Today’s post is about adding this cool swing arm to our bike rack.

We’ve had this 1Up Bike Rack for over four years now and it has been great. Originally purchased for our Sprinter based Plateau TS, it transferred just fine to our Promaster Lexor TS.

Aluminum and stainless steel materials make a sturdy and light rack that has held up really well.

Folded up like this, it adds very little space when the bikes aren’t on. It was expensive, but made in the USA and it was only rack we found guaranteed to work with a hitch extender. We needed an extender to clear the rear mounted spare tire on the Plateau. That’s not an issue on the Lexor since there is no spare tire.

It folds down to allow the rear doors to open. Unfortunately, the bikes have to be removed from the rack to open the doors. The arms on the rack also fold inward so it takes up less room when stored off the van.

The 1Up rack extends about 28″ beyond the bumper.

Okay, 27 1/2″

The fitting has an anti-rattle bearing that secures the hitch. We also bought a hitch bar stop, so we always know how far to insert the bar into our trailer hitch.

Update: There is a newer version of this hitch bar that includes a slot for a hitch pin lock. Here’s a post with more information:
1Up Bike Rack Upgrade

A hitch bar lock prevents, or at least slows down, a thief from loosening the anti-rattle bearing and removing the bike rack.

So if we’re so happy with the rack, why add a swing arm? It is a safety and convenience issue. Since our bed is by the back doors, we want to be able to open the doors in case of a fire in the camper van. That means taking the bikes off every night and securing them to a picnic table or tree.

A hitch bar that swings away from the van would solve this problem.

Which arm to purchase? Pleased with 1Up, we looked at the RakAttach product they sell. We almost ordered it, but Jackie and David Polge, friends with the same van we have had just purchased a similar arm made by Kuat. In researching the two, it seems that Kuat also used to sell the RakAttach, but had recently made their own product with some features that make it easier to use.  The Kuat Pivot v2 has an attached locking system instead of a removable pin, extends beyond 90° and has an integrated lever that makes releasing the arm easy. Kuat also has a lifetime warranty where RakAttach limits their warranty to one year.

We decided on the Kuat and order it, with the driver side swing, from eTrailer. The box did not arrive in great shape. It was obvious that the box had been opened before.

Here’s how it is packed inside.

The only assembly required is to  attach the safety latch which involves five allen screws. It was evident that someone had tried this hitch and returned it. There was no real damage, so we decided to go ahead and install it.

Here is the assembled hitch inserted in the 2″ receiver on the van.

This hitch also has an anti-rattle feature, using a foot instead of a bearing. Once inserted, the foot is tightened inside the hitch with an (included) allen wrench.

From behind, the Pivot blends in with the back bumper.

From a van’s eye perspective you can see the pivot, the release lever and the safety lock.

We slid the bike rack in as far as it would go to minimize the length of the van.

It is just under 39″ from the bumper so we gained 10″ of length.

It also gained about 2″ of height.

Folded up, it obstructs the view of our license plate. To solve that we purchased a license plate holder from 1Up.

It is version 2 of their design with a feature that lets you switch the angle of the plate by ninety degrees to match the orientation of the rack.

Here it is folded down with the rack ready to receive bicycles.

Here we are loaded and ready to go.

Viewed from the side you can see the extra length from the black Kuat Pivot v2.

A close up of the hitch shows the entire mechanism as secured for travel.

To open the right hand back door we just need to move the hitch a little bit out of the way.

Swing arms are available in driver or passenger side versions. We chose the driver side for two reasons. First, the rear door we usually access is the passenger door.  Second, the propane fill is located on the rear passenger side and we didn’t want anything interfering with that.

Opening the right door gives us easy access to storage under the couch/bed and will allow for emergency egress.

The Pivot swings over ninety degrees, allowing both back doors to open. It doesn’t swing away far enough to allow the left hand door to  open more than 90°, but it still offers full access to the van interior.

We feel good about the set-up. Not only is it more convenient, but we will sleep better knowing we can escape out the back doors if needed.