Be aware that the platform-type carriers made for more than 2 bikes usually require a 2" receiver hitch. 2" hitch receivers can be hard to find for cars and car-based SUVs (like the Subaru).
You can add extenders/adapters to neck the 2" hitch down to a smaller 1.25" hitch, but they are much less stable than a direct connection to a proper 2" receiver. Adapters usually cause the entire hitch platform to wobble. When I've had to use them, I added a big racheting tie-down through the rack and to something under the bumper at both ends. This stabilizes the platform but adds inconvenience. I agree that platform-type, trailer hitch mounted bike racks are much better at taking care of your bike than the hanging style. But they are more difficult to fit to vehicles. Based on my experience, 1 Up USA has the best platform racks. MUSA to boot. You can extend them to up to 4 bikes. They're very, very well made, with smart, convenient features. Not cheap, but good racks never are. Tim On Fri, May 1, 2015 at 10:19 AM, KC <kathyscarr...@gmail.com> wrote: > This info is very helpful as we will be purchasing a carrier immediately. > Turns out the fork paint damage on my beautiful new bike was likely caused > by the current carrier (Yakima hitch-mount swing away). Although we > couldn't figure out how it could be happening, the person loading the > carrier (rude to name him) has been extremely concerned about my bike and > tried a new position yesterday resulting in nice scrapes on the back side > of the frame. Best guess is even though they were loaded at the far ends > of the 4-bike carrier, my bike was attacked by the other bike's brake > lever. I will likely have to take Keven's advice to stop crying and put on > clear nail polish and then cover with reflective tape. At this point I > will be quite nicely reflecting on one side of the bike. Since I'm hoping > to not continue the process and the carrier loader is trying to avoid being > killed, looks like we will probably buy a new carrier immediately. > > It kills me to see my mixtie hanging askew on the hanging racks (and why > is only my bike getting scratched up?), especially when we add the 2 > kiddo's bikes into the mix. I've considered the attachment to create the > cross bar on my bike, but it seems like an accident waiting to happen. > Somehow it seems a platform would be more "organized". We have other > hanging carriers (quit using them because we replaced with a swing-away to > have access to the back of the vehicles). It helped me to see the above > comments and wanted to see if there are any updates that would be of use to > us. After reading the above, I think I am right about the platform being > maybe a little better for the mix of bikes and am a little leery of further > experimentation with my bike on the hanging carrier. I don't think we > could easily handle a roof mount and the roof top is reserved for > a kayak anyway.. > > We drive a Subaru Outback and Jeep Grand Cherokee, moving the carrier back > and forth. If we had a 4-bike carrier on, we probably wouldn't get out of > our own driveway without scraping so raising the hitch up would probably be > important. Most of the time it would be 2 bikes - standard road bike with > fenders and my Cheviot. But we also need the option to bring along 2 bikes > for young kids. I've been looking at the ones for 2 that accommodate an > add-on for an additional 2. It would be most useful for it to be > swing-away so we could easily access everything. It is important that we > can secure the bikes well as they could be unattended out of sight > sometimes (although we are careful about that). And loading/unloading > shouldn't be an ordeal so we can it frequently - we have a mix of short (30 > min to 1 hr) drives to start riding and long trips. > > I will look at all the recommendations above, but appreciate any updated > input. Thanks. > > (I think my optimal solution is a diesel sprinter with 4 captains chairs > and a fold-down sofa in the rear to seat 3 and sleep 2 as queen size bed, > with plenty of storage space between sofa & captains chairs for neatly > organized "equipment", partnered with a 23' toy hauler for more > accommodations for a longer trip. I think we could make that work. Makes a > new carrier look pretty inexpensive, even if unplanned) > > >> -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
