I've got a yukon for the family and I'd like to add a hitch rack so we can take all our bikes to the park or on family vacations. Hurray, the little one is big enough for this now! I'd like a rack that can accomodate 4 bikes and can swing down or away (not sure which is better). Most of the time it will be used taking bikes to the park so easy mounting and removal is important to me. I'd also like to be able to lock the bikes on the rack if we take it on vacation. I don't really know much about the different brands, so I picked Yakima Racks as I happen to live in Yakima and they have a great reputation (although I don't believe they are made here anymore, too bad!).
So I'd love to hear some recommendations for the different models, insights on pitfalls etc. Then, armed with your knowledge I can approach the dealership. Thanks for your input.
I have a Rimrock rack. It is designed to hold 3, but I have put 4 on it before and it worked fine (something is going to get scratched doing that though). I like the Rimrock since it holds the bikes by the wheels instead of hanging it from the frame. It makes it nice for those of us with full suspension bikes. We don't have to worry about hanging it from some suspension component or wrecking something to transport it. It can lock to the hitch and their is a cable lock attached to lock the bikes to the rack. I am sure a well motivated person could defeat the cable, but most people's alarms would be going off by then. I hope this helps.
go with the swing away to the side.....with that amount of bikes the heavy duty swing away to the side has the steel to hold 4 bikes and still allow access to the back of our Grand Cherokee...bought it for carrying mine and the grandkids bikes.....can find it cheap sometimes on Ebay.......
"Dave Calhoun" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
I've got a yukon for the family and I'd like to add a hitch rack so we can take all our bikes to the park or on family vacations. Hurray, the little one is big enough for this now! I'd like a rack that can accomodate 4 bikes and can swing down or away (not sure which is better). Most of the time it will be used taking bikes to the park so easy mounting and removal is important to me. I'd also like to be able to lock the bikes on the rack if we take it on vacation. I don't really know much about the different brands, so I picked Yakima Racks as I happen to live in Yakima and they have a great reputation (although I don't believe they are made here anymore, too bad!).
So I'd love to hear some recommendations for the different models, insights on pitfalls etc. Then, armed with your knowledge I can approach the dealership. Thanks for your input.
I have a Yakima and the lock is a joke, it would probably take 2 seconds to break. Other than that the rack is great, I occasionally swing it down with 4 bikes on it so it is possible although heave (4 hands required).
A couple more things I just thought of: - many bikes, especially kids bikes, won't fit on the single arm design. The 2 arm designs are more flexible because you can put one of the arms through a wheel - with four bikes the rack swings around a bit, use the larger hitch tube and I add some ropes for long trips.
