[dump]

What bike rack do you recommend for a family of 4 with an SUV? (Not me) I love the tray style for 2 bikes. This has been my setup for a long time now. 4 trays seems like it will become a bit unwieldily, long, and heavy (80+ lbs)… almost seems like a 2-person affair to get it set up.

What have you had luck with and what do you recommend? Needs to be a hitch rack as the roof has a box on trips.

 

[jstuhlman]

northshore style?

 

[buckoW]

The hitch racks like the North Shore Racks, Lolo, Recon, etc. are great but the smaller people often need me to put their bike on the rack. That’s the only downside for me.

I too thought 4 trays might be too much but then I saw this guy’s setup. He ain’t scared.

Hitch racks are also “a bit unwieldy” just because all together it sticks out pretty far as well.

 

[Toshi]

I'm fine with my 4 bike Thule T2. Long reach with the classic style like mine to get to the lever to flip it up when the extension is on there but that's not a common problem.

 

[6thElement]

1Up or go home.

 

[MikeD]

The hitch racks like the North Shore Racks, Lolo, Recon, etc. are great but the smaller people often need me to put their bike on the rack. That’s the only downside for me.

I too thought 4 trays might be too much but then I saw this guy’s setup. He ain’t scared.

View attachment 169562

Hitch racks are also “a bit unwieldy” just because all together it sticks out pretty far as well.

View attachment 169563

mmmmmmmm70series

 

[slyfink]

1Up or go home.

Plus, they're modular. Only use as much as you need at any given time. The only draw back is their be ridiculously expensive in canuckistan...

 

[gonefirefightin]

If you were local I would weld one up for ya

 

[sunringlerider]

I'm fine with my 4 bike Thule T2. Long reach with the classic style like mine to get to the lever to flip it up when the extension is on there but that's not a common problem.

I second this, however stick with the classic and not the newer pro model. I “upgraded” to the pro, it’s a POS. Too much plastic crap.

 

[dump]

1Up or go home.

You are recommending 4 trays of 1up or just being a fanboy? (I have had a 2 tray 1up rack for 6 years) My concern about 4 trays is the weight of the system. Having to carry 100lbs of rack on and off the car… and have mom do it too. Maybe it’s manageable.

 

[dump]

I'm fine with my 4 bike Thule T2. Long reach with the classic style like mine to get to the lever to flip it up when the extension is on there but that's not a common problem.

What does that system weigh all together?

 

[6thElement]

You are recommending 4 trays of 1up or just being a fanboy? (I have had a 2 tray 1up rack for 6 years) My concern about 4 trays is the weight of the system. Having to carry 100lbs of rack on and off the car… and have mom do it too. Maybe it’s manageable.

Do you need all four trays mounted all the time though?

 

[dump]

Consensus seems to be to go for 4 trays then.

 

[dump]

Do you need all four trays mounted all the time though?

That’s a good question. Probably not.

 

[Jozz]

If I needed a 4+ bike rack, I would go vertical.

 

[6thElement]

That’s a good question. Probably not.

If I needed a 4+ bike rack, I would go vertical.

In fairness, I probably would too if you need that capacity all the time. 4 trays on any rack stick out a long way behind you.

 

[Jozz]

If you like to buy local... probably more $$ than the big brands.

Discover Panache Vertical Hitch Mounted Bike Racks MADE IN CANADA

Panache vertical hitch mounted bike racks are designed to carry 2, 4 or 6 bikes. Fast loading and secure! Transport all types of bikes: road, mountain, fatbike, children's bikes 16 in and up. No matter the geometry of the bike, our racks are designed to meet the needs of families or groups of...

www.panache-rack.com

4 or 6 bikes

 

[Toshi]

What does that system weigh all together?

85 lb per etrailer. The 3rd/4th bike extension bit comes off with two bolts for when you don’t need it, and it’s much easier to wrangle with just the two trays, of course.

 

[dump]

If you like to buy local... probably more $$ than the big brands.

Discover Panache Vertical Hitch Mounted Bike Racks MADE IN CANADA

Panache vertical hitch mounted bike racks are designed to carry 2, 4 or 6 bikes. Fast loading and secure! Transport all types of bikes: road, mountain, fatbike, children's bikes 16 in and up. No matter the geometry of the bike, our racks are designed to meet the needs of families or groups of...

www.panache-rack.com

4 or 6 bikes

View attachment 169579

Cool rack. The rack in question would be “local” to the US (not for me).

 

[buckoW]

NSR 4-Bike Rack | North Shore Racks

Our most popular bike rack with thousands sold, the NSR-4 carries 4 mountain bikes, contact free & in the least amount of space possible.

northshoreracks.com

 

[Jm_]

Do you need a $1500 rack to haul 4 bikes? A lot of the tray options are just so much better than decades ago. The 1up is good, but it's also crazy expensive and hard to get shipped and I don't think these $1500 racks really deliver $1500 worth of value, compared to other stuff, hanging-racks like the NSR included. My old T2 may die some day, but I just got a new arm and that was $60 or something like that, that's a hell of a lot better than the 800-1000 that a new 1up costs for 2 bikes.

 

[Changleen]

Vertical racks are the bomb. Low leverage on the hitch, easy to load and unload, relatively good aero, good for the bike. The better designs take all yhe load on the front wheel, and are bike safe too.

VERTICAL BIKE RACKS

VERTICAL BIKE RACKS are designed for very fast loading/unloading bikes and only bike tires touching rack

rockracks.co.nz

 

[Changleen]

If you like to buy local... probably more $$ than the big brands.

Discover Panache Vertical Hitch Mounted Bike Racks MADE IN CANADA

Panache vertical hitch mounted bike racks are designed to carry 2, 4 or 6 bikes. Fast loading and secure! Transport all types of bikes: road, mountain, fatbike, children's bikes 16 in and up. No matter the geometry of the bike, our racks are designed to meet the needs of families or groups of...

www.panache-rack.com

4 or 6 bikes

View attachment 169579

But the bikes are the wrong way round.

 

[OGRipper]

1Up fan here too. It's super easy to remove 1 or 2 trays when not needed. But yeah a full 4-tray rack, together, is pretty heavy and unwieldy.

You might consider getting a swinging mount, so you (or mom) can just swing the rack out of the way instead of taking the whole thing on and off. We have one on our Sprinter that works great, but we did lose some ground clearance.

On the topic of clearance, if you expect to take it offroad, the vertical mounts tend to keep the bikes out of the muck a bit better.

 

[buckoW]

@OGRipper What swing out did you use? Are they strong enough for 6 bikes on a NSR6 rack? I was thinking I would have to make a stronger one than what I saw from Kuat and RakAttach.

 

[6thElement]

@OGRipper What swing out did you use? Are they strong enough for 6 bikes on a NSR6 rack? I was thinking I would have to make a stronger one than what I saw from Kuat and RakAttach.

I think you'd blow through their max load. I can't remember what our Yakima is rated to, but I doubt it would like 250lb on it.

edit: max load of 250lb

https://yakima.com/products/backswing

edit2: 72lb for a NSR6

NSR 6-Bike Rack | Hitch-Mounted Bike Rack | North Shore Racks

One of the only 6-bike racks on the market, the NSR 6 carries 6 mountain bikes, contact free & in the least amount of space possible.

northshoreracks.com

Meaning your 6 bikes can't average more than 30lb each - most new bikes being more than that.

 

[buckoW]

I think you'd blow through their max load. I can't remember what our Yakima is rated to, but I doubt it would like 250lb on it.

edit: max load of 250lb

https://yakima.com/products/backswing

Yeah, I couldn’t imagine it handling my wife hammering the bumpy dirt roads with 6 bikes on there. I think I would have to make something as strong as possible. The receiver hitch has been flipped and heavily reinforced which helped a lot. She almost sent us off the low side last month but in the end she pulled it off like a boss.

 

[OGRipper]

@OGRipper What swing out did you use? Are they strong enough for 6 bikes on a NSR6 rack? I was thinking I would have to make a stronger one than what I saw from Kuat and RakAttach.

We have a Kuat swing adapter for our 2" receiver and the heavier-duty 4-tray 1Up. It works good but yeah, I wouldn't want much more weight on it, and I'd be worried about 6 bikes (especially off road, and even more especially if any of those are e-bikes). I understand the vertical racks put less leverage on things, so maybe that could work ok. That said, I'd love to see what you could come up with for a better mousetrap... The trick is getting the right combination of strength, ground clearance, and clearance for your rear doors/hatch when the rack is swung open.

 

[canadmos]

I'd go 1up as well.

Any 4 bike rack, no matter the brand or type, is going to be unwieldy when moving it around. At least with 1up you can split it up and there are no plastic stuff, like what is found on some others.

The hanging type racks are smaller, as most are just a pole with a fork on the end, but I don't like the thoughts of a bike being held on with with top tube. Some frames have thin tubing or are carbon, which seems sketch. Plus they scratch your bike super easily and there is always the potential that someone's bike might not even fit on it.

 

[Jm_]

The hanging type racks are smaller, as most are just a pole with a fork on the end, but I don't like the thoughts of a bike being held on with with top tube. Some frames have thin tubing or are carbon, which seems sketch. Plus they scratch your bike super easily and there is always the potential that someone's bike might not even fit on it.

Plus they are about 25 years obsolete at this point. They are still offered by a few automaker as accessories to unsuspecting customers that don't know any better. Those racks where the bikes basically hang, constantly bash into each other or require 20 bungies, the entire mass swings all over the place because it's sitting on a pole 3 feet above the hitch, and so on. Such a terrible implementation.

 

[buckoW]

We have a Kuat swing adapter for our 2" receiver and the heavier-duty 4-tray 1Up. It works good but yeah, I wouldn't want much more weight on it, and I'd be worried about 6 bikes (especially off road, and even more especially if any of those are e-bikes). I understand the vertical racks put less leverage on things, so maybe that could work ok. That said, I'd love to see what you could come up with for a better mousetrap... The trick is getting the right combination of strength, ground clearance, and clearance for your rear doors/hatch when the rack is swung open.

I think you are right. Sometimes we have an ebike on the rack, in addition to 5 DH bikes, for shuttle retrieval.

I modified my hitch receiver with some thick plate and a mig welder 3 times to get the rack higher and more solid so as well as for our moto rack. It could be even better but I would make other compromises for accessing the rear of the truck. We can put 11 bikes on our Land Cruiser currently so I am just playing around with a dream shuttle setup.

I have had a bike get bounced off of the NSR6 3 or 4 times but we were going too fast on a Jeep road having a great old time. Luckily it was my bike and I was driving. I usually have the longest bike of my friends so it touches the ground first and gets popped off of the upper fork fork. The seat, bars ends and brake lever get ground off a little but hasn’t been enough damage to stop a ride. I need to remember to make a better strap system pulling downwards to stop this.

There are weld it yourself kits for 4x4 swing out bumpers. I might order one of those pivot kits for the weight of a 37” tire. That must be pretty strong.

 

[HardtailHack]

But the bikes are the wrong way round.

Yeah that seems a bit odd, if the tire touches the ground, and it looks like there's a good chance of that happening your cranks will start rotating and that could be bad.