Thule Bike Rack Trailer Hitch

Thule T2 Pro Xtr 2 Trailer Hitch Platform Bike Rack Features:

• Versatile design fits nearly all styles of bikes up to 60 lbs with zero frame contact
• AutoAttach system makes installation and removal simple and tool-free
• Integrated wheels help to maneuver the rack on and off the vehicle
• The HitchSwitch lever allows you to tilt the rack down for rear vehicle access or tilt it up when not in use
• Fits 20 29 wheels and up to 5 tires without adapters making it ideal for carbon frames, mountain, downhill, or fat bikes
• Integrated cable lock and lock knob locks bikes to the rack and secures the rack to the receiver
• Generous spacing between bike mounts with the ability to adjust side to side to eliminate bike interference
• Carries up to 4 bikes with Thule T2 Pro XT Add-On

Thule T2 Pro XTR 2 Trailer Hitch Platform Bike Rack is the worlds best vehicle trailer hitch bike rack.

Best Hitch Bike Racks

All racks listed will fit 20 bikes on the rack and hold at least four bikes. There are very few racks that will accommodate a bike smaller than 20. Balance bikes and 12 to 16 bikes typically fit just fine in the trunk of the car. Also to note: when transporting four bikes, a 2 hitch is usually required.

Types Of Car Bike Racks

There are many types of bike racks, each with its own pros and cons. Finding one thats right for you will depend on your vehicle, bike, budget, riding style, and personal priorities. Here are the types we tested:

• Tray-style hitch racks mount to a vehicles trailer hitch and support bikes underneath their tires.
• Hanging-style hitch racks carry bikes by their frames.
• Vertical-style hanging hitch racks hold the bikes in a variety of ways: by the front wheel, front fork, or handlebars.
• Trunk racks strap to the back of almost any vehicle and support bikes by the frame.
• Roof racks attach to a base crossbar system on the top of a vehicle and hold bikes by the front wheel, front fork, or frame.
• Pickup-truck carriers let you securely carry a bike in a trucks bed and hold bikes by the frame, fork, or the front wheel.

After testing scores of racks, weve determined that a tray-style hitch rack is the easiest to use and the most versatile, but the vehicle and bike you own may limit your choices:

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Install A Bike Rack To Transport Your Two

Have you ever dreamt of traveling to the great outdoors and taking your bike with you? Doing this isnt as easy as it sounds, though. You might not have enough space in the cabin, for instance, or would rather not ruin your cars upholstery by placing the frame in the back seat. Thats where having a bike rack comes init helps you transport your bike without the hassle of loading it inside your car or risking damage to its interior.

SubaruPartsPros offers two types of bike racks: hitch mount racks and roof-mount racks. Hitch mount racks ones you find in a cars rear. Both racks are easy to install and great for avid cyclists since theyre easy to set up and take down. Roof bike racks, in particular, tuck bikes out of the way without impeding trunk space since theyre placed on top of your car. They can also act as a mount for other forms of transport like boats, skis, and more.

Flaws But Not Dealbreakers

A potential drawback for some cyclists: The Sherpa 2.0 cant expand to hold more than two bikes . Also, it holds bikes up to just 40 pounds each. This is similar to what most hanging-style hitch racks support, but its less than what most other two-bike tray racks we tested support . So this model is not suitable for carrying some specialty and electric bikes. But the vast majority of modern bikes come in well under that weight limit. Finally, the hook that holds the front wheel may not work if a bike has a front fender.

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Filed Under: Average Joe Cyclist Product ReviewsTagged With: Thule Helium Pro Bike Rack

Welcome to Average Joe Cyclist!

Welcome to our blog! Im Joe Goodwill, an average cyclist, and I write a blog for people like me. People who love cycling but will probably never win any races, and who dont necessarily look good in Lycra! I also write the Electric Bikes Blog and Average Joe’s RV Living Blog. To find our most popular posts, check out our Start Here page.

Hi! I’m Maggie Neilson . Joe and I have done a lot of cycling, and we share what we have learned on this blog . We also write reviews of cycling products and trails! Get to know us better HERE.

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Bike Racks For The Whole Family

Thule Apex XT is a hanging hitch bike rack that can carry up to 5 bikes. This secure bike rack keeps bikes stable on the trip, and fits a range of frame styles and sizes. Perfect for a bike vacation with the whole family.

Thule Apex XT Swing 4 hitch bike rack has all these perks and more! This bike rack provides access to your trunk with the bikes still loaded.

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Material And Build Quality

The saying you get what you pay for rings very true in the hitch-mounted bike rack world. In short, if you plan to use your rack a lot or keep it on your vehicle even in the rainy seasons, its well worth paying for a premium design. 1Ups Heavy Duty Double and Recon Rack 6 are among the most expensive racks in our round-up, and both feature high-quality, all-metal constructions that have excellent lifespans. On the other hand, racks like the $120 Swagman XC2 that use a lot of plastic or cheap, thin metal, will be prone to rusting out or breaking down over time. That said, just because a rack is made up of a lot of plastic doesnt necessarily mean that its not durable. One design that does a great job of balancing metal construction and strategic use of tough plastic is our top-rated Thule T2 Pro XTR. Not surprisingly, the Thule comes with a steep $800 price tag.

The Best Roof Rack: Yakima Highroad

*At the time of publishing, the price was $269.

If you want to carry your bike on the roof of your vehicle, youll find no easier way to do so than with the Yakima HighRoad. We found it to be the simplest to use of all the roof racks we tested, both when installing the rack on the vehicle and when loading a bike. It secures the bike by the front wheel, avoiding any contact with the frame. And in our tests it held a variety of bikes solidlyeven more so than some fork-mount roof racks .

The HighRoad secures a bike using two hoops that clamp securely onto the front wheel , as well as a ratcheting strap that wraps around the rear rim. During our test drives, this setup held a variety of bikes rock-steady through bumps and swervesmore tightly than any other roof rack we tested. We also found the HighRoad to be one of the quickest and easiest racks to mount to and remove from the vehicle. With other roof racks, you have to fiddle with brackets and Allen screws. But the HighRoad uses three rubber straps that slide under any type of crossbar. Flip a tab and adjust the tension, and the rack grips any type of roof rails firmly, so you dont have to buy dedicated cross-bars from Yakima. Thats a big win.

For security, the HighRoad has locking covers that prevent those tabs from being lifted, so thieves cant remove the bike rack itself from the vehicle some other models that use a similar latching system are not lockable.

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Do You Need A Special Bike Rack For Electric Bikes

Most fat tire and electric bikes require a special bike rack since they’re larger and heavier than most traditional bikes, including full-suspension mountain bikes.

Platform hitch racks disperse weight evenly and can simply hold bigger bikes than most other carriers, including SUV bike racks. It’s also much easier to add and remove an eBike from a platform hitch rack.

It’s no secret that ebikes have become hugely popular over the last several years. According to Statista, an estimated 130 million electric bikes will be sold between 2020 and 2023 alone.

As more cyclists discover the thrill of riding fat tire and electric bicycles, demand is growing for racks that can transport these beasts.

Most platform hitch racks fit on 2-inch receivers several also work with 1.25-inch receivers. Not sure which receiver is on your vehicle? Check the hitch label or your owner’s manual for specific information.

The Best Trunk Rack: Saris Bones Ex 3

*At the time of publishing, the price was $250.

If your car doesnt have a trailer hitch, or you want something you can easily move between vehicles, we recommend the Saris Bones EX 3-Bike. It can adjust to fit almost any vehicle , and the new EX design is even more versatile, able to reach over most factory trunk or hatchback rear spoilers. The Bones EX is also one of the lightest, easiest-to-use, and most solidly built racks weve tested. The experts we talked to at Rack Attack, Roscoe Village Bikes, and Backcountry Bike & Ski all recommend the Bones, too, and it was one of the highest-rated racks of any type in our survey of bike clubs. Like its predecessor, the Bones EX comes in two- and three-bike versions the three-bike version of the EX comes in a variety of colors, with a portion of the sales of some colors going to charities.

The Bones racks arms are made of injection-molded plastic, which makes the rack lighter than competitive aluminum racks we tested. The Bones racks outer legs extend upward onto the trunk or hatch, and the other two extend down to sit on or against the cars bumper. All four legs end in huge, pivoting rubber feetlarger than what you get on other racks they help protect the car and provide serious grip.

Folding up the rack itself is also easy: The curved arms and legs collapse to make the rack pretty compact.

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Types Of Hitch Bike Racks

Platform RacksPlatform racks dominate this round-up, and in our opinion, are the best way to transport your bikes. Compared to hanging racks, platform designs are compatible with a much wider range of bike styles, sit lower to the ground for easier access, and are excellent in terms of stability. Most have two attachment points: a ratcheting arm that secures the front wheel, and a strap that holds the rear wheel in place. This straightforward and effective system makes it easy to rapidly load and unload your bike, and it minimizes any wobble or side-to-side movement while driving. In addition, these racks are the most gentle on bikes because they typically only come in contact with the tire or wheel .

As with any product, there are bound to be compromises. Platform racks are big, bulky, and generally quite heavy. If you plan on removing your hitch rack with any regularity, youll want to pay attention to weight, and many leading options tip the scales at 50 pounds or more. Platform-style hitch racks also are among the most expensive options on the market, with prices of leading designs like the Thule T2 Pro XTR and 1Up Heavy Duty Double clearing $600. That said, for serious riders, the added weight and cost are well worth the security and ease of use of this style.

Which Bike Racks For Electric Bikes With Fenders Do You Recommend

Some e-bike racks are more suitable for transporting bikes with fenders. Our top pick is the Swagman CURRENT, which has trays to secure wheels in place. There aren’t any extra parts or components to interfere with the fenders, so you don’t have to worry about damaging your precious cargo.

The Hollywood Racks Sport Rider is another good choice. A J locking mechanism secures the top frame of the bike while straps hold the bottom of the wheels in place. As with the Swagman CURRENT, there’s nothing to interfere with the fenders.

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Key Features Of The Thule Helium Pro Bike Rack

• Convenient access to the rear of your vehicle the Hitch Switch feature allows the rack to be easily tilted down.

• The super lightweight aluminum construction is half the weight of steel hitch bike racks, making it easy to install, remove and generally handle.

• This rack offers excellent hanging hitch carrier bike protection, with industry-leading 7 spacing between bikes.

• Complete bike security with integrated cable lock
• Superior bike stability and fit, with integrated anti-sway that prevents your bikes from making contact.

Using Your Bike Rack As A Bike Repair Stand

Also, we discovered another use for the rack. If you read my post on basic bike maintenance, youll know that we recently learned how to clean and grease the bike chain and derailleurs. However, we were putting off actually doing it, because neither of us much enjoys being on our knees and our backs hurt if we bend over a lot .

I was therefore delighted to realize that when the bikes are on the rack, they are at the perfect height for working on the chain without bending or kneeling! So our 3-bike Thule Helium Pro Bike Rack now doubles as a bike repair stand. Given that stands cost hundreds of dollars, this is pretty cool.

All in all, even though the hitch and rack together were not cheap, we are really happy we bought it. I would recommend it to any average cyclists who want to extend the range of their bike rides.

Update: After we bought a new, much smaller car, we discovered that our big old 3-bike Thule Helium Bike Rack can be attached to a tiny Fiat 500 just by getting a new hitch receiver.

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Hitch Mount Bike Racks

In a perfect world, every awesome trail would start right outside your back door. Sadly, this isnt true. Since many trails start further away than riding distance, you need a way to transport your bike by car. Unless you have a pickup truck or a large empty van, you are going to need a bike rack. In the world of bike racks, hitch mounted racks reign supreme. If you need a rack and you have a hitch, a hitch rack is the way to go. Here at JensonUSA, we have a wide selection of hitch mount bike racks for you to choose from.

Hitch racks are considered better than other bike racks for several reasons. To start with, they are extremely secure. The rack sits inside the trailer hitch of a car and is typical secured by a large thru-bolt and nut. Hitch racks are also super easy to install and remove because there is only that one bolt holding the rack in place. The thru-bolt is a very secure design, but when you unthread it, the rack comes right off. Most companies also provide a way to lock this bolt so your rack cant be easily stolen at night. A hitch rack also cant damage your car like some other racks can. Roof racks can lead to roof damage if not installed correctly and trunk racks can leave dents or paint chips if also not installed correctly.

If you have any questions about hitch mount bike racks, hop on a call or a chat with one of our expert Gear Advisors today at . They are always happy to help you with any questions you may have.

From Sleek Platform Designs To High

• / Best Hitch Bike Racks of 2022

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If youre searching for the best way to transport bikes, hitch-mounted racks are the way to go. Securely attaching to the receiver hitch of your vehicle, they offer unmatched versatility and ease of use. There are a wide range of options to choose from, but hitch racks fall into two basic categories: platform models are the most expensive but offer excellent stability and convenience, while hanging racks maximize carrying capacity in a compact package. Below we break down our top picks for 2022, from high-end, exquisitely manufactured designs like 1Ups Heavy Duty Double to Kuats budget-oriented and weight-conscious Beta. For more information, see our hitch rack comparison table and buying advice below the picks.

• Best 4-Bike Hanging Rack: Yakima RidgeBack 4
• Best Hitch Rack for Rear Cargo Access: RockyMounts BackStage
• Best Vertical Hanging Rack: 1UP Recon Rack 6

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