This heavy-duty 4-bike rack is perfect for carrying electric bikes and bikes with carbon frames or custom paint jobs. Tiered trays prevent bike-to-bike contact and add ground clearance for backing down steep driveways. Tilts with bikes loaded.
Features:
Specs:
Note: May interfere with bikes with front fenders.
The StageTwo carries 4 bikes, however the front 2 positions can be easily removed so there's less of a load on you and your vehicle if only 2 people are going riding. When it's not needed, simply remove the front section with the included tool and throw it in your trunk or leave it at home. To convert the rack to carry 2 bikes, simply remove the handle from the bike rack base, remove the add-on, then reinstall the handle. A single bike add-on (sold separately) lets you convert the rack into a 3-bike carrier.
The Stage 2 has ratcheting hooks that grab your bikes firmly by the front wheel, so it won't scratch or scuff the paint. To load a bike, simply place your front wheel in the cradle, rotate the arm up and over the wheel, and press down firmly on the ratcheting hook. To unload your bike, press the button on the upright arm to release the ratcheting hook, and slide the hook up.
The wheel trays have cradles with ratcheting straps to secure your rear wheel to the rack. The cradles slide along the tray to accommodate bikes with a variety of wheelbases. To secure your wheel, run the strap over the rim and back down through the strap buckle and pull tight. To remove your bike, press the quick-release button on the buckle and undo the strap.
The StageTwo has stadium-style, tiered trays that hold your bikes at different levels to help avoid bike-to-bike contact. The increased angle also adds ground clearance for backing down steep driveways.
The rack tilts down with your bikes loaded. So, whether you're at the trail or the grocery store, you don't have to remove your bikes to access your cargo area. It also folds up when not in use. This leaves a smaller footprint, so you can keep the rack on your vehicle to park in your garage. And if you want to remove it, it doesn't take up as much space to store it.
To make tilting and folding easier, the release lever is mounted on the front of the rack. This means you won't have to reach through or around your bikes with one hand to reach the lever, while supporting the rack's weight with the other, when lowering the rack. Instead, you'll be able to hold the rack with both hands the entire time.
The rack quickly installs in your hitch receiver, without the need for tools. Just slide the shank into your hitch and turn the knob until snug. Turning the knob deploys an anti-rattle wedge in the shank to help take play out of the hitch connection. Insert the safety pin into the hitch pin hole to help prevent the shank from sliding in the receiver.
The rack includes locks to secure your bikes to the rack and the rack to your vehicle. Integrated cable locks thread around your bikes' frames and inserts into the lock at the top of each arm. The cables store inside the arms when not in use.
The lock on the hand knob secures the rack to your vehicle. The hand knob will spin freely when locked so a would-be thief can't operate it. The locks are keyed alike, so you only need to use 1 key.
Alternate Instructions
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Yakima designed a pretty nice high quality bike rack. This is the StageTwo. This is gonna be for your mountain bikes but also your road bikes. The kids' bikes are gonna work as well. And if you have an electric bike, it's gonna work with that too. After I assembled the bike rack, I realized that it's extremely solid.
That's pretty much what you get when you have such a heavy bike rack. This thing's about 95 pounds in the four bike configuration. The angle you see right here is a stadium style system. So it's gonna give us a lot of different clearance for some of the trails you might be going on or just the steep driveway that you may have at your house but it's also gonna help with the bikes. So notice if we we're to have all these in the same exact plane, it would promote some contact with our handlebars, our seats, and our tires.
Sometimes you had to play Tetris with your bikes to get them on to where they fit, right But with this, I just grabbed the bike I wanted to put on whichever cradle and it all just works. I just like that. Just because loading up isn't the fun part, it's riding and this just makes it a lot easier. So I do like how easy it was to find a spot and load up my bikes. You don't have to worry about your frame getting damaged.
We do have some pretty frames here right here and here. Just because we don't have any frame contact. So also for your carbon fiber frame bikes, the wheel hook design is ideal for those just because we don't even have to touch the frame. And we have noticed that this mechanism works a lot better than some of the competitors, literally all of them that I've used here at etrailer. Sometimes they're a little difficult to press in, but the button's pretty big.
And I think a lot of it has to do with the metal grooves right here. Some of 'em are just plastic. So over time they start to kind of wear down. This just feels extremely solid. For on road applications, we're gonna have a capacity of 60 pounds, 60 pounds, 40 pounds and 40 pounds. But if you do plan on going off road, that is gonna cut it down a little bit. So we're gonna go all the way down to 36 for these two closest to the vehicle and 24 for the outer cradles. I have all the bikes loaded up. We are gonna go through the test course and see how it's going to do on the road whenever you're taking it, wherever you want to go. Our test course is gonna simulate the speed bumps and potholes that you see on the road. The side to side maneuvers that you're seeing is just going to simulate the turns and stuff that you're doing whenever you're driving down the road. Well, that is our test course. So that's gonna just show you how it's going to maneuver whenever you're going, wherever you want to go. For you downhill bikers out there, a lot of the times it's hard to find a rack that's gonna work with that long wheelbase that you have. So the StageTwo actually has quite a big wheelbase compared to some of the others on our site, 52 inches. So you don't have to worry about not being able to put your downhill bike on here but also for the kids' bikes as well, there is a large range with our little frame hook right here. What allows that large range of the wheel diameters is just the setup of this arm, good job Yakima. It just has a massive range from 16 inches all the way to 29 inches. And another thing with the kids' bikes, the wheelbases are typically a lot smaller. So it all the way, it comes down quite a bit as well. So this is a pretty small bike and we just had a pretty big mountain bike on here. And what allows for all that wheelbase compatibility is just how this slides throughout the whole entire tray. So literally any bike you throw on here, it's gonna work. Out of the box, the StageTwo is gonna accept tire widths up to three and a quarter inches but there is a strap kit you can grab online separately which will accommodate for those fat tire bikes you may have. If you notice, you can't really see the taillights that well nor can you see the license plate. So we do have a kit sold separately for some taillights if you wanna stay legal. And also it's gonna give you a place for that license plate. Something to kind of think about if you've ran into an issue in the past. The StageTwo is a really good looking bike rack. It's gonna turn some heads. So for security reasons, they did put a lock in place here. This is just going to secure the rack to your hitch. So when you get back from the trails or back from grocery shopping whatever it may be, it's still gonna be there. We're gonna have a lock for every single bike. And the nice thing about it is it's not some sloppy cable. You can just take it, route it around, and then the core will end up on this little post right here. One thing to note though, if you are getting the four bike configuration of the StageTwo, likely the locking cores for the two add-ons aren't gonna be the same for the two up front. And it's also not gonna be the same down low by the shank. So you will have to get a locking core set if you want all the keys to be the same. A very important feature on a bike rack for me is the tilt away feature and where they located the handle for it is ideal. A lot of the other ones you have to reach through all your bikes, this one you don't. But the only negative thing we've heard from you online is that sometimes it's a little hard. It's not really a one hand thing. You kind of have to lift up on it a little bit and then pull it. And I have a decent amount of forearm strength but it is somewhat difficult and you kind of have to dodge your handlebars. So that is something to kind of think about but you kind of get that with any four bike rack that has the tilting feature. It just gets heavy, but luckily the handle's on the outside. So that is a plus and this is gonna allow us to access the back hatch without having to take all the stuff off. This is nice if you want to grab the scooters, grab your helmets or grab some of your gear. Maybe you're just going grocery shopping. Regardless, this is an awesome feature for a bike rack. It enables your vehicle to do exactly what it did before. Just haul four bikes too. It is gonna be kind of strenuous to get this back up, gonna have to lift with your legs but once you get it up to the certain point you might have to wiggle it a little bit but it will snap into place. Taking the bikes off is an absolute breeze. Start with the strap. And then we just take the arm, go up and out. And then you put this somewhere else. As we start to go deeper into the rack, we're gonna have to start kind of reaching over everything. So that's something to kind of think about but these first two are very, very simple. I think it's probably a great idea to grab the ramp. It's not gonna come with the kit but it will be an add-on that we have available on our site. It's pretty long. So in the completely retracted position, it's 38 and three quarter inches. And then when it's fully expanded it's 68 and a quarter, which is pretty good. So for the electric bikes, it is a little heavier. So if you have a little bit of issues after your ride, getting these things off the heavy bikes or you just wanna make it a little bit easier for the bikes that are a little bit closer to your vehicle, the ramp is gonna help with that. This is just much easier than lifting up a 60 pound e-bike, even without the battery. The ramp is something I would definitely add if that's a situation you kind of ran into. Not a lot of bike racks offer it, but the StageTwo does. For the bike that's closest to your vehicle instead of reaching over all those cradles, I found it easier to just go back here 'cuz there is a significant amount of room back there which is kind of nice especially on like this 4Runner that we're using. It has the roll down window. So you can have your bikes on there and you can walk back, grab stuff out like that but it just makes it really easy to take the bike on the closest cradle to the vehicle off. A couple useful measurements from the center of the hitch pin hole on your hitch receiver to the closest part which is right here when it's folded down, it's five and a half inches. But then going all the way out from that same exact point on your hitch receiver to here, it's 65 and a half inches. And this cradle right here, the farthest one away from your vehicle sits up 15 and a half inches higher than your hitch will be. We're gonna use the same exec latch. There's a thing on the bottom and the top. So whatever's best for you. And this is gonna allow us to tilt it up and it'll snap into place. When we fold it up, the distance of the closest part of the rack does not change. It's still five and a half inches from the center of the hitch pin hole to here. But then when we go all the way out, it's cutting down that length from 65 and a half all the way to 16 inches. So it's pretty low profile when it's upright. We have a pin right here. So this is gonna be a tool free installation. And it is connected. I like that cause I lose everything. So that's nice. And then this knob right here, one, it looks good. And two, it works really well. So as I loosen this up, you'll notice, look at all this play and then that's, it's kind of a lot. So if we tighten this up after we put this pin in, you'll see all that play kind of wiggle its way out. But I do suggest kind of wiggling this while we're tightening it. Just makes it a lot easier. It helps that set into place a little bit better. It does take a little bit of arm strength to do, but now it's rock solid. The StageTwo really shines in a couple different areas. I think it gives you more of a range when it comes to wheelbase and your tire diameters. And comparing this to an NV 2.0 which is a very popular rack. This one's gonna allow us to carry two e-bikes with two more bikes. So with the NV 2.0, with four bikes we're gonna have 40, 40, 40, 40, but with the StageTwo we have 60, 60, 40, 40. So you can still carry those e-bikes but also bring two other bikes with you. That is one thing that the StageTwo kind of shines at. And another thing comparing it to the Thule T2, I just think this looks a little bit better. I like the powder coated finish, it's more glossy. Doesn't look, it just looks more solid. I think there's more metal on this compared to the Thule. So those are a couple things, one more thing. This is the black powder coated finish but we also have this one, which I really like it. It's kind of like a sand type gray. So I really like this color. And I do think that this is a very unique color compared to even the NV with their three color options. If you like the idea of hauling two e-bikes with two other bikes, the StageTwo is gonna be the right rack for you. If you like the looks, you have two different color options, which is awesome. And also just the versatility when it comes to what kind of bikes we can put on here. I do like the tiered system. Some of them do have that, the other options on our website but this one's a little bit more extreme. So you're never gonna really run into handlebar clearance and stuff like that. It just makes the whole entire experience a little bit more enjoyable. So you can get out the trails and enjoy the ride. And that's just about every single thing you need to know about the Yakima StageTwo. I'm Adam and I hope this helped..
Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars (4 Customer Reviews)
This heavy-duty 4-bike rack is perfect for carrying electric bikes and bikes with carbon frames or custom paint jobs. Tiered trays prevent bike-to-bike contact and add ground clearance for backing down steep driveways. Tilts with bikes loaded.It was so easy navigating the web site. The E Bike Trailer was shipped the same day that I ordered and it arrived in 2 days! The price point was great. Highly recommend
Very pleased with the rack. Holds our e-bikes very well and able to use on our RV. Ordered on Thursday and got on Saturday
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