

MINOR DISTRACTIONS   

 

1.) Security of the bikes on the rack is lacking.without after market
purchases. (This has been addressed in the newest model though.)  

 

SUMMARY   

 

The Yakima SwingDaddy Bike Rack is one Christmas gift that will be around
for many Christmases to come! It has really opened up a whole new world of
adventures when we travel to a base camp. Quick to install and easy to use,
we've gotten quite fond of the SwingDaddy. And when we are not needing it
for an extended period of time, the SwingDaddy stores neatly and compactly
in the garage. I only wish it would support 5 bikes!

 

Kathleen (Kathy) Waters