X-TREME GATE

PRODUCT: The X-Treme Gate is a fairly new twist on a concept that’s been around for some time. It addresses the problem that anyone with a short-bed pick-up truck faces: how do you carry bikes that are too long for the truck? The standard solution is to leave the tailgate down and hope your gear bags and gas cans don’t fall out. The BedXTender, Ready Ramp and Moto-Gate all have their own take on this issue. X-Treme Gate’s solution is different; it’s an ABS polycarbonate cage that wraps around the open tailgate and contains everything. What sets it apart is that it folds up and is virtually invisible when the tailgate is up. The X-Treme Gate slides out of a sheath that is bolted to the inside of the tailgate and then folds up like a secondary tailgate. The sides unfold and connect to the side of the truck, making it impossible for anything to escape.
POSITIVE: This is one of the cleanest solutions to the short-bed problem. The X-Treme Gate is completely unobtrusive when the tailgate is up. You might lose 3 inches or so of bed length; that’s all. When the tailgate is down, it gives you at least 10 square feet of extra bed space. In a short-bed Chevy, that allows you to put the bikes perfectly straight without issue.
It’s fairly tough too. If you have a heavy toolbox slide from the front of the truck all the way to the back because you’re driving like Mark Tilley, the ABS plastic will take the hit without damage. And because it’s bolted in, no one is likely to steal it. We’ve known several people to lose BedXTenders in public parking lots.
NEGATIVE: One model is supposed to fit all full-size pick-ups, but it might require some ingenuity. We know that the product fits easily on a late-model Ford; the company’s website shows this application. On a 2013 Chevy, the GM bed liner presented some issues. We had to remove the portion of the liner that covers the tailgate. No big deal, but we also had a hard time finding a flat space on the inside of the bed for the latches. Both problems can be solved.
With the tailgate down, the sheath for the X-Treme Gate sits higher than the floor of the bed. That means the rear wheel drops into a pocket that’s hard to escape from. If you have something heavy like a BMW, you might need two people to lift the rear wheel over that hump. And be mindful that if you have cargo that is too long, even when the tailgate is down, lumber or the like will hang off the end. It’s not impossible for the X-Treme Gate to deploy on its own and maybe even come out of the sheath.
BOTTOM LINE: Like any product that you use every day, we’re learning to work with the X-Treme Gate. After just a few months, we’ve become big fans. It is well-designed, looks good and is durable. The price of $399 is entirely appropriate. For more information, contact BR Marketing Group at (855) GO-XGATE or www.xtremegate.com.