Budget platform bike racks?

nj6964

Active Member
I’m looking to switch from trunk mounted hanging rack to hitch mounted platform. If given the $$ I’d get a 1up and be done with it, but unfortunately, budgets.

Has anyone had experience with these cheaper type of platform racks. Are they not worth it for someone who rides once/wk? I don’t have a carbon bike and don’t mind the frame contact. My concern is how sturdy and secure are they? This guy below with a coupon comes out to be very well priced.

Thanks!!!



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I had one of those. Was fine until it wore away the paint on my top tube on a long drive...

It's much preferred to have a rack that doesn't touch the frame anywhere, just the wheels.
 
I’d love to spend $350 or less for an 4 bike. I have both. 1.25 on one car 2” on another.
 
I had one of those. Was fine until it wore away the paint on my top tube on a long drive...

It's much preferred to have a rack that doesn't touch the frame anywhere, just the wheels.
+1

I had a 4 bike version of the one in your pic and it was ok + functional. One thing is that it's huge and also weighed a ton. I would look for a deal on on older Kuat or One-up. So much nicer. Even the first gen Kuat that I have is worlds better. The great thing about Kuat is they have reasonably priced spare parts for everything.
 
I’d love to spend $350 or less for an 4 bike. I have both. 1.25 on one car 2” on another.

i don't think you can do a 4 bike rack with a 1 1/4

as steve said, we had one of those... it was fine. but it did do some damage to the frame paint.
 
I’d love to spend $350 or less for an 4 bike. I have both. 1.25 on one car 2” on another.

Spend whatever you need to spend to keep the potential of $20,000 of bikes firmly on the rack. You'll be pretty pissed if that low-cost rack falls off on 287.

You can do a 4-bike on the 1.25 but like Joy says, to paraphrase, sure you can buy that week-old sushi on sale for $3 and you might be fine.
 
There is a bunch of discussions on this forum elsewhere about bike racks and hitch mounts. The leading contenders in this space seem to be Thule, Kuat and OneUp. Frameless contact is the best/only way to go IMHO to avoid any possible damage to the frame.

as stated above, you typically can't/should not use any of the 3-4 bike models with a 1.25 hitch - this comes from the manufacturer too. And nothing good can come out of trying it to see if it works until you post something in the Things that Make you Frown thread about how your bikes got run over on the highway.

For your budget, you are right in the wheelhouse to find a decent used 2 bike model of one of the above listed manufacturers, and then whatever the extensions cost.

I personally have a Thule XT2 Pro (proper model to the current one that has wheels) on my 2" hitch and its capable of adding a 2 bike extension. I paid around your budget price for it used from someone on this forum years ago before COVID. I got the hitch on my car for less than $100 used and installed it myself with a friend for the cost of a 6 pack. Installation of the hitch on my car was very easy but if you have them installed already youre set in that area. I would just have easily bought a Kuat or OneUp if it was available at the time but I jumped on the chance for a great deal.

My 2 cents would be to find one of these 2 bike models for now, and later on look for a deal on an extension. At least you can use the one car for bike trips, or upgrade the other hitch for a 2" one and you can use both.

Hope that helps.
 
I’ll be the dissenter here. For solo rides, I have a kuat transfer that hauls my emtb and my ht. For family rides I bought one of the KAC 4 bike racks for $240. The most expensive thing going on it is a salsa rangefinder and the frame contact issue is easy to get around by padding the retaining arm with a shop rag or cut section of pool noodle. It’s fine, and it fits the 2.8” tires on two of our bikes which a lot of the cheaper racks don’t.
I will say I definitely wouldn’t put 4 bikes on a 1.25” receiver though. Just my opinion which is worth every penny you paid for it. 😉

Edited to fixx speeling erorrs.
 
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