Trailer hitch bike rack

[kingpin748]

Since were making duplicate threads I might as well get in on it for the post count.

 

[-JD-]

Kingpin what kind of rack/ where did you get it?? some brands can be hard to find at reasonable prices in Canada...

 

[FactoryRide]

His seems to look like the Doubledown from Yakima...another sweet ass feature from Yakima. ALL racks have a built in bottle opener. They aren't the best openers out there, but cool to say the least

 

[JasonCz]

Deekoi..


Here's a picture of my rig on my saris rack

Nice, a fellow Intense owner.

I really like my Yakima, and it's especially nice for bikes that don't have a traditional top tube. It has no problem with the 2.4 tires on that bike or the larger 29ers on my other bike. It's also very compact when folded up. I don't feel bad about leaving it on the car.

 

[Quentin]

Nice, a fellow Intense owner.

I really like my Yakima, and it's especially nice for bikes that don't have a traditional top tube. It has no problem with the 2.4 tires on that bike or the larger 29ers on my other bike. It's also very compact when folded up. I don't feel bad about leaving it on the car.

http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/pp225/paradox5582/IMG_20110423_104313.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]

You must be my twin. I, too, have a white SR5 with husky mud guards. My hitch rack is the Thule version of your's, though.

 

[1engineer]

I have an OSI rack by Surco. It is completely lockable if you get a locking pin for the hitch. I have the 4 bike type that folds down for hatch access and it is rugged. The top plate lock (that locks your bike's frame to the mount) can be cumbersome if you are only transporting the bike a few minutes to your trail but is great for long trips where you stop to eat, shop etc. I just looked it up and is $125.00 on amazon. I bought an adjustable bar that I keep mounted for those short trips to the trail and it lets you unmount the bike in 10 seconds. The bar was $20.00 or so. Good luck!

 

[FactoryRide]

JasonCz

Love the truck and your rig. Intense makes such sweet stuff, and those racks are nice. You said they fit your 2.4 good, and it holds my 2.6's like a boss. Hitch racks are by far the only way to go now.

 

[Turn_down]

I still like the roof mounted racks. They look better, and I don't have to worry about getting rear ended and my bikes getting trashed.

 

[JasonCz]

I still like the roof mounted racks. They look better, and I don't have to worry about getting rear ended and my bikes getting trashed.

Just say good bye to parking garages, residential garages, and drive-throughs.

Also, have fun lifting my +30 lb freeride bike or a +40lb downhill bike that far over your head and holding it while securing in properly and not scraping or bumping your vehicle on the way up. Not my idea of fun.

And lastly, say goodbye to a few MPGs because bikes on a roof rack WILL lower your efficiency. I can say for certain that carrying my bike in my hitch rack did not effect my MPG whatsoever.

 

[Turn_down]

Just say good bye to parking garages, residential garages, and drive-throughs.

Also, have fun lifting my +30 lb freeride bike or a +40lb downhill bike that far over your head and holding it while securing in properly and not scraping or bumping your vehicle on the way up. Not my idea of fun.

And lastly, say goodbye to a few MPGs because bikes on a roof rack WILL lower your efficiency. I can say for certain that carrying my bike in my hitch rack did not effect my MPG whatsoever.

Well,
1. I own a house, so parking garages aren't a concern. If my bike is on my rack, I go in to eat.

2. You need a new bike if they are 40 Lbs. LOL My freestyle bike is full chromo and only weighs about 21. My mountain bike is under 20.

Seriously, though. I've never had a problem throwing my ride on top of a roof rack. Granted, the highest thing was a Grand Cherokee. And my trucks aren't lifted. But still, it's not that big an issue.

3. Really? You're driving a $40K vehicle and you're worried about a few MPG's? Why do you have a truck? Put a rack on a SMART car or a Prius. LOL

 

[1engineer]

I still like the roof mounted racks. They look better, and I don't have to worry about getting rear ended and my bikes getting trashed.

Least of my worries in a rear end crash is my bike. My children and wife, myself, my vehicle and THEN my bike in that order. Bikes can be easily replaced. Kids, wife, life, can't be replaced. Most of the people around here that ride tote 'em on a hitch mounted rack. The road guys put theirs on top of their rides (easy to lift) and usually if you see a mtn bike on top of a SUV the guy don't ride, he just shows. I couldn't imagine lifting my slop encrusted bike over my head after a three hour ride through the rocks and crud. Have at it man.

 

[Turn_down]

Least of my worries in a rear end crash is my bike. My children and wife, myself, my vehicle and THEN my bike in that order. Bikes can be easily replaced. Kids, wife, life, can't be replaced. Most of the people around here that ride tote 'em on a hitch mounted rack. The road guys put theirs on top of their rides (easy to lift) and usually if you see a mtn bike on top of a SUV the guy don't ride, he just shows. I couldn't imagine lifting my slop encrusted bike over my head after a three hour ride through the rocks and crud. Have at it man.

Well, that goes without saying. Although, they don't ride so it's just me in the car.

I see mostly roof racks here. Hell, my brother used to work for Trek, and now works for the second larges bike store in the US. He and everyone at his shop roll with roof racks on their SUV's.

Anyway, it's a dumb argument. I just don't like hitch racks. Sue me. LOL

 

[scanny]

Friend of mine had a roof rack on Jeep Liberty. He had to carry two steps stool to get to the bikes and he's 5'11". I don't say how nice is load bike full of dirt on the roof, you could clean it first of course. Then the bikes on the roof tend to whistle when wind is right. And final thing turned me away from bike roof rack is that once we encountered provincial park with a gate and he had to remove bikes and then put them back because gate was too low for the bikes on the roof.
And if somebody rear end me - I'll have more fun to chose new bikes than waiting until body shop fixes rear bumper.

 

[JasonCz]

Well,
1. I own a house, so parking garages aren't a concern. If my bike is on my rack, I go in to eat.

2. You need a new bike if they are 40 Lbs. LOL My freestyle bike is full chromo and only weighs about 21. My mountain bike is under 20.

Seriously, though. I've never had a problem throwing my ride on top of a roof rack. Granted, the highest thing was a Grand Cherokee. And my trucks aren't lifted. But still, it's not that big an issue.

3. Really? You're driving a $40K vehicle and you're worried about a few MPG's? Why do you have a truck? Put a rack on a SMART car or a Prius. LOL

1. Last time I checked most houses have garages. Don't you want to protect that 40K suv that you mention in #3 from hail damage, sun damage, dirt, theft, etc? I do. That's why I park in the garage.

2. I don't need a new bike, my Intense is about as good as it gets for freeride. I doubt your "freestyle" bike has 7" of travel front and rear, 203mm disc rotors and 4 piston calipers, 2.4" heavy duty tubeless tires, etc. It's heavy because it's very strong. The gentleman who posted the lovely orange Intense M3 a few posts above me will no doubt agree because I'm sure his weighs more than mine.

I have a 21lb Niner for XC. I still wouldn't want to put it up on the roof.

3.Yes, I do care about MPG, as do most of the other people on this particular forum. Read the countless threads about mileage if you don't believe me. The comparative fuel efficiency is just the frosting on the cake for me though.

 

[kingpin748]

I still like the roof mounted racks. They look better, and I don't have to worry about getting rear ended and my bikes getting trashed.

I wish some one would rear end me. My cousins had a couple 2nd hand downhill bikes that were $5000 or something ridiculous originally but they got them for $2000. Got rear ended and BAM! Brand new bikes!

I wonder what would happen with mine? I ride a Specialized StumpJumper which has to be close to 20 years old and still going. Piece of **** doesn't even have front shocks.

 

[Co4runnin]

Just DON'T buy a Kuat rack. The aluminum features and the mechanic stand all seem wonderful but they quality isn't there. I work a bike shop and our rep from yakima told us that they put the Kuat through all of the extensive testing that Yakima puts on each of their racks and did not pass. However the rep did say nothing bad about Kuats rack, but I'd prefer to buy a rack that doesn't have a higher risk of failure.

the rep really seemed to enjoy the idea of the mechanic stand connected to the ramp. The racks simply didn't pass the tests that yakima puts their stuff through. While maybe no one has had a problem, they still didn't pass the tests. according to our yakima rep, they lack in quality.

I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents about Kuat racks. And the comment that Factoryride put up.... Below is 3 links about the Kuat NV and Kuat Sherpa on MTBR.com

Kuat Sherpa Review
Kuat NV Review
Kuat NV Review From Sicklines.com


The fact that you say "DONT buy a kuat rack" and that its "a rack that has a higher risk of failure" all because a biased yakima rep told you that it didnt stand up to their product testing, isnt right. I've never heard of a Kuat platform rack failing. Those are some pretty loaded statements that will defer people from a great product.

I've done a lot of research on finding a solid platform rack... and Kuat is definitely worth a look. Several of my buddies use the yakima holdup, and thule t2 platform racks, both are awesome. However, after seeing all of them in person... Kuat is just as good if not better (depending on what people want in a platform rack).

Making a straight forward comment against a product that you only have second hand knowledge about is very misleading to people looking for a great product. Unless you know what this "product testing" entails, I dont think you should make that statement. The Yakima holdup and Kuat Sherpa have very different load capacities, which could affect Yakimas testing, if they did in fact do testing on another companies product.

This is just another great example of how you need take things on forums with a grain of salt. I'm not advocating that people buy a kuat rack... but dont be swayed by one persons statement.

 

[Turn_down]

1. Last time I checked most houses have garages. Don't you want to protect that 40K suv that you mention in #3 from hail damage, sun damage, dirt, theft, etc? I do. That's why I park in the garage.

2. I don't need a new bike, my Intense is about as good as it gets for freeride. I doubt your "freestyle" bike has 7" of travel front and rear, 203mm disc rotors and 4 piston calipers, 2.4" heavy duty tubeless tires, etc. It's heavy because it's very strong. The gentleman who posted the lovely orange Intense M3 a few posts above me will no doubt agree because I'm sure his weighs more than mine.

I have a 21lb Niner for XC. I still wouldn't want to put it up on the roof.

3.Yes, I do care about MPG, as do most of the other people on this particular forum. Read the countless threads about mileage if you don't believe me. The comparative fuel efficiency is just the frosting on the cake for me though.

Dude, we can do this all day.

1. Yes, I have a garage. Pull up, unload the bikes, put it in the garage. It's not rocket science.

2. No my "freestyle" (nice quotes, by the way) bike doesn't have suspension. It's a freestyle bike. I ride in skate parks and street. Weight and strength are two different things. Freestyle bikes used to be over 40 pounds, no they are stronger and half the weight. Not to mention, it was a joke. Hence the lol afterwards.

3. Yes, I've seen the threads and think they are rediculous. You want to drive a 4Runner, deal with the crappy gas mileage. You want better gas mileage, drive a Highlander.

 

[deekoi]

Deekoi..

When I said they didn't pass the test but the rep still had nothing bad to say. What I meant is that the rep really seemed to enjoy the idea of the mechanic stand connected to the ramp. The racks simply didn't pass the tests that yakima puts their stuff through. While maybe no one has had a problem, they still didn't pass the tests. The racks are nice, don't get me wrong. They look good, have very nice features, but according to our yakima rep, they lack in quality.

Here's a picture of my rig on my saris rack

noted. Just freaked me out a bit since mine is in the mail and it's huge purchase!

I'll give my .02 when I get it but for $460, I'd expect it to be pretty dam good stuff!

Like Co4runnin I did a ton of reviewing and took a while to pick out the rack. I expect this to last many many years with out having to worry about too much about rusting issues or other things here and there. Also like the minimal to zero rattle on the rack.

 

[FactoryRide]

CO4runnin

I didn't mean to affend you by telling you exactly what I've heard from the mouth a yakima rep. I was putting that out there informing people. I know if other people on here are like me and have some serious money invested in bikes, I don't want to hear that a rack has failed a performance test. I understand that that may be biased from yakima, but if I'm spending that much money on a rack I dont want to hear anything negative from anyone on it. I have over 6000 invested in the orange bike I posted up, and I dont want anything to happen to a failure in the rack.

Another thing with roof racks.

Turn Down..with Bikes these days, there is alot of people steering away from the standard QR that people are familiar with. Like my DH rig. I have a 20mm straight axle that is not compatible with a standard roof rack without any extra conversion pieces.

The guy asked for opinions on racks. Everyone has their own opinion and I see no need for some of yall to get a little upset when someones opinon is slightly different.

I'm not trying to stir ****, I'm on here to learn more about the 4runner, as seeing I'm waiting on my trail to hit the docks. I want to learn about the mods, and handout what little I know to some stuff.

 

[SSPey]

question: on racks like the Thule Roadway and Yakima Doubledown, is it possible to pivot/angle them down with a single bike attached? All the online information is pretty vague. Thanks.