Pros:
- Gain full access to the rear of your vehicle (no more tripping over your rack to get into your car)
- Sturdy and well built, no sag
- Easy set-up/installation
- Lever's work smoothly and easily
- Kuat Lifetime "No Worries Warranty"
Cons:
- Not much! If I were to get picky, you can catch your knee on the the small "knob" that sticks out
- Availability - like many things in the industry, this product appears to be backordered (it has shown up of and off on amazon and backcountry so you may want to snag one when you see it!)
Overall Impression:
The Kuat Pivot V2 swing arm is an absolute game changer for life on the road if you have a rear hitch rack. This rack allows us to swing our bike rack out of the way to gain full access to the rear of our vehicle! With our Sprinter van, we can keep our bikes loaded and locked on the rack, and swing the rack away from the rear of the vehicle to be able to fully open both rear doors.
Most rear hitch racks have a "tilt down" feature where you can partially open the rear doors but still don't get full access. Other upright hitch racks have a "camping" feature where you can also fully tilt the rack to get down to ground level. The problem with these set-ups is you still have a rack that's either only partially tilted away from the vehicle or laying flat on the ground in "camp" mode, just begging you to trip over it (which you will most certainly do!). The Pivot V2 solves this problem, moving the rack completely out of the way to gain full, un-obstructed access to get in and out of your vehicle! Using the swing-arm is so incredibly easy and smooth, you can literally do it with one hand.
The swing arm itself was super easy to set-up and install (just tighten a few bolts with all the included hardware and you are good to go) - literally took me less than a few quick minutes. The Pivot swings out to 90 degrees (where it locks into this position) or you can engage the lever again and swing it out to 120 degrees. There is virtually no sag at all so swinging the arm takes little effort (other swing arms require a little "nudge" to get things to line up when locking it in place). We have only used the Pivot with 2 bikes, but from what I have heard, there is virtually no sag when this is used with larger racks with 4+ bikes loaded. We are currently using our Pivot V2 with the Kuat Sherpa and the swing arm is meant for a 2 inch hitch (locking pin is included so you can secure it to your vehicle). I do believe that you can use the Pivot V2 with other 2 inch racks. Lastly, you can purchase this with either "Driver's side" or "Passenger" side swing. We opted for the Driver's side swing so that it swings away from our right sided rear door that we access the most.
Of note, I have read of the earlier version of this product having problems with the cam mechanism failing. Kuat has reportedly resolved this issue and we have not had any issues whatsoever with ours. I feel confident that this will not be an issue with currently shipping racks, plus Kuat has a Lifetime Warranty should anything go wrong with any of their products!
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