Looking for a 3 (or 4) 2" hitch mounted bike rack, primarily for schlepping the family bikes on vacation or to the bike path.
Think I’m leaning towards hanging style due to lighter weight and ease of install/removal and storage when not in use.
Will not be on the car (wife’s Highlander) full-time.
Kuat Alpha 3 is highly recommended, but is kinda spendy.
Ditto for the Thule Helium 3.
Rola 3 bike rack is less than half the price of these others.
And there’s Swagman, Softride, Yakima, etc.
Please point me in the right direction.
Don’t mind spending more $ for a superior product.
Bike & rack stability are 2 priorities.
Thx!!!
I don’t have one (yet), but have heard great things about the hitch rack from 1UPUSA. Expensive, but a quality unit that’s super quick and simple to use.
I got the 1-up USA and really like it (had a Yakima Bighorn before)… you can buy extensions for each additional bike after the first one and kinda mount them stacked to each other as needed. They fold up quite nicely when not in use and can be stored in their original shipping boxes (super burly 3-ply).
It mounts very securely in the receiver with an anti-theft key that actually tightens a ball against the inside sleeve of the receiver so there’s no wobble, unlike most that just have a pin to keep it from coming out. The way the trays/arms hold the bike by the wheels, it touches nothing but the tires so there’s none of the usual frame rub, etc, and the bikes don’t swing into each other like they do on the ‘hanging’ style.
The biggest thing I like about it is the trays will take my kids’ bikes very easily, whereas the Bighorn (hanging style you mention) was a huge PITA to thread through the little mutant triangles on my kids’ frames (especially since they’re heavy as fuck, too). I’d imagine a lot of MTBs would share the same trouble. If all I had were adult-sized roadies (perhaps that’s the case for you) then the Bighorn would have been fine.
I’ve heard nothing but good things about the 1UP rack - and IF I was going tray rack, that’d probably be the one.
My clan inevitably will need to access the R hatch during a trip, it’s right up there with death and taxes as being a mortal lock.
Having to remove the bikes (as quick and easy as this may be) to do so is somewhat of a dealbreaker.
$500 for 3 bikes is a bit steep too.
Being able to tilt the upright racks down (yes, I know only the Softride is designed for this w/ bikes on it, but I’m sure in a pinch I could do that with any other tilting rack) is key.
I use an Allen 4 bike for the family bikes (my bike rides inside the bed). Its heavy but very sturdy. It hangs off the back on my truck which bounces around quite a bit and I’ve have had no issues with the bikes. The potential issue is that its designed for bikes of similar size. (so a kid’s 20, 24 and 2 adult bikes don’t fit the best)
The kuat NV with the add on is an amazing rack and setup. It’s Pricey but you’ll never need to buy another rack and the built in lock and wrenching stand is a nice bonus. Good luck.
The 1-Up ain’t cheap, for sure, but for the price it does seem impeccably engineered… all stainless hardware, etc. Compared to the cost of my bikes, and seeing it as a long-term purchase, I feel like it’s good value.
And it definitely does have tilt settings… although I haven’t tried it w/ 3 bikes, which might be overly cumbersome, but it will fold up when not in use (nice so it doesn’t stick out all the time), and down depending on how much clearance you need to get behind the bikes vs the outermost one hitting the ground (each tray mounts staggered up slightly from the previous one, though, so it maintains better clearance than those that have all the mounts at the same level.)
I bought the Saris hitch mount that carries 3 bikes. It is called the Thelma and it holds the bikes on by their wheels. I like the rack a lot but when behind a low profile car like a dodge charger, the bikes buffet a bit too much, especially when one has a disc on it. Behind anything else it works great. I think it cost $330 on Amazon.
Thule 956. I have this on my suburban for my 4 kid bikes. Mine has a lock, and folds down easily when you have to open the back hatch while the bikes are still on the rack. Under $200. Get the anti-sway and snug tite lock too
Thule 956 Parkway 4-Bike 2 Inch - Thule Hitch Mount Bike Racks
The Tilt-Down 956 Thule Parkway hitch bike rack for 2 inch hitch receivers is an entry level system that features solid Thule Racks construction at an economical price. Tilt-down design of the Thule 956 Parkway provides complete access to rear.
Fits 2-inch receiversFull vehicle access with tilting down designIncludes soft rubber cradles that are made to protect bike frames while holding bike securelyOptional Thule 950 Zip Stick anti-sway device offers full stability of bicycles, preventing bikes from swaying or movement while in transportFits virtually all bike frame shapes and sizesLock the rack to your vehicle with the Thule STL2 Snug-Tite Lock, sold separatelyLock your bikes to the rack with the 6ft braided steel Thule 538 Cable Lock, sold separatelyNeed a 2" receiver hitch? Try our Curt Hitch Finder (US Customers Only)
I have the Thule Revolver. The thing is a beast of a rack but I love it.
We have a Rav4 with the sideways opening door so we couldn’t open the back with a rack that just swung down. With the Revolver, you just push everything off to the side. When we went to Wildflower, we could just store the bikes on the rack the whole time.
The main downside is that it is really heavy and putting it and 4 bikes off the back of a crossover like the Rav causes the front end of the car to get a little light. Even more compounded when the back of the car is overloaded with camping gear. You do have to be careful not to bottom out. I have scraped the bottom of the rack a few times, but the bikes sit high enough that they don’t touch the ground.
The other problem you probably have with any hanging 4 bike rack and that is making sure that the bikes don’t rub against each other. The rack is very stable, but it is just tricky to stuff 4 bikes on it and not have them touching somewhere.
Only dings on the Softride (from reviews I’ve read) is the straps can be hard to use, prone to breakage, and can potentially damage the paint on the bike.
(and it’s heavy - but most of the more robust ones are)
I’m now muddling thru the following options:
Cheap - Swagman Trailhead 4 - $163
Moderate - Thule Roadway 4 - $225, Yakima Flip-side 4 $269
Kinda spendy - Kuat Alpha 3 - $335, Thule Helium 3 - $333
(I think I’d get the Roadway 4 over the Helium)
Rolls Royce - 1UP Quik-Rack w/ 2 add-ons - $700 (gulp)
My wife (the thrifty one in the family) came home one day with a Bell 4 bike hitch rack from Target, for like $70. I’ve only used it a half dozen times or so, but so far it’s been pretty sturdy, even with the 18" hitch extension that I needed to clear the spare tire on the back of my SUV. If it were up to me, I would have went right to Thule or Yakima, but so far I’ve been pretty impressed with this thing.
Got the 3-bike model, and it used to ride behind my old 4-Runner. It’s heavy and solid and holds the bikes very securely. Got the additional locking bolt, which locks the rack to the vehicle and picked up some locking skewers from Performance (for some reason, Draftmaster doesn’t offer them…at least they didn’t used to). The nice thing about this rack is that it swings down/away from the rear of the vehicle so you don’t have to unrack the bikes to open the tailgate. Storage of the rack when not in use isn’t too much of a problem - I put a couple of large padded utility hooks (the big honkin’ rectangular ones) in the garage wall, and the rack hangs upside down on them nicely - just hang it high enough that you don’t bust your noggin’ on the beam that inserts into the hitch.
Haven’t used it in years since I traded in that 4-Runner on a Tacoma and it has fork-mounts in the bed but I keep it around just in case…
I have a Yakima similar to the DD but it is 5 years old and still working great. Holds 4 bikes. I like the fact it has a holder for the top and seat tube. This way the bike is not swaying into each other. Mine has a locking bolt and i can run a cable through all bikes and lock to rack in case i need to run into a store.
x2 on Draftmaster. I’ve got an HR-4 that has been great for the longer fully-loaded trips for about 10yrs now. Wouldn’t call it an easy on-off for spur-of-the-moment jaunts as it’s big and heavy…but for long hauls I pull it off the wall and stick it on because like Ti said, the whole shebang pivots down and back for hatch access without any unracking. That low position is also handy for getting the bikes mounted more or less at ground level, after which you swing everything up into place. Pricy once you start into the options…think an HR4 base is around $550, a front wheel carrier is another benjamin, and so on.
