Hitch mount bike carriers

[nhbubba]

IMO it depends on what you're carrying, for how far, what season, and about 100 other details.

Had a car with a 4x8 utility trailer. Now have a ex-cab full-size 4WD pickup with a 6.5' bed. I prefer the pickup. So easy to move bikes with, especially dirt bikes. And extra especially ice bikes. In the winter the snow and crap gets thrown on any bike in an open trailer or hitch carrier. Bike stays clean (and salt free) in the bed of a truck. Truck with bike in back is more maneuverable, easier to park and costs less @ the tolls than a trailer setup. I argue it is more secure than a hitch carrier or trailer.

Randy is over selling the tail gate thing. Put the bike in diagonally if it is heavy or long. Or just cinch the tailgate half closed if not. I just got back from a 1750 mile round trip with two dirt bikes down south. Bother were in my truck parked straight in and strapped against the front of the bed. We had gear and boxes between the bikes and could have fit a 3rd bike easily. Tailgate was ~3/4 closed and held in place with an extra cinch strap. Worked great. Gear stayed put even through some mind blowing monsoon rains in Worcester county.

Trucks and dirt bikes go together great.

[ducatirdr]

The best and lightest solution is Add-A-Bike HOME

I use one on my SUV for my dirt bike. I use my trailer for heavy stuff. This is the lightest and the easiest to mount. It uses a foot peg mount pin and a bar over the seat to secure it in seconds. No straps. I've used it a number of times driving 80mph without any impact to ride quality. It also mounts to the hitch with a bolt that keeps it from rocking around. You can pick this whole system up with one hand and move it around easily. Yes its aluminum and it flexes but for my KTM its been years of use without drama. I also leave it outside in the weather year round rather than pull it into the garage and take up space. Being AL makes it weather proof.

[RandyO]

Randy is over selling the tail gate thing.

you haven't had some assholes tailgate fall off in front of you, have ya

I didn't crash only because I am pretty religious about 3 seconds of separation

loading diagonally is an option, but a PIA imho and only leaves room for 1 bike

[OreoGaborio]

I bet that asshole totally hauled his motorcycle with the tailgate down and it had absolutely nothing to do with ANY other sort of abuse whatsoever.

That fucker.

[breakdirt916]

I'm going to haul 3 dirt bikes w' the tailgate down in November...getting new straps, but got these for better piece of mind



doesn't keep your tailgate from bending though

[cdovego]

Now we're dodging tailgates on the highway.

[Pittenger5]

I know a guy who used to haul his bikes with the tailgate down, 10 years later? Bam! Herpes.

Don't haul your bikes with the tailgate down or it could happen to you too!

[number9]

I know a guy who used to haul his bikes with the tailgate down, 10 years later? Bam! Herpes.

Don't haul your bikes with the tailgate down or it could happen to you too!

But was it a Ridgeline? And did he try running Rotella T in it?

[number9]

I have an embarrassing question, but that's nothing new. I'm looking to get a Mazda CX-5 to haul the dirt bikes around, and as I've mentioned before, I want to get a hitch carrier so that I can carry a bike on the hitch itself, instead of using the trailer that I have now.

Aftermarket suppliers of hitch carriers show different carriers supporting different tongue weights depending on size and strength of the carrier's construction. They go from 300lbs to more than 600lbs. When I try and find the Mazda factory rating for maximum tongue weight, I find pages like this, it shows a maximum of 200lbs. I found a CX-5 owners manual online and it says max tongue weight is "Tongue load/Trailer load × 100 = 10 % to 15 %".

I picked a receiver manufacturer at random, and called Curt Mfg. I told him what I wanted to do with a hitch carrier, and he said "Don't". He told me if you want to hang a hitch carrier off a car or a truck, it needs to have a frame -- and not be unibody construction. Am I way overthinking this? Is he?

His rationale was that, even if the maximum tongue weight was high enough to account for the weight of the bike & carrier, you can't simply use maximum tongue weight to estimate if carrying a dirt bike on a hitch receiver is a good idea, because the forces exerted are different compared to pulling an actual trailer.

I've seen guys at the MX track with similar crossover SUVs like Honda Elements with hitch carriers, and they're unibody too. Though just because you can, doesn't mean you should...

[Pittenger5]

Im just guessing, if you call the manufacturer of a product, that will lose a sale if you dont buy it, and they say dont .... probably shouldnt.

[number9]

Im just guessing, if you call the manufacturer of a product, that will lose a sale if you dont buy it, and they say dont .... probably shouldnt.

Yeah, you make a very good point. It's just not what I want to hear

[Paul_E_D]

I use one on my unibody sprinter and carry my sportbike often. No issues. I have an really heaver hitch hauler too.

[breakdirt916]

I'd think they are worried about liability and err on the side of caution

from what I've read, it is a lot of force to bounce around because the 350lbs are bouncing up and down 12" off the back like a lever

how heavy is the bike?

[number9]

I use one on my unibody sprinter and carry my sportbike often. No issues. I have an really heaver hitch hauler too.

I've definitely seen it done on unibody cars/SUVs, and never really thought it was marginal.

The guy at Curt said he's seen carriers get torn out of unibodies before

I'd think they are worried about liability and err on the side of caution

from what I've read, it is a lot of force to bounce around because the 350lbs are bouncing up and down 12" off the back like a lever

how heavy is the bike?

That was kind of his point, in that the weight isn't directly on the tongue but up and back from it. The bike is probably 230lbs wet and most carriers are 40-60lbs. So that's almost 300lbs on a tongue rated to only 200lbs, and ignoring the fact I mentioned before that tongue weight and hitch carrier weight are not really the same.

The other thing to keep in mind is that my closest track is an hour away, and others are 2-2.5 hours away. So it's not like I'm just going to for a quick drive with this thing...

[Pigman]

Any one have one of these FS......cheap??

[number9]

Any one have one of these FS......cheap??

xxaarraa does in the FS section

[Pigman]

xxaarraa does in the FS section

thank you...

[Jayspeed]

I have one from discount ramps. I've used it with all 3 bikes. Farthest I traveled was NJMP with the gixxer. The 400lb street bikes put a ton of weight on the tongue plus an additional 100lb's of the carrier. With mine the bike sits about 2 feet from the hitch so if you can make an equation for foot pounds of leverage at that distance, I'm sure it may be over my 750lb tongue weight limit. I don't like carrying the street bikes anymore but the ktm it feels good. I can't win posting files in threads on a Mac. I have to edit the post to upload and then attach the file and sometimes they are upright and sometimes not lol.

[RandyO]

I can't win posting files in threads on a Mac. I have to edit the post to upload and then attach the file and sometimes they are upright and sometimes not lol.

that's ok, I can turn my laptop on it's side

ya, you can definitely see the downward bend

[Garandman]

I have an embarrassing question, but that's nothing new. I'm looking to get a Mazda CX-5 to haul the dirt bikes around, and as I've mentioned before, I want to get a hitch carrier so that I can carry a bike on the hitch itself, instead of using the trailer that I have now.

Aftermarket suppliers of hitch carriers show different carriers supporting different tongue weights depending on size and strength of the carrier's construction. They go from 300lbs to more than 600lbs. When I try and find the Mazda factory rating for maximum tongue weight, I find pages like this, it shows a maximum of 200lbs. I found a CX-5 owners manual online and it says max tongue weight is "Tongue load/Trailer load × 100 = 10 % to 15 %".

I picked a receiver manufacturer at random, and called Curt Mfg. I told him what I wanted to do with a hitch carrier, and he said "Don't". He told me if you want to hang a hitch carrier off a car or a truck, it needs to have a frame -- and not be unibody construction. Am I way overthinking this? Is he?

His rationale was that, even if the maximum tongue weight was high enough to account for the weight of the bike & carrier, you can't simply use maximum tongue weight to estimate if carrying a dirt bike on a hitch receiver is a good idea, because the forces exerted are different compared to pulling an actual trailer.

I've seen guys at the MX track with similar crossover SUVs like Honda Elements with hitch carriers, and they're unibody too. Though just because you can, doesn't mean you should...

We’ve used one many times on a 2006 Outback. Usually it’s a 100 mile trip with a WR250R.

No problems so far, but that’s no guarantee because you don’t know what kind of support there is on a CX9. The OBW is pretty substantial and significantly longer than say a Forester. Bet if you watch a hitch install video at eTrailer you could get a feel.

All that said, now that we have a little HF Trailer we use it most of the time. A good hitch carrier (and we have the HF one which I feel is marginal) probably costs about the same.

BTW Maine will register trailers, non-resident included, for up to five years, a great convenience.