Bike riders: Is this a good quality hitch-mount bike rack?

[Winston]

davester wrote:
IMHO the main reason for a platform rack is if you have either a fragile bike frame (i.e. carbon) or the type of bike frame (some full suspension MTBs) that won't hang from a regular hanging-type bike rack.

We have a Thule four bike hanging-rack hitch mounted carrier. I've never figured out how to prevent the rack from wearing on the bikes' paint where the bike sits on the rack. The bikes swing back and forth a little, however much I try to tie them in place. A platform rack would keep the bikes from getting wear spots. (There is probably something I could do with padding, but so far I've not succeeded, and no one else in the family will make the effort.)

I'd take a platform mount over the hanging mount any day.


Ours is a "drop down" rack, which folds back away from the car. On the plus side, because it cannot fold down past about 30 degrees, it's not hard to get it back up, even when it has four bikes on it.

Our hitch is mounted lower on the vehicle than I'd like. (A "factory" Toyota hitch made by Draw-Tite). The hitch itself will ground at the angle on steep driveways. The hitch has been more of a problem than the bike rack, but I can definitely see watching out for how the lower bar of a bike rack could hit the ground when the vehicle is transitioning an angle.


One other thought: we got a Thule locking hitch pin, so the rack cannot be removed without a key. This allows us to lock bikes to the rack. As our hitch has a couple of rings for trailer chains, we could get by without this by running a locking cable to one of the rings, but the locked hitch gives us more flexiblity.


Good luck.

- Winston

ps: I also like the idea of a swing-away mount, but haven't looked at any to see how useful the swing-away feature is. Our drop down hitch allows us to open our minvan's rear hatch, but the bikes are still in the way of any major loading and unloading. So for a big trip the bikes go on last.

[davester]

Winston wrote:

We have a Thule four bike hanging-rack hitch mounted carrier. I've never figured out how to prevent the rack from wearing on the bikes' paint where the bike sits on the rack. The bikes swing back and forth a little, however much I try to tie them in place. A platform rack would keep the bikes from getting wear spots. (There is probably something I could do with padding, but so far I've not succeeded, and no one else in the family will make the effort.)...

ps: I also like the idea of a swing-away mount, but haven't looked at any to see how useful the swing-away feature is. Our drop down hitch allows us to open our minvan's rear hatch, but the bikes are still in the way of any major loading and unloading. So for a big trip the bikes go on last.

I had an earlier Yakima hanging swing-down rack and I did have a similar bike-swinging issue to you, though this was limited by strapping the bikes to the stabilizer bar that extended out from halfway up the main upright post. However, the higher quality newer hanging racks have mounts that hold both the top and seat tubes of the bikes. I ride with a friend who has one of these (either a Thule or Yakima, can't remember which) and it is very secure. My bikes have very fancy paint too, so I'm very wary of paint damage. It's also a swing-away, which is fantastic because we can easily get into the back of the car even when fully loaded. Also, it doesn't weigh almost 100 lbs like the 4-bike platform racks.

[Winston]

davester wrote:
However, the higher quality newer hanging racks have mounts that hold both the top and seat tubes of the bikes. I ride with a friend who has one of these (either a Thule or Yakima, can't remember which) and it is very secure. My bikes have very fancy paint too, so I'm very wary of paint damage. It's also a swing-away, which is fantastic because we can easily get into the back of the car even when fully loaded. Also, it doesn't weigh almost 100 lbs like the 4-bike platform racks.

That sounds like a big improvement over ours. I've generally found Thule products to be well designed, and was surprised that our rack didn't do a better job protecting the bikes. The mount point for the bikes is well padded, but even relatively soft silicone is going to wear at the paint if the bikes swing as the car moves.

Maybe I should take a look at ours and see if there is a way to adapt it to a two-point support, like the one you described.

I did find some adjustable bars which attach to the handlebar and the bike frame to keep the front wheel from moving around, but that doesn't stop the entire bike from swinging from the top bar mount.


One other thought: My wife has a bike where the upper tube curves down ("step through" frame?). There is not an easy way to attach this bike to a carrier where the bike is meant to hang from the upper tube. A platform mount would be usable for just about any bike, assuming there is some adjustment available for differing wheelbases, such as for a child's bike.


Good luck.

- Winston