Bike Rack

[cookietom]

Bought 2017 Lexus CT200 H, ordered 1.25 trailer hitch, I need to know who makes the best bike rack for two road bikes,,, any ideas??? ( no mountain bikes)

[AngryScientist]

we have recently had quite a few threads on bike racks, especially hitch racks. check them out. (not a snarky reply by the way, there is just a lot of good recent information on topic that will be helpful to you...)

[dustyrider]

1up USA is the benchmark in these parts. Seems like someone recently pointed out that there is two variations of the brand name. Definitely worth a search!

[AJosiahK]

Originally Posted by dustyrider

1up USA is the benchmark in these parts. Seems like someone recently pointed out that there is two variations of the brand name. Definitely worth a search!

+1 FOR 1up racks.

Well designed and easy to use.

As for the variations, Im not sure whats up with that. I ordered from the website with the dash. Rack arrived and seems to be the real deal.

Maybe an email or phone call might clear that right up.

cheers

edit: https://1upusa.com/support/faq for the reason there are two websites.

[Epicus07]

I love my Kuat.

[45K10]

I love my Kuat too. I had a NV 2.0 ('14) but recently replaced because we got rear-ended. I just bought NV base 2.0 from Backcountry a couple of weeks ago. Very nice and they have made some improvements from the one I previously had.

[Vientomas]

Kuat Sherpa here. Nice and light. I don't leave my rack on my vehicle so I appreciate being able to easliy move it about when it's time to load up the bikes.

[cookietom]

Still looking...Hanging or platform rack for two very light road bikes?

[htwoopup]

Platform. Prevents them banging into each other. Better for paint etc. Better for carbon now or in the future. 1upUSA has been great for me. Easy to convert one tray to fat (really fat) bike. Think not only this car but cars and bikes in the future. That’s how I ended up with 1up.

[happycampyer]

The original question was, who makes the best hitch rack for two road bikes, and you got the answer: Kuat and 1Up (the new 1Up/1-Up looks even better than the original 1Up). It's all downhill from there. Thule and Yakima make nice racks, but they are not as nice as the Kuat. The Kuat is more finished looking than the 1Up and has some nice features such as the built-in workstand (if that matters to you), but the 1Up is super light, folds up neatly for storage and has an ingenious system to secure the wheels. The newer version fixes some of the quirks with the original design.

I have a friend who owns a rack store, and we looked at pretty much every rack available. I originally got the Kuat NV, but later sold it to get the 1Up.

[sitzmark]

Originally Posted by cookietom

Still looking...Hanging or platform rack for two very light road bikes?

If you're concerned about bikes banging together - paint scratches/possible derailleur issues and ease-of-use, then platform.

If you want to spend more time loading bikes - strapping them down/protecting them, then hanging works too. Or maybe you just want to quick strap them and go...

Very light often means expensive. I personally don't load carbon bikes on a hanging rack. I have platform, hanging, and roof trays and use the platform 99% of the time unless I need to carry more bikes. When it's grungy and wet and I'm traveling alone I throw the bike in the back of the vehicle. My platform is a 1.25 Yakima Holdup that I purchased ~10 years ago. It has worked flawlessly and is still going strong. 1-keys with my snow racks et. al., which is why I selected Yak.

Kuat was introduced around the same time, maybe a little later. When Kuat came out, I bought Kuat's adapter plate for Yak and added their trail doc work stand to my Yak. Most ride buddies now have Kuat. It's a nice rack. Doesn't integrate with my 1 key system, so if buying again today I'd probably still go Yak, but they all work ... Thule, Yak, 1up, etc. 1-Ups are lighter and modular which can be nice for off-vehicle storage. Now that I have a platform and have interfaced with all of them over the years, the choice isn't as important to me as I thought it was when first making the decision.

[Vientomas]

Kuat Sherpa is lighter than a 1 Up.

[Ralph]

I have a 1UP for 2 with 3rd bike add on. For 2" receiver. The deciding factor for me was how easily it folds up and stores in corner of garage, or in trunk of car.

[tombtfslpk]

Originally Posted by cookietom

Still looking...Hanging or platform rack for two very light road bikes?

Very light? Carbon light?
Platform racks only (for me) with carbon. I have seen a couple of carbon frames damaged from hanging racks.
If I'm not going somewhere that I can't put the bike(s) in my van, then it's on my Kuat Transfer. It's not as pricey (or light) as the NV racks and is my budget alternative, works on 1.25 too.

[tombtfslpk]

whoops