Ian F
Well-Known Member
I work from home, so I don't drive that much these days - quite a change from the 30K+/year I used to put on my cars when I worked in Somerset. Other than weekend trips - usually to ride - my driving during the week consists of one or two grocery store runs and 1-3 drives to Nesh to ride - maybe 100 miles/week.
My main bike hauler is my 2017 minivan, but I also have a 2006 MINI as well as a small fleet of little British cars (three Triumphs) in various states of in-operation, but once in a while they do run. Cars hate sitting. Long periods on inactivity are not good for them. So in order to drive my cars more, I want to use them for getting to local riding spots. Nesh and Nox mostly. Maybe even Pennypack and even Trexlertown (I'm pretty sure I could figure out a nice scenic route from Trexlertown to my house, although it would be far from direct).
So I need a bike rack. It needs to fit a 1.25" receiver (the one on the MINI). It also needs to carry my 54 lbs. e-bike.
Many of my friends have 1UP racks and by all accounts they love them. But the 1UP rack that fits a 1.25" receiver is only rated for 50 lbs. per tray. The other option is the Thule Verse which comes in a 1.25" version and is rated for 55 lbs.
While the engineer in me says 1UP probably built in enough of a safety factor to say an extra 5 lbs. of weight is not likely to be an issue, the leery part of me says that safety factor wasn't meant to be pushed over the limit on a regular basis.
With that in mind, I'm leaning towards the Versa, which is available in a 1.25" version and is rated for 55 lbs. bikes.
Are there other options I'm missing? Keeping in mind the 1.25" receiver and 55 lbs. capacity requirements.
My main bike hauler is my 2017 minivan, but I also have a 2006 MINI as well as a small fleet of little British cars (three Triumphs) in various states of in-operation, but once in a while they do run. Cars hate sitting. Long periods on inactivity are not good for them. So in order to drive my cars more, I want to use them for getting to local riding spots. Nesh and Nox mostly. Maybe even Pennypack and even Trexlertown (I'm pretty sure I could figure out a nice scenic route from Trexlertown to my house, although it would be far from direct).
So I need a bike rack. It needs to fit a 1.25" receiver (the one on the MINI). It also needs to carry my 54 lbs. e-bike.
Many of my friends have 1UP racks and by all accounts they love them. But the 1UP rack that fits a 1.25" receiver is only rated for 50 lbs. per tray. The other option is the Thule Verse which comes in a 1.25" version and is rated for 55 lbs.
While the engineer in me says 1UP probably built in enough of a safety factor to say an extra 5 lbs. of weight is not likely to be an issue, the leery part of me says that safety factor wasn't meant to be pushed over the limit on a regular basis.
With that in mind, I'm leaning towards the Versa, which is available in a 1.25" version and is rated for 55 lbs. bikes.
Are there other options I'm missing? Keeping in mind the 1.25" receiver and 55 lbs. capacity requirements.
