Hitch-mounted bike carrier for 150 lb of ebikes

[Jerome Daoust]

I was recommended the Yakima StickUp, so I'm including it here.
Attached images are from the Instructions.

Conclusion: Fails to meet the goal of carrying two 75 lb ebikes: Limited to a pair of 45 lb bikes (1-1/4" or 2" receiver).

 

[BVH]

Does anyone know the brand of the rack pic I posted?

 

[dumbass]

Two things you may have already thought about but I say it anyway. 1) using an underrated rack in not ony "living dangerously" but in the end could cost you a lot more then the cost of a new car. It the rack failed and those bikes tumbling down the road hurt someone or worse you would be 100% liable and your insurance may not cover it because it would be classified as neglience (your neglience) and 2) your goal to find a rack that will handle 150# and fit a 1 1/4" receiver is not the greatest idea. Consider the fact that you have already seen racks that are rated for your requirements use a 2" receiver. The problem is not only the rack capasity but the receiver capasity. So lets say you find a rack that is made of 1 1/4" solid steel. Sure it would be heavy to lift, store and install but it would easily handle 150# but your receiver likely still won't handle. Do you have the specks on your receiver load capasity? Remember the load you are planning to carry is not "tongue" weight. It's over hung load weight. Which means the further the load is from the receiver the heavier it is to the receiver.

 

[Grinhill]

This style of carrrier is popular down in Oz, nice and simple but it would be a bugger to lift the bikes up onto it.

Not sure if the wife would appreciate the comparison to a bike carrier in this ad.

 

[BVH]

Rack feels very solid with E+ on it but I still don't think I will chance it with the strengthening I have done.

Found the assembly instructions. It was made by Delta Cycles Corp. They're still around but appear to make only pick-up truck, in-bed racks now.

 

[Jerome Daoust]

Using an underrated rack is not only "living dangerously" but in the end could cost you a lot more than the cost of a new car. If the rack failed and those bikes tumbling down the road hurt someone or worse you would be 100% liable and your insurance may not cover it because it would be classified as negligence (your negligence)

Excellent point.

Your goal to find a rack that will handle 150 lb and fit a 1-1/4" receiver is not the greatest idea.

I agree. I also talked to a professional hitch installer today who explained the limitations of unibody frame styles. Tow hitches need to find proper leverage further along on the frame. Probably will need to replace the family car, at least I've gathered a good set of justifications for the spouse.

Managed to break a Yakima HoldUp today. Now I feel like a true destructive forum member.

 

[dumbass]

Using an underrated rack is not only "living dangerously" but in the end could cost you a lot more than the cost of a new car. If the rack failed and those bikes tumbling down the road hurt someone or worse you would be 100% liable and your insurance may not cover it because it would be classified as negligence (your negligence)

Excellent point.

Your goal to find a rack that will handle 150 lb and fit a 1-1/4" receiver is not the greatest idea.

I agree. I also talked to a professional hitch installer today who explained the limitations of unibody frame styles. Tow hitches need to find proper leverage further along on the frame. Probably will need to replace the family car, at least I've gathered a good set of justifications for the spouse.

Managed to break a Yakima HoldUp today. Now I feel like a true destructive forum member.

Well here is one more thought that may work for ya and it's a whole lot cheaper then buying a new car. Buy a cheap trailer and set it up for your bikes. OK, you have to store it but these little trailers can be set upright agaainst the wall and you can use your 1 1/4" hitch with no problem. This is only a sample there are 100s of them around and all different prices. A lot of people use a modified boat trailer even. It might be worth considering a small trailer.......it''s cheap but requires a license plate but you can also haul more then just bikes on it too. Would you believe I actually considered one of these for towing my bike behind my 250cc motor scooter?
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=42708

 

[Jerome Daoust]

Buy a cheap trailer and set it up for your bikes. These little trailers can be set upright against the wall and you can use your 1 1/4" hitch with no problem.

If I had a house, this would make a lot of sense. Getting in/out of my apartment building’s underground parking with some tight turns and finding a place to store the trailer, makes this a less attractive option in my case.

To leave no stone unturned, tomorrow I will ask a local shop (Hitch Crafters) specialized in custom tow hitches, if they can "pimp my ride". I'll see if that is even possible to create a class 3 hitch on an SX4 and how much it would cost. Doesn't hurt to ask.

I'm starting to think I should get into the full spirit of this forum and build my own ebike, with low transport weight (under 50 lb) as one of the goals, then no problem even with my current bike rack.

 

[dumbass]

Buy a cheap trailer and set it up for your bikes. These little trailers can be set upright against the wall and you can use your 1 1/4" hitch with no problem.

If I had a house, this would make a lot of sense. Getting in/out of my apartment building’s underground parking with some tight turns and finding a place to store the trailer, makes this a less attractive option in my case.

To leave no stone unturned, tomorrow I will ask a local shop (Hitch Crafters) specialized in custom tow hitches, if they can "pimp my ride". I'll see if that is even possible to create a class 3 hitch on an SX4 and how much it would cost. Doesn't hurt to ask.

I'm starting to think I should get into the full spirit of this forum and build my own ebike, with low transport weight (under 50 lb) as one of the goals, then no problem even with my current bike rack.

Many years ago GM made the Pheonix. I think it was their first front wheel drive car. I bought one of the first on the street with a V6 engine. Being a new model no one had a hitch for it so I had one made up at a local hitch shop. It also had a unibody construction. I pulled a large pop up trailer Chicago to Florida. I think the trailer weighed in around 2000 lbs with a 200 or better hitch weight. I installed air shocks to get the bumper back off the ground. What I am saying is your local shop should be able to fab a hitch for you. just be sure it is really as good as it looks. Remember if it fails it's still your butt, bikes and car that are beign damaged.

As for building your own ebike I think it will still wind up being over 50+ pounds each. These 75 pounders you have is that with the batteries in place? I just can't imagin a bike weighing that much without it's batts. And if it is with batts why can't you remove for trasport. All 4 of my bikes weigh in at 54 lbs each without batteries. 2 of them are Wallie World bikes with Cyclone kits and 2 are EZips.

 

[jag]

Your goal to find a rack that will handle 150 lb and fit a 1-1/4" receiver is not the greatest idea.

I agree. I also talked to a professional hitch installer today who explained the limitations of unibody frame styles. Tow hitches need to find proper leverage further along on the frame.

In general, the idea of hitch mounted accessories is an afterthought. Putting the forces from a bike rack or a hitch platform through a single small tube/single pivot point is not particularly smart.

You can reduce the load on the hitch by tyeing a rope from the top of the bike rack to each of the roof rack pillars. (Or lacking roof rack, to the rear hatch hinges, or anything else that can serve as a holddown. I do this both when carrying bikes on a bike rack, and when carrying a kayak on top. The rear hatch hinges is the aftmost attachment point on my VW bus.

 

[Jerome Daoust]

You can reduce the load on the hitch by tying a rope from the top of the bike rack to each of the roof rack pillars.

Good idea, I can use that now to reduce the torsion load when hitting a bump on one side.
2009/11/9 update: Checked on my SX4 Crossover, and the rear spoiler would interfere for straps attached to the roof rack pillars. I could remove the silly spoiler.

 

[Jerome Daoust]

Jerome Daoust, 2009/11/7[/url]"]Got a rule-of-thumb from Mike at HitchCrafters a local company specialized in making custom hitches: For a bike rack with 2 bikes, you can typically carry up to half the TW (Tongue Weight) capacity of your hitch. This is no longer true if you carry more than 2 bikes (like adding a 4-bike extender to a Thule 916 T2) or somehow the weight is further away from the receiver, increasing its leverage on your receiver.
So for the goal of carrying a pair of bikes (as close as possible to the receiver) limited to a total of 150 lb, a typical class 3 hitch receiver with 350 lb TW should be adequate.

So this is something to keep in mind when you see some cargo carriers offering 500 lb of carrying capacity. Your carrier may be OK up to that limit, but your receiver may be overstressed. Most class 3 receivers fall within a 350-500 lb max tongue weight capacity, so you should correspondingly limit the load on your carrier to 175-250 lb according to Mike's rule-of-thumb.
For examples of some vehicle max TW, see table in Trailer hitch classes on some car/SUV's.

 

[Jerome Daoust]

A new model from Swagman, and there is no max load specified yet (I asked by email)...
Swagman G2 2 Bike.

I is similar to the Thule 990, but has the advantage of providing more ground clearance. Other features (similar to the Thule 990):
Fits 2” and 1-1/4” hitch receiver.
Integrated anti wobble hitch device.
Fits any tire size.
Center arm folds down to allow access to the rear ofvehicle without removing the rack.

Conclusion: TBD. Waiting on max bike weight, but I doubt it will meet this topic's goal.

 

[dogman dan]

Still fretting eh. My swagman has been carrying two 85# ebikes all over the place including 4x4 roads for a year now. If mine didn't break it's not gonna. It's quite solid for two ebikes that weigh 150, and my hitch is fine too.

 

[Jerome Daoust]

Still fretting eh.

I'm taking my time. I don't like that my currrent vehicle has low ground clearance on its hitch receiver, so the first thing I may do is upgrade my car to one with a 2" receiver and more ground clearance, and that would open up other rack options afterwards. I hate hearing the hitch or bike rack hit the ground, and it could damage the car frame or receiver too.
I do appreciate your good advice, than you dogman.

 

[BVH]

I solved my issue of carrying 2 E+'s at 80 lbs each. My no longer mfg'd Delta Cycle carrier utilized 1 1/8" x 1 1/8" x 1/16" wall thickness square tubing as bases for the two wheels. Conveniently, that left a little over 1" x 1" inside clearance to install 1" x 1" x 1/8" square tubing inside. talk about stout....I weigh 150 lbs. I had my wife measure deflection at each end of the modified tube as I climbed onto the center member and then slowly walked out to the ends with each foot. There was no measurable deflection when I was on the end of both ends. Too bad they don't seem to make this carrier any longer. By the way, I have a class 5, 2 1/2" receiver on a 3/4 chevy pickup so no limitations in that department. (See pics of the carrier earlier in this thread).

Keep checking Ebay Jerome. Maybe you'll get lucky?

 

[dogman dan]

Another way to stiffen a steel tube is to pour it full of non shrinking grout. This is the stuff they use to mount a pole in a cement hole, not the tiling grout. It won't be light, but with the air space filled with a hard cement, it gets a lot harder to bend it. Another way might be to weld some angle iorn to the outside of tubes you want to strengthen. I've had no issues with the tubes bending on my swagman, after a full year of Dogman sytle destruction test kind of use. I have bent down the loops that hold the tires though, so those could be strengthened by a welder. They don't look ready to break to me though, just slightly drooped.

Looking closer, the new swagman looks like a huge improvement over mine. On mine both bikes sit on one tube where that one has one tube for each bike. And the lock is a great idea. More ground clearance too. I've not rubbed any wheels on the ground even on really bad roads, but on a long trip, I melted a tire that was in front of the exhaust.

 

[4REEE]

The Thule EuroPower 916 with the ramp and rear lights is only starting to hit the US as a special import. I heard that Pete's Ebikes in CO has this:

http://www.petesebikes.com/products/detail/thule_europower_916_e-bike_carrier

I'm not 100% certain, but I think Pete's Ebikes has to do the installation. While the Thule is nice in some respects, I wish someone in the USA had innovation like this product here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFpgGvP8Zbk

Since I hurt my back last year I'm not able to lift my ebike onto my Saris rack anymore. I've been stuck riding around my neighborhood. It was great at first because I have a lot of range with an ebike, but now it's getting old. I like to go riding around the lake, etc.

You know, it's been over 2 years since the last post and there haven't been any technology changes or improvements for ebike riders to carry their heavy ebikes on a car!!

[sigh] Ebikes have a long way to go in the US.

 

[4REEE]

I was also thinking of getting one of these and modifying it by adding two Yakima or Thule bike mounts. Problem is, this thing costs nearly $5K after tax, license, registration, installation labor, and insurance!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlLqeUpx0Ew

Even if I got one, there's the problem of storage.

Man, we've got a long way to go in the US.

 

[aroundqube]

Available on Amazon now too.

 

[4REEE]

@aroundqube: I hadn't seen that before! Thanks for posting!

I'm hoping for an "Adam Griffin"-like miracle for hitch-mounted ebike carriers!!! Am I the only person in the US with a bad back who can't lift his ebike onto the bike carrier? How in the heck are older folks transporting their ebikes?!

 

[dogman dan]

FWIW, my cheap ol swagman is still kicking around. Far from perfect, but nothing has happened to my car frame or small hitch.

I did eventually replace one set of the hoops that hold the wheels. Nothing broke, I just let one get loose and fall off the car while a bike was not in it. For those with less money, and less fussiness, the swagman will carry your ebikes fine.

 

[Ariane]

FWIW, my cheap ol swagman is still kicking around. Far from perfect, but nothing has happened to my car frame or small hitch.

I did eventually replace one set of the hoops that hold the wheels. Nothing broke, I just let one get loose and fall off the car while a bike was not in it. For those with less money, and less fussiness, the swagman will carry your ebikes fine.

Hi Dogman,

I miss your post and I like to know if use 1 1/4 hitch with your Swagman because i will buy the same kit in a mounth or two

Thank you!
Black Arrow

 

[4REEE]

@dogman: Looked into the Swagman, the problem is I have a bad back and can't lift the ebikes up. And in a few more years will be getting old that I won't be able to lift a non-ebike up. We need something like the Ergomatic here in the states:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFpgGvP8Zbk

We need an "Adam Griffin"-like miracle here.

 

[dogman dan]

Yes I have the 1 1/4 hitch. On a Subaru, no problems have developed in the hitch from the bike rack, or from towing up to a ton of gravel at 30 mph speeds.

You can put a bike on this type of rack one wheel at a time, so you only lift half the weight of the bike at a time. But if really weak, motorcycle type racks with a ramp might be best.