Bike Carriers

[levy1]

DO THEY WORK? ANYONE HAVE ONE? DOES THE BIKE JUMP AROUND? WHATS THE BEST MODEL?

[uechi45]

I made my own and it works great. I have had up to a 285 lb bike on it with no problems. I'm hauling it with a GMC Safari van with stock suspension. The trick is to use a bolt instead of a hitch pin to attach it to the reciever. What you have to do is weld a 5/8 nut INSIDE the 2" hitch tube over the pin hole. After you slide it into the reciever run the bolt thru the nut and tighten securly. This will draw the carrier to one side and completely eliminate any side to side motion or rocking. If you buy a commercial unit make sure it has this feature or modify it yourself. Good luck.

[YAMAKAZE]

Fred...

I had a moto-jack-rack and loved it...My problem was that I could only carry one bike with me and a couple of times need the back up after having problems or bending a set of bars....

Bonzai ?

[NoFiddyPilot]

Link to the TT Store

I have well over a thousand miles on mine. I used to use a carrier called the "Joe Hauler", but carriers by Sarge are built better, comes with an anti-sway hitch pin that works, ramp and tie-down spots at both ends. Email me at feedback@thumpertalk.com if you want more info. Good luck regardless of what you choose to do. There are some good units out there.

Cheers!

Bryan

[BrandonW]

How do the Federales regard these units? I cannot see your brake lights, and I wonder if that opens one up for litigation in the case of an accident. Has anyone using a bike carrier ever been accosted by the law regarding hard to see brake lights?

Thanks,

Brandon

[NoFiddyPilot]

Drove from Portland Oregon to San Diego with no problems. Actually, you can see brake lights through your wheels however, I have a 3rd brake light high in my SUV's hatch too. I guess it depends upon how picky the officer is. I've suggested that Sarge offer a brake light attachment as an option however, the demand has not really been there. Good question though...

[hodaphile]

I made mine as well and even welded on and extra receiver so that I can put on my rack and still pull a trailer or towcar. It is handy when going on vacation and want to pull a car but still bring a bike. Also nice when going with a couple other guys, if meeting them somewhere, I can throw my bike on the rack, they can pack their trailer and when I pick them up, away we go.

[Dan_Lorenze]

DO THEY WORK? ANYONE HAVE ONE? DOES THE BIKE JUMP AROUND? WHATS THE BEST MODEL?

I have been using the original "Motocross-caddy" for at least 12 years with no problems at all!! The Moto Jack Rack is sweet!!!! But it's much heavier that the "Caddy". I bought the thing for $225.00 years ago and still use it today. What I like best about the caddy is that one bolt takes off the whole thing. It's really easy!!! I say get one.

[ktm500naz]

Check out usametalworks.com I bought the double carrier and it has been great. I put two 426's on it with no problems. For the dual carrier you need a class IV or V hitch.

[Woodzi]

I made my own. No problems with the law. It's not difficult to see the tail lights through the wheels. The best part is that the cameras on the toll road can't see my plate when the bike is loaded so I get to travel for free.

[BBD]

www.rideremedies.com

I have a Moto Sled and it is great. My 300lb XR650R stayed on even doing some fairly nasty offroad driving. The guy at RideRemedies (Heath) is a really good guy as well. Located in San Antonio.

[Thumpster]

Mine is the aluminum Motoxcaddy. I like it for ease of storage, just hang it on the garage wall. I can have it installed on the truck with bike strapped down in about 10 minutes. In conjunction with the four tiedown straps, sway is minimized by a metal brace that wedges between the carrier and the bottom of the bike, the bike is ratcheted down onto this. Rack side to side sway is minimized by a small bushing in the receiver mounting bolt assembly. This takes up any tolerance between the receiver tube and carrier tube.

It's somewhat unsettling watching your bike back there the first few times you use the rack. You get used to it, the carrier works great.

[Doug_Matson]

I have had a rail type carrier and now have a MotoJack Rack carrier and much prefer the MotoJack. The bike is very secure and I have had bikes as big as a XR600 on it. One of the things thats nice about it is it can be used as a work stand also. You can change your oil or a tire very easy. It also has a gas can option for it. If you want to haul another bike put a reciever on the front of the vehicle. Putting two bikes that weigh in around 270 lbs. plus the carrier is putting alot of stress on a hitch that is designed to carry 500 lbs. (v5 non weight distributed). One other thing about the rail carriers, you can trip over them when a bike is not on it cause you normally don't look down when walking and it really hurts!! The draw back to the MotoJack is the price.

[Drew_Seattle_DRZ400s]

I had the Moto Jack Rack and really liked it. I almost always go riding with a buddy though, so I sold it and bought a trailer so I could carry 2 or 3 bikes.

[manda3000gt]

How does this carrier attach to your vehicle ?? It fits onto the tow bar yes, is something bolted onto the tow bar plate where the ball usually bolts and the pieces of box section at the sides do these attach to something else that you have had welded or something to the underside of the car ? these are for the side to side stability are they not.

Cheers for any help

Dave

[jwriott]

Anyone mount one of these that has the spare tire on the rear door of an SUV? I was just wondering if the bike sits far enough back to clear the spare?

[The_Blue_One]

I used my friedns versa-haul on the wifes jeep liberty.It worked fine and didn't hit the sparetire.I know that the 2 bike carrier wouldn't work at least on her jeep and my brotherin laws bronco.

[Guy]

I just had an in depth discussion re these over here in the UK....They are no use to us here except for Trials bikes!

As our cars are smaller our tow ball (Hitch Pin) has a really low wieght limit.

For a large family saloon (Sedan) it can be as low as 50 kgs (2.2lbs to the Kg) and even on our 4x4's ie Isuzu, Mitsubishi Shoguns etc...it's only around 100-120 KGS

If you have a 15 Kg rack and a 130 Kg bike..itdoesnt take a genius to wrok out it's TOO HEAVY...but only in the UK !

[jwriott]

Thanks for the info. I have a trailer but when it's just me, it would be nice not to have to haul it around.

[codlord]

UK people,

I got a motorbike rack in the UK recently, see here: www.showmesome.info/hilux/workshop/rack.htm

Only suitable for permanent tow bars which have a plate that the tow ball normally bolts to. No where near as good as the racks I have seen available in the US, where there is plenty of choice and lots with ramps etc. This one you just have to get someone to help you lug the bike on and off. This was the only rack I have found available in the UK, I would be interested to know if anyone knows any others.

US towing hitches use a different system to ours, so not easy to just import a rack and use it, you would have to import a US tow bar too or do some modifications - and what with import duty and taxes it was something I decided against.