2 average plus 1 kids bicycle in Class I hitch trailer
 

I looked definition of class I trailer hitch 1 1/4' installed on my sedan and it says tongue weight of 200lbs which i presume enough for 2 average weight mountain bike plus 1 kids bike. Also added is the weight of the hitch mounted thule bicycle rack. I would expect all of them not to exceed 100lbs but just not sort of uneasy. I had the hitch installed 2 years ago and has been driving hard mostly no bike or mostly single bike. Any opinion would be appreciated. Worst fear i normally has is trainer hitch, under stress amd prolonged usage will break off on freeway and create extremely hazardous condition on the road. Thx.

You're likely overthinking it. Did you weigh the bikes? Hold them while you step on the scale, then subtract the weight. How big and what type of MTBs? What size of kids bike? 30, 35-poundish bikes - on the heavy side - would be around 100lbs. If the manual says 200lbs, the engineers probably designed it for 400lbs. Not that I would exceed the specified limit, but going up to what the manual says should be OK. Yeah, there's rust and wear, but just check for it once in a while. How many bolts are holding the hitch? Unlikely that all of them will shear off at once.

And just for peace of mind, load bikes on the hitch rack from heaviest to lightest. Lever arm/torque and all...

You have told your kids to get off the bikes before loading them on the rack... loading the bicycles not the kids... right?

I'm not sure if those racks are really designed to hold say qty 3, 70 pound bikes. :eek:

Aren't most 1.25" hitch mounts only built to hold 2 bikes? As in, only 2 places to hang them?

better options; with 2" receiver, you can step them down, but smaller cannot go up.