Car Hitches and Bike Racks for Dummies
 

I want to carry my bicycles around the city in my vehicle.

Where do you get vehicle hitches and how do you have them installed?

How are hitches installed to a sedan?

Where to get the best deals on hitches and for hitch-mounted bike racks?

I am only interested in the hitch-mount alternative.

you can get hitches at uhaul, rack attack, cap-it, eh hitch, can tire, lordco etc etc.

I think amazon.com had some deals recently and free shipping to the states

I would check craigslist first as I've bought some hitches from there for $30-40

Sometimes they bolt into stock holes sometimes you have to drill your own depending on application.

Berz out.
Posted via RS Mobile

What car do you drive? Sometimes getting factory option is the best way to go.

Also note blocking your license plate might get you a ticket.

As said above.

Most common these days is a "hidden hitch" that will mount below your car.
If its a sedan, don't forget that the bike rack will block off the trunk, you'll only have partial access from the sides when the thing is on and loaded with bikes.

Best bang for buck would probably be rack attack or cap-it as they have applications for all vehicles.

Bang for your buck and cap-it don't belong in the same sentence...

Burnaby Hitch is good as well with decent prices.

But in all seriousness, have you heard of this company called Google? They are doing wondrous things in the information market. Their "claim to fame" as people call is their Google search engine. How it works is you type into your web browser Google and up comes their home page. You then enter, into the space provided, your question or key words as to what it is you are trying to find. And the next is remarkable, they actually come back with lists up lists of websites pertaining to the keywords you entered. Essentially, they do the work for you! It's truly amazing, I recommend you try it sometime.

Let me give you some knowledge here, this thread is a bit ridiculous.

#1) Manufacturers of hitches - there are really only two - Uhaul and Drawtite/HiddenHitch/Curt (they will often have different part numbers but are the IDENTICAL product).

#2) Methods of installation - hitches for cars typically come in two varieties depending on your car - either they install by clamping or bolting to existing framerail connections (ideal) or by drilling holes in the spare-tire well and clamping to it (pretty poor). It depends on your model and there really isn't much you can do about it - an Acura RSX gets a hitch drilled into the spare tire well, a VW GTI bolts onto existing framerail connections. Therefore, the framerail models are removable without any permanent damage while one that requires drilling would leave holes that would have to be sealed.

#3) Installers - the process to install varies by model but most of these installs are dead simple and pretty much any shop could do it easily. You can phone pretty much any hitch shop and just get an installed price and go to the cheapest one, they are all pretty much the same stuff. I personally would much rather install it myself as there is a little room to make a mess if they aren't careful and don't take care with your car, especially if they were drilling into my spare tire well.

Go to Trailer hitch, hitches and bike rack (800)298-8924 and look up what is available for your car. Then start phoning around.

Mark

I've worked at a hitch and car rack store for the last 6 years and we get these questions a lot.

1. You can get your hitch and have it installed at many places - Rack Attack, E&H, Cap-It, U-Haul, etc. Phone around and check prices. They should all have lifetime guarantees on the install. What kind of car is it? We usually charge a flat rate of $60 that can go up to $180 on more complex installs - eg. Porsche Cayenne, BMW X3. It's about 1-2 hours depending on the car for the install.

The only caveat I have is to be wary of U-Haul. We had a customer come in once with a misaligned hitch on their Honda Element, turns out that the hitch was bent. The hitch was designed to be fastened onto the tow hook with a u-bolt, because the hitch was bent, it wouldn't fit and so they chopped off the customer's tow hook and didn't fasten it fully...

2. Hitches are mounted onto the factory framerails. Most modern and Japanese cars have factory mounting holes on the rail that simply bolt right up. Most European sedans don't have this and require drilling a hole through the middle of the trunk in order to support the hitch. Without knowing what kind of car you have, it's hard to say what the actual install process is like. For sedans, you are generally limited to a Class I or Class II hitch. What kind of bikes are you carrying? How many bikes are you looking to carry?

Class I = 1 1/4" receiver and has a tongue weight capacity of 200 lbs.
Class II = 1 1/4" receiver and has a tongue weight capacity of 350 lbs.

Most hitch bike racks nowadays are sold with a sleeve to fit both 1 1/4" and 2" receivers.

3. You can have everything bought and installed at any of the shops listed above or order online. Stateside pricing is much better generally but I personally would have the hitch professionally installed here to avoid headaches and if anything goes wrong, which is rare, just bring it back.

Honestly, buying a bike rack in the states is just so much cheaper.

As an example, I just bought a Thule 990XT bike rack for $228 USD shipped no tax to my mailbox in Blaine. Sure there is HST when you have to bring it over the border, but the same exact rack is currently being sold at Rackattack for $399.99 + HST.

So you be the judge if you want to buy in Canada or not...

For the Hitch, I bought mine on Hitchweb.com and there is even a 5% off coupon code floating around. Prices are very comparable to etrailer and it's ships from Canada (free)so there's no duties, only GST+PST. But they do charge you in US dollars though.

Since we're on the topic of bike racks, anyone have experience with roof bike racks? Other than the access height and increased drag, is there any reason to choose roof over hitch?

You can carry more things (kayaks, bikes, skis, cargo box, etc.) with a roof rack but that is about it for the most part.