Hollywood CrossTrack 2 Review

Started out of a bicycle shop in the 1970's Hollywood has been building bike racks for more than 50 years. Early models were lightweight, foldable trunk racks, and over the years, their racks have evolved and adapted to more versatile styles for more vehicles and modern bicycles. The CrossTrack is Hollywood's first swipe at what we consider the best rack design on the market. Nearly every rack manufacturer is building a “1Up-USA style” rack that benefits from the secure tire hold arms and spares your frame and rims from contact that could damage them.

Performance Comparison

Ease of Everyday Use

Most modern hitch-mount tray racks are relatively easy to use, but the quirks and features can make a big difference in how versatile, secure, and convenient they feel. The CrossTrack features a narrow central beam supporting one or two bike trays with foldable tire-hold arms. Unlike other racks of this style, this rack has a specific orientation for front and rear wheels, where the back of the front wheel rests on a tire chock to prevent it from rolling.

The front handle pull makes deploying the rack fairly simple; with one hand, you can pull the handle to unlock the rack and guide it into position. The handle is spring-loaded, so the rack will stop at the level position, ready for bikes to be loaded. Pushing the tire hold arms up into place is a two-handed affair as one hand is needed to depress the red button on the ratchet while the other moves the arm upward. This can be a little tricky with a bike in hand, so it works best to set your bike down while readying the tray for loading. Next, you'll lift (or roll, if you purchased the optional loading ramp) your bike onto the tray. With the front tire resting on the wheel chock, you pull the tire load arm against your front tire, then pull the rear arm in against your rear tire. If you're always using bikes with the same-sized wheels, this isn't too difficult. If you're using a bike with a wheel size dissimilar to the last one used, you'll need to adjust the tire spindle, which requires a 5mm Allen wrench and a 13mm socket, which are included with the rack.

Unloading the rack is a bit easier. You start by pressing the red button for the wheel arm on the rear of the bike, then pushing the wheel arm out of the way while holding the button down. Then, while supporting the bike with one hand, depress the red button for the front wheel and push the wheel arm out of the way. I know that sounds like jobs for three hands, but you figure it out. Once the tire arms are free of the wheels, the bike can be lifted off the rack. To fold the rack up, you collapse the wheel arms inward, which can be done with one hand, and fold the rack toward your vehicle using the front pull handle, which can also be done with one hand. The red release buttons are easy to use and don't pinch your fingers like we sometimes experience with the 1Up-USA racks, but this isn't nearly as easy as using the Kuat Piston Pro with pneumatic arms that unfold for you.

Once your bike is secure in the rack, all of these tire hold racks work in essentially the same way, but the CrossTrack rack has some play between the receiver tube and the main mast that allows the rack (and your bikes) to shake and jostle. This isn't play between the hitch and receiver as it is addressed with a mechanism inside the hitch tube. This play is due to tolerances in the manufacturing of the main frame and the main pivot mechanism of the rack. We tried tightening this interface, but getting the wobble out proved to be elusive. In practice, you notice this as the bikes and rack seem to move a bit despite a firm connection with the hitch. You also notice this when there are no bikes loaded, and the rack rattles while you drive.

The rack can hold 66 pounds per tray (on 2" model) and accommodate tires up to 4" wide. If you have an e-bike that weighs more than 66 pounds, you might remove the battery and see if doing so brings it within the carrying capacity. You can load bikes with up to a 52" wheelbase, but bikes with fenders will not work on this rack. The wheel block that supports the front wheel is designed to hold 24-29" wheels. If you're using smaller wheels, you need a 4mm Allen wrench to remove the bolts from the underside of the wheel tray to reposition the wheel block.

Due to the wheel blocks, there is no lateral adjustment available with this rack. If the handlebars of one bike run into the saddle of the second bike, there isn't an easy way to solve that conflict. Being able to move bikes fore and aft to avoid this conflict is one of the things we've liked most about this style of rack, and unfortunately, these wheel blocks prevent you from doing that. When the rack isn't being used to haul bikes, it folds up with a low profile, only 8.25 inches proud of the vehicle, or 10.25" if you measure to end of the bolt sticking out of the hitch.

Ease of Removal and Storage

Installing the CrossTrack is fairly basic, and the wheel trays give you well-balanced handles for lining the rack up with your receiver. Once inserted into your vehicle, you simply install the locking hitch pin and twist the No-wobble bolt to secure the rack within the hitch. The No-wobble bolt works by pulling the rack against the locking hitch pin, it doesn't expand inside of the receiver like other anti-wobble racks. When you tighten the No-wobble bolt, the exposed end of the bolt protrudes from the back of the rack itself, like you can see in the photo above. On our test vehicles, this resulted in a bolt that stuck out between 2 and 2.5 inches. If you're anything like me or our testers, you're going to kick this with your shin or poke yourself in the leg while installing or removing the rack.

Once off the vehicle, the CrossTrack 2 has a garage storage footprint of 61.5 inches long, 35 inches high, and 19 inches deep. If you're the type of rider who uses a rack seasonally or just on occasion, the required storage space of this rack might be a bit much but that depends on how much space you have. Disassembling the rack for seasonal storage would be possible but more troublesome than with other models.

Removing the CrossTrack 2 from the vehicle involves unlocking the hitch pin and loosening the anti-wobble bolt. Neither step requires any tools and can be done in seconds. You can use the wheel trays to lift the rack out of the hitch, but beware of the protruding bolt. If you have two people for this task, the bolt isn't an issue, and you needn't leverage the rack against your body to remove it. As a solo task, you'll have considerable contact with the rack, so draping a towel over the rack can prevent you from being covered in road grime.

With a weight of 61.2 lbs, the CrossTrack 2, the rack can be managed by most people, but it feels awkward to move it very far. Backing into your garage for storage space and removing it close to its final location helps with this process. If you plan to leave the rack on full time, this is less of a concern but be aware that the outer bike mount blocked the camera on two of our test vehicles.

Versatility

The tire hold style of rack is arguably the most versatile of bike racks, but Hollywood's execution of the design kneecaps it in a few ways. The width of the load arms limits the tire sizes of bikes you can carry to a maximum of 4". This is probably fine for most users, with fat-tired e-bikes generally falling right in that 4" designation, but snow bikes will not be accommodated. The maximum wheelbase of bikes that can be transported is 52", which is less than competitors like 1Up-USA (54") and Kuat (53").

The CrossTrack 2 can hold 66 pounds per tray, and while that's significant, many e-bikes will be beyond the rack's carrying capacity. If your e-bikes are close to the limit, you may be able to remove the battery and bring its weight within the rack's guidelines. Adding to the CrossTrack's versatility is the availability of a loading ramp, which can be especially helpful for heavier e-bikes. Our main gripe with the CrossTrack 2's versatility is the addition of wheel chocks used for the front wheel. Hollywood's addition of this component doesn't really enhance the rack's usability or security and prevents you from moving bikes side to side. Side-to-side adjustability can prevent bikes from rubbing one another, especially brake lever-to-saddle conflict.

The CrossTrack can be had in 1 or 2 bike configurations, but there is no option for adding a third or fourth bike tray like its competitors offer. The rack can hold bikes with wheels sized between 20 and 29"; adjusting the rack to accommodate them requires the use of included tools. The rack is available with a 2" or 1.25" hitch mount; the latter does not include a no-wobble bolt.

Security

With your bikes hanging off the bumper of your car, they're in people's line of site and may require a bit more security. Hollywood uses a locking hitch pin that keeps the rack locked to your vehicle. A 12mm cable lock with matching keys that runs through a welded loop on the main frame allows you to lock the frames of your bikes to the rack. Available wheel locks allow for an additional level of security with a locking bar that runs through the wheel hold arms.

None of the security features seem excellent on their own, but combined, they create a good disincentive for would-be thieves. If you order the wheel locks with the rack, you'll get lock cores that match the hitch pin and cable lock, alleviating the need for a new key ring.

Ease of Assembly

Assembling the CrossTrack is a task that almost anyone with the ability to lift can handle. The rack arrives in a large cardboard box weighing 73 pounds. The packaging consisted of cardboard and closed-cell foam. Laying all of the parts out so they can be inspected prior to assembly is advised.

Our CrossTrack 2 rack arrived in five main sections with a box of hardware. Nothing about its assembly was particularly difficult. The main frame is pre-assembled, and the easiest way to assemble the rack is by placing the main frame into the receiver on your hitch. Once it's securely held in place, adding the four wheel trays is pretty straightforward. If the instruction manual isn't for you, Hollywood has a helpful assembly video on their website. It took us 25 minutes to get our test rack from box to hitch.

Durability

This style of rack from other companies is holding up well for us in long-term testing, some of them going on 8 years. The CrossTrack uses a bit more plastic than its competitors, and this may be problematic in the long run. A rack sitting on the back of your vehicle is subjected to tough conditions and constant UV, which can harm plastic components. Of concern to us is the amount of play in the main frame's pivot joint; the constant rattling is bound to make poor tolerances even worse.

The rack is made of steel and aluminum, with the main frame being mostly steel and the wheel trays made of aluminum. The finish on the rack is similar to other Hollywood racks; it has a rough, textured feel that we had no issues with throughout testing. The texture of the metal holds onto dirt and road grime more than a smooth finish, so we noticed when washing our vehicle, we had to spend a bit more time to get the rack clean. The ends of the wheel trays use powder-coated end caps that interface with the CrossTrack ramp, which is available separately. We've spent about two months using this rack daily and have seen no issues with its finish or operability.

Should You Buy the Hollywood CrossTrack 2?

If this were the only tire hold style rack on the market, we'd be likely to recommend it. Given the competition and how well others have executed this design, we're not inclined to recommend it to most people. This rack does not feel well-engineered; some components were designed well, but the system fails to impress us as a whole. The protruding bolt on the hitch feels poorly designed and dangerous to your shins. While we appreciate the secure connection and the way the bikes are held, the sloppy mainframe joint renders both of the previous connections moot.

What Other Hitch Bike Racks Should You Consider?

You can purchase the 1Up USA 2" Heavy Duty for the same price, and if you really want the easy fold handle, you can purchase an add-on for that rack for $99. If you like this style of rack and want the absolute best, the Kuat Piston Pro and Kuat Piston Pro X are outrageously good racks, with the latter using built-in LED tail lights and some fancy coatings to justify its price of nearly double the CrossTrack. That said, its foot pedal fold and pneumatic tire load arms are easy to use and very well-engineered.