phughes

Keep in mind that the tongue weight allowable on a particular receiver is considering that there is a trailer behind preventing it from increasing much over bumps. With a bike rack, the weight is simply hanging there, and the rack acts as a lever multiplying the weight as it bounces over bumps. You are simply trying to do something that is beyond what you car and any associated receiver is built to handle. Yes, you can buy a rack for a 2 inch receiver, and use an adapter, but you will not be increasing its load capacity, in fact you will be lowering it slightly since the tongue weight is cut in half when using an adapter. So a normal 2 bike rack would work, but not a 4 bike rack.

The only reason I would use an adapter for a bike rack is if I already owned a rack made for a 2 inch receiver, and it was a 2 bike rack with normal weight bikes. I would also be very apt to simply buy a different rack. There is no way I would use a 4 bike rack on a 1 1/4 inch receiver, ever.

Good luck.

JanMM

We have a U-Haul 1 1/4 hitch receiver on our Mazda5 and regularly haul my wife's e-assist Trek (40 pounds without battery) and my Bacchetta recumbent (about 30 pounds with seat off). Forgot the battery key last weekend and drove home from a ride with the 5 pound battery on the bike. No problem - but rack is a Two Timer and will never have a third or fourth bike on it. I do always use a support strap from top of rear hatch to rack.

unterhausen

I'm not buying an adapter, someone else brought that up. A significant part of the reason I want 2" is to make it more stable and that would be defeated by an adapter.
I really like the 2" hitch for the Prius. I have to decide if it's worth 3x the money though.

pdlamb

Ditto to all the above on our old 2006 Prius. Mileage dropped by almost a half with four adults and four bikes into a headwind, but that was only once. One or two bikes was never a problem. That hitch bolted on to the frame where the tie-downs had been.

Hermes

Your original post is the solution you do not like. Get an after market 2” solution from a reputable company and have it installed on the car of your choice or both. RacknRoad https://racknroad.com/trailer-hitches/ is a company I have used for roof rack solutions but also offer custom trailer hitch solutions installed in store. I find racks and attaching arms or hitches annoyingly expensive. And in general, it is a solution for that specific make and model year car and has to be repeated for each new car.

My current rack solution was to include as a factory installed option a 2” trailer hitch to a car I custom ordered from the factory and purchased a lighter weight Kuat rack. It is a very clean safe solution that holds two bikes. And Kuat has a lot of options for racks. I financed the hitch and rack with a small initial public offering. Good luck.

unterhausen

Is a custom hitch a common thing? So far everyone that does it has been on the west coast, so somewhat problematic to get it done on our car.

It does stink that we have to do it for each car. Hopefully both cars will be around for a while.

Hermes

I think customization question is a function of the size of the market. Silicon Valley, LA, Orange County and San Diego are very large cycling markets with a lot of cyclists. When I go to Fiesta Island to ride, I see a lot of cyclists with cars that have hitches and bike racks of all different solutions including bikes in pickups.

Reflector Guy

Conceivably, you could take the hitch off and sell it when you sell or trade the car, or mention that it's there to hopefully pad the selling price by a bit. Depends of course on how badly the winter salt rusts it. And how much of a pain it is to remove it, store it, list it for sale, etc. And yeah, hitches are pretty much custom designed for each car model. Your Camry for example won't use the same hitch as, say a Honda Accord or probably not even a Corolla.

unterhausen

I have put hitches on my cars in the past, it's really nice they come with everything fit to the car. They are mass produced for that single model car. I'm talking truly one-off custom here though, I posted a link to a place in Seattle that will do that and so did Hermes.
I think I posted up-thread my thought of getting the 1 1/4" that fits the Camry and having it modified for 2"

tcs

A few experiences that might be of help to someone:

The U-Haul dealer refused to install a hitch on my 2010 Prius.
I installed a Curt brand 1¼ hitch myself. Not hard, didn't take long. Saved some money.
I have a 1Up Quick Rack single. The 2" model is just the 1¼ model with an "L" shaped spacer. Rated 1 bike + 2 optional extenders, 50#/bike, 150# total
The U-Haul dealer was happy to rent me a trailer to tow with my Prius and self-installed hitch.
But usually:

tcs

Ride ------------------------------------------------> there.

himespau 

You're a bike builder/welder right? Do you have the stuff to cut off the box for a 1.25" receiver and weld on the box for the 2" receiver (assuming you could find/fabricate such a box)?

unterhausen

I can cut off the 1 1/4" cleanly, but I would have to take it to a welder to have a new one welded on. The capacity of my torches is just big enough for bikes, I don't think I could weld 1/4" wall. I have had enough trouble with 1/8" wall square tubing. The heat just runs away from the joint.
Although I have brazed 1/4" wall square tubing. But that was a pain.

Steamer

I was there, but I remember nothing.