Hitch Bike Rack Guide

!±8± Hitch Bike Rack Guide

Riding bikes on rough terrains is a sport many adrenaline junkies love to do. A mountainous terrain may be a few hundred miles from home if you not fortunate enough to live close to the mountain trails. It does not make sense to ride the bike from home to the adventurous locations.

The solution lies in carrying the bike to the rough terrain on a 4x4 vehicle. It is quite difficult to fit a bike into the trunk of a car or SUV and that is where a hitch bicycle rack can just do the trick. It is basically an extension which fits at rear of the vehicle. The extension consists of a set of bars which support the structure while a set of clamps on the bars to keep the bikes steady. The number of bikes one can carry in a single go depends upon the type of hitch bicycle carrier.

The important features of a bike carrier are

Bikes are mounted parallel to the rear of the vehicle at shoulder height.
Certain bicycle carriers allow mounting of five bicycles
Since these are at the rear, one will not face any problem in driving them through a garage
Fender benders on the bicycle carrier might be necessary to protect the bicycle from possible collisions and damage
Modern bicycle racks do not need the removal of bicycle tires

Bike carrier considerations

The type of vehicle one drives
The type and style of bicycle
The type of Receiver hitch bicycle rack

Receiver Hitch Bike Carrier

A receiver hitch bike rack is a factory modified bike carrier which allows interchange of towing accessories. The receiver hitches come in two sizes, the two inch and one and one quarter inch. This size is proportional to the weight of the bikes. Usually the first class of receiver hitches only allow two bikes to be carried while the class two allows up to four or five bikes at a time.

Bike rack tradeoffs and solutions

The trade off with a bike carrier is that it makes the cargo access or the trunk access difficult in a vehicle. A folding hitch bike rack is the solution to the cargo access problem. Not every body has the strength to fold an already loaded bike rack. Thus the most convenient bike rack is a swing away rack. In this second type one can simply swing aside the loaded bike rack with little effort. The only tradeoff of this kind is that they look a bit awkward when compared to regular bike racks.