How Many Bicycles Do You Put on Your Hitch Carrier?

[gordonr]

Still have a month or two more before we get our Prius. From reading this site I'm already learning lots of things ahead of time. Carrying bicycles is important to me, so I ordered the Coastal Tech 2" hitch.

Speaking to Coastal, they said both the 1 1/4" and 2" receiver hitches are rated at 200 lb tongue weight. From what I've read, this is consistant with typical 1 1/4" units whereas 2" units are typically 350+ lbs. Generally, most manufactuers will only build 1 1/4" (i.e. 200 lb tongue weight) hitch bike carriers to only hold 2 bikes, and the 3+ bike carriers are usually 2" hitch units.

All theory aside, how many bicycles are you carrying via your Coastal Tech hitch receivers?

[Devil's Advocate]

Go with the rating.

200lb tongue weight is actually higher than it appears. I used to tow two Seadoos on a trailer with an 1 1/4" 100lb tongue weight hitch and receiver. (dodge Avenger)

the real issue is what bikes are you carrying?

for really good race bikes will only weight about 70lbs total, four good mountain bikes only weight about 120-130 lbs. well under any two hundred pound limit. even with the rack unit itself.

I'm getting this one - its a little big but oh well http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profil...ategory_ID=4411

Only the $50 cheap knock-off bikes from places like Costco, you know bikes that look like expensive bikes with shocks and stuff but weight about 3 times as much, will you have a concern with weight. (granted though these are good bikes for people who can't afford really good bikes but they weight a freakin ton)

[gordonr]

Devil -

When they rate something at 200 lb tongue weight, do you just add up the weight's of the bikes + carrier or do you have to account for some type of dynamic loading for when you go over bumps?

If money is no object, the rack from:

http://www.1upusa.com/1upusarackhome.htm

looks real nice. The Sportworks Transport racks are also great (Sportworks sold their consumer product line to Thule, so hopefully Thule will continue to sell these very nice racks).

[Karkus]

Bike carrying was also a VERY important factor for me, but I prefer to carry them inside the car. Are you aware that 2 mountain bikes will fit inside a Prius pretty easily ? A medium full suspension bike (4" fork) will fit inside without even taking a wheel off, and the second one just requires front wheel removal. With 2 bikes in, you can still see out the back no problem. (You could probably fit 3 if you took wheels off). I just use an old bedsheet which covers the entire back area for carrying bikes, and the car has stayed amazingly clean even after several dozen bike carrying trips.
It sounds like you want to carry more than 2 bikes, but for those times when 2 is all you need, putting them inside works great (plus it won't reduce your MPG like a rack will.)

[Devil's Advocate]

Tongue wieght is a dead load measurement. The live load rating is in the thousands of pounds and is a factor of the tensile strength of the steel and its thickness. You could never give this rating and have people know what kind of dead load can cause that "live" load. Plus you would have people way overloading hitches until the hitch pulls off the back end of the car.

Try looking at this rack. It is standard as a two bike system with the option of addinf a third or fourth rack.
http://www.thuleracks.com/thule/product.as...id=8&sku=260120

I don't quite like the way the rack you show holds the top wheels of the bike. have neer seen one like that personally.

[Devil's Advocate]

Karkus,
you're right you can put bikes inside, but I have the Ivory interior and the potential to inadvertently get oil, grease or dirt on the interior is way to great. I will sacrifice 5 MPG over a greasy dirty interior when I carry bikes anytime. Especially since I do not carry bikes as often as I drive.

[gordonr]

Devil's Advocate -

Thank you for the explanation of tongue weight, and for the link to the Thule site. I'm very glad to see that Thule is selling the rack designs they acquired via their purchase of Sportworks. I have used the first generation Sportworks Transport, and it works very well. I'm sure the second generation one you linked to is even better.

I've only once seen the 1upusa rack on a vehicle. It appeared very nice and also well designed. I believe it's one significant advantage is that it's much lighter weight than the Transport as it's CNC machined aluminum (and hence the very high cost).

[gordonr]

Just curious if anyone has direct experience carrying 4 bikes with a hitch mounted rack on their Prius? I know the weight should be OK (without a huge margin), but there is something comforting about hearing of people who have actually done it without problem. I'd hate to be far away from home on vacation and start seeing some issue.

FWIW, I've been doing 2 bikes without any issues.

[bruceha_2000]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Devil's Advocate @ Jun 3 2005, 01:00 PM) [snapback]95319[/snapback]</div>

200lb tongue weight is actually higher than it appears. I used to tow two Seadoos on a trailer with an 1 1/4" 100lb tongue weight hitch and receiver. [/b]

One does need to recognize that tongue weight of a trailer is 'adjustable' by properly loading the trailer. You could put everything in the back and end up with a negative tongue weight, lifting the rear of the towing vehicle.

If it is dead weight, like bike carriers, it is all additive - weight of the rack plus weight of the bikes.

Thus, you COULD have a small trailer weighing 200 pounds carrying four 50 pound bikes. The proper tongue weight (10% to 15%) would be 40 to 60 pounds. Substantially less than the 4 bikes plus the weight of the rack.

[john1701a]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Devil's Advocate @ Jun 4 2005, 05:12 PM) [snapback]95621[/snapback]</div>

I will sacrifice 5 MPG over a greasy dirty interior when I carry bikes anytime.[/b]

$3 is all you need to prevent grease.

That's what I bought a tarp for. It works great. The blue side is the clean side. The silver, which matches the interior color remarkably well, is what the bikes are laid on.