Hitch Mounted Bike Rack
 

I have a 2014 Acura TSX Wagon. Fantastic car. In the past we've used a strap mounted Saris Bones rack, but the hooks wouldn't fit on my last car or my wife's van- we gave the rack to some friends. I don't think the hooks would fit on this car. I've been looking forward to getting an 'accessory hitch' and a hitch mounted bike rack for this car- (I was hoping to have it on my last car...)

I've looked at a bunch of the options- based on my bikes and the accessories on my bikes I'm looking at a rack that has the weight of the bike on the wheels- so a "tray" style rack. I really don't want my bike hanging from the top tube- plus, it seems most of the locking options seem to work best with the tray racks. Most of my bikes are "vintage" touring bikes, with pannier racks, fenders and such- my wife's bike is a new-ish Trek 7.2 with a rear rack- so I'm not sure that the options that have and arm hold down the wheels would totally work.

What are some options that you've had experiences with?


Here's my car:

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1914/...725d0c46_b.jpgAcura TSX Wagon by Dave The Golden Boy, on Flickr

There are lots of very good hitch bike racks on the market. Hitches come in different sizes, so look for a rack that fits your hitch (small cars usually use 1.25 inch hitches). Thule and Kuat make some of the best racks, but they are more expensive. I agree that the tray-style racks are safest for lightweight bikes.

Check these out. But like johnny99 said the Thule and Kuat can be expensive. I have a Thule T2 and it has served me well.

Thule T2
Kuat NV
Yakima HoldUp

1upusa

I've been using a cheap ($70) Allen 4 bike hitch rack for 10 years now, works great (with cheap bikes you can get 4 on it, more of a 2 bike rack if you want to be sure no banging) but not a tray rack.. A friend uses the Thule T2 and recommends it.

To make it easier for my wife to get bikes on her new car, I've been looking at tray racks, too - another friend recommends the Saris Freedom but I haven't been able to pull the trigger on a $550 rack when the $70 one work fine, even for my carbon Trek Domane.

The 1upUsa rack is a great rack, but it does use a front hook the goes over the front tire which might not be the best with fenders:
https://www.rackwarehouse.com/images...s/rm1140-8.jpg

I've heard they sell a fender bumper pad or something but it might be better to just get a different rack.

The Saris Freedom doesn't fold down for storage in your garage really, but it does hold the bike without going over any fender points:
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....L._SL1200_.jpg

The Swagman XC folds down and does not hit fender points either:
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....L._SL1350_.jpg
https://www.amazon.com/Swagman-Cross...dp/B0001VO1YY/

Basically if I just search amazon for "hitch bike rack" you'll see a lot of models.

The racks that hold the bikes in a tray with an arm over the front tire won't work with front fenders.

My Kuat Sherpa 2.0 is perfect for me, but won't do front fenders.
--Its extremely fast and easy to load two bikes. Nothing touches the frame, and the two bikes stay separated, and stable.
--It's very lightweight, around 30 pounds, and it's simple and fast to attach the rack to the hitch. It takes less than a minute to mount the rack. (I put a piece of color tape on the arm, so I know just how far to slide it into the hitch socket.)

The front tire holder arm has to be pressed tight onto the tire, and as close to the front fork/brakes as possible. That's not going to work with a fender, and the user instructions are clear about this.
If I need to use it with my other fendered bike, I'd remove the front fender. It's a 3-5 minute task to remount the fender, so I wouldn't want to do this on every ride.
I thought about making some kind of dense pad sized to fit between the fender and tire, but that doesn't seem practical, I think the fender might still get damaged.

~~~~~~~
I didn't want those racks that suspend the bikes by the top tube. I didn't want possible paint scuffing, or bikes hitting each other. They are inexpensive, though.

Front of the City bus racks hold bike by the bare front tire
so front mudguards cannot extend past the top of the front wheel by much..

something to consider when you accessorize your bike..
and plan to use multi mode commutes

I like my 1upUSA rack, even got tagged from behind and the rack saved my bike *and* my bumper. :D


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...afe91697f8.jpg

I have a Thule T2 because i need to be able to haul 4 bikes a handful of times each year and the T2 add-on allows for that.
Its solid, well made, and terrible for fenders.

So eliminate that from your list of possibilities. I have seen people attach the arm in front of the fenders and the bikes seem fine(for the few seconds I see them while driving), but not too sure how far i would trust that setup.

I shy away from racks that clamp to the frame, but im sure nothing bad will happen.
https://www.etrailer.com/tv-review-t...ck-th9054.aspx
https://www.etrailer.com/question-214882.html

These are a couple recommendations from a really complete and informative hitch rack site.

We have the Thule T2 Pro XT 2 rack on our Forester, and love it.

Thanks to everyone!

I've seen quite the dazzling array on Amazon, REI, YouTube as well as many manufacturer sites- I wanted to see what people are actually using and how they like them.


I really dig that 1up rack- everything about it looks super solid- and just going by a lot of comments and youtube videos- people REALLY love them... but I think those arms with fenders and possibly racks may be a deal breaker...

I'm also really impressed that it stood up to getting rear ended. I got rear ended with a bike on the back of my car in 1991- It was one of the strap-on racks and my cranks got clobbered.

I'd run across some of the etrailer videos- but I hadn't actually checked out the site. Thanks!

It seems that a lot of people really dig Thule and 1up- and just judging from how many Thule products you see on cars- they seem to be well trusted.

Pretty mild rear end, in all fairness. That might be a difficult rack with fenders too.

I'm also very happy with my 1up.

I own and use the Saris Freedom rack with the optional long bar to transport a tandem. It works well and I had never seen anyone else using one until a recent trip where there were two others on vehicles at the trailhead. While I have a lot of Thule and Yakima gear, I have come to the conclusion that their racks (and Kuat) are grossly overpriced for what they offer. They are also heavy to take on and off of your vehicle. You may not care (I do), but last time I looked, Yakima's and Kuat's hitch racks are made in China. Thule probably has Chinese production too 1Up has nice stuff, made in USA, but not fender friendly. I have had a Performance rack very similar to the Swagman in an earlier post and it was more than adequate and the price was right when on sale at Performance. Attached is a picture of our tandem on the Performance xport rackhttps://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d7027b1622.jpg

I have the above mentioned Swagman XC and it's pretty easy to use and works well with my commuter bike's fenders.

Fyi, 1up does sell a fender cushion, not saying it's good or bad but it is an official thing:
https://www.1up-usa.com/product/fender-cushion/

I will confess to being confused by this post.

We've used our Thule T2 for two years, many dozens of times, and I have no idea how it could impact a fender (literally or figuratively). Obviously, I don't care what others buy, but this mystifies me.

the front wheel arm cant clamp down tight against the wheel/brake caliper junction due to the fender.

I have a Swagman XTC2 that I have had for 7 or 8 years. It is similar to the XC except the wheel hoops are different. One thing I dislike about it is that it prevents trunk access (at least on my Accord) if I have a bike with wide bars toward the car. Other than that, I have been happy with it.