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Hitch bike racks are one of many best methods to move highway bikes, mountain bikes, gravel bikes, and even e-bikes. There is not any have to carry your rig overhead onto the roof of the automotive, which is clearly simpler in your arms. Most hitch racks swing away from the trunk of your automotive so you possibly can nonetheless entry gear inside, and a few have aspect advantages like carrying cargo. And, as a result of bikes are positioned behind the automotive, they don’t affect gasoline mileage as a lot as bikes on the roof.
The cons of hitch bike racks are they are typically heavier, costlier, and bikes on the again of the automotive are subjected to extra highway filth and dirt than bikes mounted on the roof of the automotive.
We reviewed an assortment of hitch bike racks from main manufacturers to search out the highest selections. The very best hitch bike rack we examined is the Kuat Piston Professional. It is dead-simple to assemble and beefy sufficient to hold as much as 4 bikes, and comes with sturdy safety cable locks to maintain your valuable cargo protected.
Why You Ought to Belief Me
I am a Vermont-based author, photographer, and out of doors adventurer, who experiences on gear, journey journey, and environmental points. I additionally serve on the board of Richmond Mountain Trails, Vermont Mountain Bike Affiliation, and Vermont Huts. I’ve developed and guided mountaineering and biking journeys within the U.S. and South America, and biked throughout the U.S. I experience bikes most days and I’ve reviewed dozens of motorcycle racks available on the market with highway, gravel, mountain, fats, touring, commuter, e-, and youngsters’ bikes. Not solely do I assessment gear for Males’s Journal, however for a number of endemic bike magazines.
The Greatest Hitch Bike Racks of 2023
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In the event you beloved the look and performance of Kuat’s Piston Professional X, however couldn’t swing the worth or didn’t really feel like including a wiring harness to your SUV, Piston Professional ought to be your subsequent buy. We love this bike rack as a result of it assembles with two bolts and is straightforward to make use of.
Bikes can simply be offset so handlebars and saddles don’t collide. Many racks have some sort of cable lock deterrent. This one has a beefy cable that inserts right into a port within the rack to lock. It’s a way more substantial safety system than many different racks. Select amongst three positions: lowered, carry, and raised. A hand lever means that you can simply transfer between them, whether or not loaded or unloaded.
It took me lower than 10 minutes to arrange. Either side of the 2 wheel trays clicks into the bottom, and every set of wheel trails are hooked up with one nut and bolt. Piston Professional can be exceptionally straightforward to get on and off the automotive. The rack comes with a locking hitch bolt that slides in, and the rack tightens onto the automotive utilizing Kuat’s particular theft-proof software, which is included with the rack, in addition to knotted ropes to safe the rear wheels.
Learn how to Use
The rack makes use of hydraulic heel holders. Press a lever on the aspect of the tray (there’s one for every wheel holder, so two per bike) and the wheel holder releases to present you house on the rack to set your bike. As soon as your bike is positioned on the tray, press the wheel holders in from both sides to lock the bike in place. Every wheel holder will be adjusted to suit bikes from 18 to 29 inches with as much as 5-inch-wide tires and as much as a 57-inch wheelbase.
Capability: 2 to 4 bikes
Weight: 63 kilos
Load: 67 kilos for 2-inch hitch, 60 kilos for 1.25-inch hitch
One-hand operable
Nonetheless costly
Strong safety cable locks into the rack
Simple to assemble
Berne Broudy
Hitch racks are sometimes giant. If space for storing is stopping you from investing, Thule Epos may be the rack for you. Epos carries three bikes with the steadiness and safety of different high-end wheel tray three-bike hitch racks, and loads of house in between the bikes to forestall injury. While you take away the rack from the automotive, the wheel trays fold in so the rack takes up much less house in storage. Higher but, the rack rolls on small wheels for straightforward transport.
Most racks should be unloaded within the reverse order they have been loaded. So if you wish to get to the primary bike you placed on the rack, you must take all of the bikes off. And when it’s mounted in your automotive and it’s worthwhile to get into your trunk, it releases down loaded or unloaded for entry. The rack is available in a number of configurations. A folding e-bike ramp and tail lights are bought individually, and so is a burly lock.
The rack holds any commonplace sort or measurement bike, together with e-bikes, mountain bikes, and gravel bikes, together with bikes with racks and fenders, with as much as 29-inch wheels. It’s significantly good for carrying lengthy wheelbase bikes.
Learn how to Use
When it’s time to place the rack on or off, it’s a tool-free course of. Bikes mount to the rack with wheel straps and a strap hooked up to a telescoping arm that may be shifted to connect to the body or the rear wheel.
Capability: 3 bikes
Weight: 51.4 kilos
Load: 66 kilos per bike
Trays fold in for extra compact storage
Lock bought individually
Software-free mounting
Rolls greatest on paved surfaces
Suits all measurement bikes and lengthy wheelbase bikes, too
Berne Broudy
Thule T2 Professional XTR is stable, reliable, and all-around superior. Nothing beats the sturdiness and time-tested ruggedness of this rack. It’s additionally one of many best racks to get to your automotive, and again to storage. It has an especially heavy-duty hitch mount system, with strong trays that may simply be expanded from two to 4 bikes. The rack rolls from storage to automotive on two rollerblade wheels that we discovered have been rugged sufficient to deal with a gravel driveway.
Trays are broad sufficient for fats bikes, and the rear ratcheting straps are lengthy sufficient that they’ll additionally accommodate fats bikes. That stated, the straps aren’t too floppy for carrying highway bikes and gravel bikes. Thule supplies two positions for the straps—one for narrow-wheel bikes and one for wide-wheel bikes. And bike trays have theft-deterrent cable locks that, whereas not essentially the most strong, are thick sufficient to be significant.
Learn how to Use
This rack holds a motorcycle utilizing a front-wheel hook and a rear-ratchet strap. It is extraordinarily straightforward to get on and off the automotive. Tighten the camming tongue by twisting it together with your hand. As soon as tight, lock the knob with the rack key; it spins freely with out loosening or tightening the rack till you unlock it. A hook clamps into the hitch receiver gap to place the rack appropriately on the automotive. It’s tool-free, and far simpler to connect than a rack with a hitch pin.
Capability: 2 to 4 bikes
Weight: 52 kilos
Load: 60 kilos per bike
Extraordinarily sturdy
Different racks have extra visible attraction
Might be expanded from two to 4 bikes
No three-bike choice
Tried-and-true design
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In the event you want extra out of your hitch rack than simply carrying a pair bikes, that is the system for you. The Yakima EXO SwingBase is constructed on a swing-away base that may take quite a few carriers, together with a two-bike attachment referred to as DoubleUp, cargo containers, a tray that converts to a cart, and even a modular kitchen. If you wish to carry a number of issues without delay, the system enables you to add an higher deck, referred to as TopShelf, for a second rack or service.
I used this rack with the bike attachment mounted on the SwingBase, and in addition with the EXO TopShelf with the GearLocker on the bottom. This was an ideal place to retailer a helmet, footwear, bike clothes, instruments, a pump, and extra. I beloved the swing-away perform, which let me get bikes and different equipment away from the automobile for straightforward entry to gear contained in the automotive.
When loaded, Yakima recommends you employ an included assist beneath the bottom when it’s swung away. The most important draw back of the EXO System is it’s heavy, so not appropriate for all vehicles. However it’s best for vans, vans, and SUVs. With the fitting equipment, EXO considerably expands a automobile’s cargo carrying capability, whereas additionally permitting it to hold bikes. And with the bike service on the TopShelf, bikes get coated with much less highway grime throughout lengthy drives.
Learn how to Use
Yakima SwingBase (pictured) is the inspiration of the system. It has twin arms with slots to obtain the system’s numerous attachments. Place the two-bike rack on prime of the arms, then screw the knobs on the ends of the arms to safe the mount in place. The tightening knobs lock with the identical key the rack makes use of to lock onto the automotive. The bike rack has front-wheel hooks that clamp over the entrance tires and ratchet down. The rear wheel is held by a ratcheting strap.
Capability: 2 bikes
Weight: 139 kilos (SwingBase: 68.5 kilos; TopShelf: 33.5 kilos; DoubleUp: 37 kilos)
Load: 50 kilos per bike
Comes with a swing-away
Costly
Modular system
Heavy
Might be expanded to hold cargo, too
Carries two bikes max
Berne Broudy
For vehicles with low clearance, or anybody who needs their bikes to experience just a little excessive and away from highway grime, 1Up’s tiered Heavy Obligation Double positions bike mounts so every is barely increased than the one earlier than it as they prolong away from the automotive.
I really like this rack for its light-weight development, in comparison with different racks, ease of set up, and since it was additionally fast and easy to broaden to hold three or 4 bikes. As a substitute of massive, breakable reflectors on the again, 1Up makes use of reflective stickers. Folded, the rack sits near the automotive, which additionally makes parallel parking simpler.
That is the one rack I examined with a cable lock that doesn’t contact the body of the bike, so I didn’t fear about leaving bikes locked for lengthy drives. Cable locks rubbing on a body can injury carbon bikes, so on different racks I eliminated the cable lock till parked.
Learn how to Use
There’s no have to line the rack up with the outlet in your hitch. The rack secures with an expander ball within the rack tongue that presses towards the edges of your hitch whenever you twist the hitch-tightening knob with 1Up’s customized hex wrench. The expanded ball removes play within the rack. It additionally enables you to place the rack wherever within the receiver. In the event you do select to place the rack to line up with the outlet in your hitch, you need to use 1Up’s locking hitch pin to additional safe it.
Bikes sit in trays on the rack and lock in with ratcheting holders that clamp securely over the tops of the tires. The bike holders launch by urgent an anodized lever subsequent to the tray holder that releases the stress. The ratcheting bike wheel holders have holes drilled alongside their full size. Slide 1Up’s locking skewers by way of any set of these holes, back and front, and the skewer additionally passes by way of the bike’s wheel to lock your bike to the rack.
Capability: 2 to 4 bikes
Weight: 46 kilos
Load: 50 kilos per bike
Rated for RV, off-road, and trailer use
Some meeting required
Bikes are tiered for clearance
Poor meeting instructions
Holds any measurement bike
Ratcheting mechanism can require just a little fiddling to launch
Berne Broudy
If it hurts your again simply occupied with lifting a heavy e-bike onto your automotive rack, you’ll love Saris Door County, which plugs into your automotive’s seven-pin trailer plug and electrically lowers so you possibly can load bikes sans bodily labor. With the rack put in, wheel trays fold out on both sides.
Door County is designed for straightforward transportation to and out of your automotive. It rolls on wheels that navigate pavement effectively however not gravel. A central deal with makes it simpler to carry than most racks.
It additionally comes totally assembled. I used a ratcheting wrench to safe the hitch pin. It comes with a useful cowl, nevertheless it’s for storage solely, not to be used when the rack is on the automotive. Tail lights constructed into the rack alert drivers behind you that you just’re braking or turning.
Furthermore, the rack has built-in theft deterrents, together with a locking hitch pin and cables to safe bikes to the rack. It’s out there for 2-inch receivers solely, and never permitted for RV use. The wheel trays can match bikes with tires as much as 3 inches. This is without doubt one of the greatest racks for carrying step-through bikes, due to the clamping arm. It comes with a one-year guarantee for electronics besides.
Learn how to Use
With the automobile turned on, flip the important thing within the rack to activate the rack keypad, and use the arrows to lift and decrease the rack. In my Ford F-150, I additionally needed to press the brake for the arrows to work, so I rigged a chunk of wooden that braced towards the driving force’s aspect seat and the brake pedal. With the rack lowered, bikes roll on and fix with back and front wheel straps in addition to a rubber lobster claw clamp mounted on an unbiased arm that folds down when not in use. This rack works even when your bike has fenders or down-tube batteries.
Saris recommends utilizing an included auxiliary strap to wrap the rack, bike frames, and wheels to additional safe the load. As soon as the rack is loaded, with the automotive on and in park, use the keypad to lift the rack to full peak.
Capability: 2 bikes
Weight: 63 kilos
Load: 60 kilos per bike
Lifts bikes so that you don’t need to
Takes two individuals to load, one with a foot on the brake and one working the carry
Comes totally assembled
Rack cowl for storage solely
Deal with and wheels make it straightforward to maneuver when not on the automotive
Instruments wanted for mounting the rack
Berne Broudy
Many tray hitch bike racks don’t securely carry bikes with fenders. The entrance hook can’t maintain the wheel with out bending the fender or being too unfastened. RockyMounts HighNoon FC is ready to mitigate that by providing straps for entrance wheel hooks and rear wheel straps on trays which can be tiered for higher handlebar clearance. The wheel trays sit on a base that’s angled barely up for higher floor clearance, and the mount additionally has welded steel hooks to safe strap ends.
Learn how to Use
To additional stabilize bikes, the rack has a entrance wheel cease that creates a cradle for the bike wheel along with a entrance wheel tray. The hitch rack comes with straps lengthy sufficient for fats bikes in addition to a ratchet strap extender. In the event you don’t carry fats bikes, trim the straps with scissors in order that they don’t flap whereas driving. The rack can carry bikes with 20- to 29-inch wheels, and comes with an anti-wobble hitch pin with a locking bolt and a wrench to put in it.
Whereas it isn’t produced from as heavy-duty supplies as another tray racks, it expands to hold three bikes and comes with a lifetime guarantee. An included cable lock attaches to the body. And RockyMounts additionally inbuilt a steel loop so that you can thread your individual lock by way of do you have to select to make use of one.
Capability: 2 bikes
Weight: 39 kilos
Load: 60 kilos per bike (2-inch hitch will be expanded to three bikes at 45 kilos)
Reasonably priced
A number of straps
Holds bikes with fenders
Some autos require hitch extenders with this rack
Accommodates fats bikes
Deal with that lowers and raises the rack is difficult to get to with a 3rd bike mount
Berne Broudy
When your crew needs to shuttle laps on native trails, there isn’t any higher rack for the job than North Shore 2023 NSR6. Made for mountain bikers, this hanging hitch bike rack holds as much as six bikes with suspension forks and is the OG in relation to shuttle racks. The folding NSR6 isn’t solely extra inexpensive than opponents, nevertheless it additionally folds in half for extra handy storage.
North Shore 2023 NSR6 is greatest fitted to vehicles with first rate clearance, and the power to deal with the load of the rack plus the bikes you load on it. I’ve used this rack on a Toyota Sienna all-wheel drive minivan and on numerous pickup vans.
Like many racks, this has a number of positions: vertical to the automobile’s rear window, barely angled away from the automobile, and considerably angled away from the automobile. A heavy-duty pin holds the rack in whichever place you need. The place that’s most angled away from the automobile gave me tailgate opening clearance when the rack wasn’t loaded, nevertheless it did not enable the tailgate to open with the rack loaded.
Learn how to Use
North Shore 2023 NSR6 requires ratcheting wrenches and took me an hour to assemble. Although the rack is made within the U.S., the instructions required some deciphering, missteps, and do-overs. However as soon as assembled, it’s burly and simple to function. Load bikes from proper to left.
Capability: 6 bikes
Weight: 72 kilos
Load: 60 kilos per bike
Carries as much as six bikes
Meeting required and difficult instructions
Folds for storage
Arduous to load
Makes use of commonplace elements
For suspension fork bikes solely
Berne Broudy
Probably the most inexpensive bike racks you should buy, Malone Runaway HM3 is a publish hitch bike rack. Bikes cling from arms that stretch out from a central mast and are clamped down by rubber straps and stabilized with anti-sway cradles. Constructed from outsized metal tubing, the rack’s arms fold down when not in use, and the unloaded rack tilts away from the automobile by eradicating a pin.
The rack is greatest fitted to highway bikes and gravel bikes with a extra conventional entrance triangle body design. This is a superb rack for riders on a price range who aren’t involved with bikes being scratched. As such, I do not advocate this rack for carbon bikes or different high-end bikes, and the rack isn’t rated for e-bikes. It is out there for each 1.25- and 2-inch hitch receivers. The built-in cable lock is flimsy sufficient that I like to recommend including a cable lock to safe bikes. That is additionally some of the compact racks, making parallel parking simpler.
Learn how to Use
To mount a motorcycle, slide the entrance triangle over the 2 arms, which assist the bike from beneath the highest tube. Two straps tighten excessive tube, whereas one strap wraps across the bike’s seat tube. The rack comes with a regular non-locking hitch pin. You’ll be able to improve to a locking hitch pin, and in addition add a prime tube adapter for step-through bikes.
Capability: 3 bikes
Weight: 21 kilos
Load: 33 kilos per bike
Inexpensive
Bikes can bang into one another
Light-weight
Tougher to load than most racks
Not really useful for costly bikes
Decide What Measurement Hitch You Have
If you wish to set up a hitch bike rack in your automobile, you’ll want a hitch receiver. In the event you don’t have one but, go for a 2-inch receiver, not a 1.25-inch receiver since almost all hitch racks are sized for 2-inch receivers. A bigger receiver additionally stabilizes the rack higher, which in flip stabilizes your bikes higher.
Some vehicles include pre-drilled holes for putting in a hitch, whereas others require you or knowledgeable so as to add some holes within the underside of your automotive. If you wish to have a hitch put in and your automotive isn’t rated for towing, inform the store doing the set up that the receiver is for a rack solely.
Which Hitch Rack Is Proper for Me?
Purchase a hitch rack that can maintain the quantity and elegance of bikes you wish to carry. However remember that not all vehicles are capable of carry all racks. In case your automotive has low clearance, select a tiered rack that lifts the outer bike increased than the interior bike.
Whereas lighter racks are simpler to carry on and off your automotive, you might have considered trying a heavier and extra sturdy choice. Light-weight racks can get broken by tough roads extra simply, so maintain that in thoughts in case you drive over quite a lot of potholes. Earlier than you put money into any hitch rack, test with the store or producer to verify the rack is suitable together with your automobile.
Sorts of Hitch Bike Racks
1. Hanging Racks
Hanging racks, additionally referred to as publish racks, are essentially the most inexpensive model of hitch racks. They’re greatest fitted to carrying any bike with a regular entrance triangle connecting the handlebars, cranks, and seat. Utilizing a publish rack, you cling your bike on arms that stretch out from a mast. On a dangling rack, you safe your bikes with rubber straps that include the rack. Hanging racks are additionally the most effective racks for carrying greater than 4 bikes. Many hanging racks can carry as much as six bikes. Some hanging racks are designed for entrance suspension bikes solely, and all are greatest for autos with substantial clearance.
2. Put up Racks
A publish rack works greatest for highway bikes and gravel bikes. Simply notice bikes with a rear shock and youngsters’ bikes could not match. And since bikes can bang into one another, a publish rack is greatest for riders who don’t care if their bikes get dinged or scratched.
3. Tray Racks
Tray racks, whereas pricier, are sometimes the only option in case you carry several types of bikes, bikes of various sizes, and costly bikes. Many tray racks clamp over a motorcycle’s wheels with out touching the body, making them best for carbon-fiber bikes. Not all tray racks are suitable with bike fenders, although some provide a selected attachment for bikes with fenders.
What to Know About Load
Each rack is rated for a way heavy a motorcycle it may possibly maintain. In the event you experience an e-bike, test the rack’s load capability to make certain it may possibly accommodate your bike. Hitch measurement and what number of bikes the rack is carrying could affect load rankings (some racks are expandable, however the load modifications whenever you broaden them). If you wish to put a hitch rack in your RV or Sprinter van, make certain the hitch rack is RV-rated.
