Bike Racks, Carriers, and Accessories

Trailer hitch mounted bike carriers are the perfect solution for making the transport of your bikes easy, safe, and convenient. Hitch mounted bike racks slide easily into the square receiver opening of a trailer hitch and are held in place with a pin and clip or a trailer hitch lock. You may also want to visit our help page to determine your hitch size.

Folding Frame Trailer Hitch Mount Bike Racks

In order to provide better access to the rear cargo area of a vehicle, manufacturers design certain bike carriers with a folding or tilting mechanism. The upright bar of a folding bike rack tilts away from the vehicle, creating more space around the trunk or tailgate. The folding or tilting feature will often allow for doors, hatchbacks, trunks, or tailgates on your SUV, van, car, or truck to open while the bike carrier is mounted in your trailer hitch. These tilting or folding mechanisms can vary by manufacturer. Some bike racks require the upright bar to be lifted up before it can fold down. Others simply require a pin to be removed. Some racks have a stop on the rack allowing it to tilt only so far forward, while others will let the rack and bikes tilt until they touch the ground. They are some of the most popular bike racks and therefore come in a wide variety of styles and at many price points to accommodate your specific needs. These bike carriers are available in 2 to 5 bike models, single arm, dual arm, wheel mount, and some can even double as a ski carrier for when the snow flies and the slopes beckon. Many of these bike racks either come with locking mechanism included or the ability to add a lock to secure your bikes from theft. There are also different cradle and attachment devices to provide for a universal fit or to load a specific type of bike.

Swing Away Trailer Hitch Mount Bike Racks

The swinging bike rack feature is designed to allow more access to the rear of the vehicle. In this case, the upright bar of the rack can be pulled out and swung away to the side of the vehicle, completely clearing the back of the vehicle. This allows for SUV or even side-by-side van doors to be opened while the bike rack is mounted to the trailer hitch. Because some of the folding bike racks require the upright bar to be lifted before it can tilt forward, the swinging models are often easier to operate, especially with bikes on the rack. These racks are ideal for SUVs and vans that need some clearance to operate the rear doors.

Towing Bike Racks

Towing bike racks provide the versatility to carry your bikes while leaving the hitch ball available to tow a small trailer. The towing bike rack feature is perfect for the vacations when you need to tow a camper, small boat, or trailer with your gear and do not want to leave the bikes behind. These racks come in both the single and dual arm styles and offer many of the same features found on traditional racks. Some of the features that can be found on these racks include a fold down option to allow access to the cargo area of your vehicle, locking mechanism to secure your bikes from theft, and cushioned cradles to keep the bikes scratch free. It is important to note that when using a towing bike rack the tongue capacity of the trailer hitch will be reduced by at least the weight of the rack and bikes carried. The tongue weight capacity of the hitch is printed on a label on the hitch. You will also not want to exceed the tongue weight capacity of the vehicle which will be listed in the owner's manual.

Ball Mount Bike Racks

Ball Mount Bike Racks are a good option for trailer hitches with a fixed draw bar or with a towing bumper. To install this rack the ball is inserted through a plate on the bike rack with a 3/4" opening. The ball is then tightened down to secure the rack to the drawbar. A ball mounted rack may also be used on bumpers which include a ball attachment location. Some trailers and fifth wheels also will have a location to attach a trailer ball. These bike racks offers some of the same features you may need on you bike carrier such as the ability to lock your bikes in the cushioned cradles. Some models also fold to allow access to the cargo area of your vehicle. The ball-mounted bike carriers are an economical alternative which will work with a 1-1/4" hitch opening, a 2" hitch opening, or a ball hole in a bumper. The rack can either sit on top of a ballmount or drawbar which slides into the receiver opening of a trailer hitch, or it can sit on top of a bumper. The bike rack is then held in place with either a hitch ball or bolt which must have a 3/4" shank diameter. While 1-1/4" trailer hitch ballmounts and most bumpers use a 3/4" ball hole, 2" trailer hitches typically use ballmounts with a 1" hole for the ball. In this case, a bushing will have to be used when installing the bike rack.

Roof Mount Bike Racks

Roof mount bike racks are a great option for situations where the trailer hitch is already in use, or not desired. There are roof bike racks available that will convert an existing, factory installed luggage rack into a convenient and secure bike carrier. We offer both the fork mount and wheel on options. A roof mount bike rack is perfect for vehicles that do not have a trailer hitch or if the hitch is needed for towing or a cargo carrier. Roof bike racks are available with all the features you would expect such as locking mechanisms, no mar attachments, durable construction, light weight designs, and easy to use mounting features. They are designed to fit different types of bikes, such as road, mountain, tandem, aggressive styles, disc and v brakes, deep rims, and suspension.

Truck Bed Bike Rack

Truck bed bike carriers allow you to secure your bikes to the bed of your pickup truck, leaving the hitch available for a cargo carrier, trailer, or better yet, another bike rack with more bikes! Truck bed bike carriers are available for 1 to 4 bikes. These carriers offer solid designs, easy operation, and can connect to a wide variety of standard, alternative, and aggressive bike designs because of the wheel or fork mount securing mechanisms. We offer both the fork mount and wheel on attachment styles. These bike carriers can fit in any pickup truck bed with a no drill installation, so setting up the carriers is a snap. These are a quick and inexpensive alternative to get your bikes from home to your ride.

Spare Tire Bike Carriers

Spare tire bike rack carriers offer an inexpensive way to get the bikes to your favorite ride by making use of the spare tire carrier already mounted on some vehicles. These bike carriers attach by securing a plate to the face of the spare tire according to the bolt pattern. The bikes attach to the rack with cradles similar to those found on the trailer hitch mounted bike racks. These are perfect if you have an SUV, Jeep, RV, or other vehicle with the spare tire mounted on the rear.

RV Bike Racks

RV bike racks allow you to take your bikes along when traveling in the RV and storage space is at a premium. We offer the bumper mount bike rack which can carry up to 4 bikes at a time with the included support brackets. This rack can be used with 4" and 4 1/2" continuously welded square or rectangular steel bumpers. We also offer the ladder mount bike rack that carries 2 bikes with the unique "docking system" hooks that attach without the need for any tools. This type of rack is easy to operate and goes on and off quickly.

Alternative Frame Top-tube Adapter

The alternative or women's bike adapter serves a couple of purposes. If a woman's bike with the angled top frame bar is placed into a bike carrier with standard or dual arm cradles, the bike will sit crooked with one tire much lower than the other. In this case, the lower tire could have problems clearing the ground on bumps and hills. The rotating style cradles can often adjust to make the top-tube adapter unnecessary. The bike adapter bar also allows for larger frame mountain and other alternative bike frames to be carried by more bike racks. Some of these bikes have a larger diameter frame and will not fit into the cradles of the bike rack. The bike adapter connects to the seat at one end and the handle bars at the other to provide a smaller diameter bar that will fit into the rack's cradles. Using a cable lock to accommodate the adapter may also be beneficial. The adapter can be locked to the bike rack, but the bike can still be removed.

Anti-Rattle Devices

Anti-wobble or anti-rattle devices reduce, and in most cases eliminate, the noise and vibration caused by the bike rack in the trailer hitch. Due to necessary part clearance issues between the trailer hitch and the shank of the bike rack, vibrations and noise often result. Different styles of anti-rattles work in different ways, but all reduce the movement of the bike rack. The anti-rattles that work the best are the ones use a block that is placed inside the shank of the bike rack. The threaded hitch pin, then pulls the block (and therefore the bike rack shank) to the side the hitch eliminating movement. A couple of these devices even include hitch locks! Also, several bike racks (most Thule and Sportrack models) have built-in anti-rattle devices.

Trailer Hitch Locks

Most bike racks provide an easy way to lock the bikes to the rack, however, the the rack will still need to be secured to the vehicle. Trailer hitch locks come in many different styles for the two different hitch sizes (1-1/4" & 2") and are very easy to use. A couple of these will even work as anti-rattle devices! Please note, not all bike racks will work with all hitch locks. Thule bike racks require their own anti-rattle lock (#THSTL2) while some models of Sportrack and Valley bike racks do the same (#A30901LHP).

Cable Locks

If you love your bikes, you need to keep them safe by making sure they are locked to your rack and vehicle. Cable Locks are excellent as an added security measure to secure bikes and wheels to the bike rack and the vehicle. Running a cable lock through the bike frames and wheels on the rack and through the safety chain loops on the trailer hitch makes sure the bikes and their parts are going nowhere. These locks come with a variety of lengths, locking mechanisms, and cable types, so there is sure to be one that will suit your individual needs. Cable locks may also be necessary when attaching bikes to the rack with the top-tube bike adapter bar.

Trailer Hitch Adapters

Trailer hitch adapters are used to convert an 1-1/4" x 1-1/4" trailer hitch receiver tube opening into a 2" x 2" trailer hitch receiver tube opening or vice versa. When converting the 1-1/4" opening to the 2", it is very important to pay attention the hitch's tongue weight capacity. The adapter will often reduce the hitch tongue weight capacity by 50%. There are reasons why no manufacturer produces a 5 bike rack model for an 1-1/4" x 1-1/4" trailer hitch. Two hitch locks will also be needed to secure the bike rack to the trailer hitch if a hitch adapter is used.

Trailer Hitch Extenders

Trailer hitch extenders are used to move the bike rack farther away from the vehicle. The extra space is particularly useful when the vehicle has a spare tire mounted on the rear door. Extending the bike rack away from the vehicle does apply more leverage to the hitch. Again, it is very important to pay attention to the to the tongue weight capacity as the extender will reduce the hitch tongue weight capacity by 50%. Two hitch locks will also be needed to secure the bike rack to the trailer hitch if an extender is used.

Ski Rack Adapters

If you need to get double duty out of your bike rack, pick up a ski rack adapter that will allow a hitch mounted bike rack to safely and easily transport up to 6 pairs of skis or 4 snowboards. These adapters are perfect when you want to carry more gear on the roof of the vehicle, if your vehicle does not have a roof rack, or if you just plain don't like trying to hoist your skis and snowboards up to the roof of your vehicle. The Thule Ski Adapter (#TH987XT) designed for Thule bike racks, clamps around each of the dual arms and the upright bar of Thule bike racks. The carrier includes locks to secure the skis and snowboards to the ski adapter.

Individual Rotating

These individual bike rack cradles rotate to accommodate a variety of bike frames. Each cushioned cradle encirles the top crossbar of a bike as it is mounted on the bike carrier. In this case, when loading a bike onto the carrier, you would loosen the knob at the top of the cradle and place the bike onto bottom cradle pad. Then simply tighten the knob down to close the cradle over the bike's frame. The rotating aspect of these cradles provides more flexibility as it will work with a lot of women's and alternative frame bikes. The rotating cradles also help to keep a women's or alternative frame bike level on the carrier, providing better ground clearance.

Dual Arm

The dual arm bike carrier style allows for an even better bike fit as it, like the rotating cradle, minimizes the need for top-tube bike adapters, and it also adjusts to fit bikes with larger frames. To mount a bike into a carrier of this style, the top crossbar of the bike is placed into two cradles, one on each of the bike rack's arms. Then it is secured to the cradles with rubber straps that adjust to the size of the bike frame. A women's bike, because of the slanted crossbar, will sit at a more severe angle on bike rack of this style, so ground clearance may be an issue. Not only does this mounting style offer a better bike fit, but it also offers more stability as it secures the bikes at two different points on the frame. Some of the racks built with the dual arm feature will include, or have available, a third cradle that works to prevent the bikes from swaying back and forth offering further protection for the bikes and the vehicle.

Wheel Mount

The wheel mount bike rack style limits contact with the bike frame so it is perfect for alternative and larger tube frame bikes, such as today's more aggressive bike frame designs. To mount a bike, you would simply place the wheels of the bike into the wheel mounts, which adjust to the length of the bike. Then lower the cushioned hook onto the bike frame and you are ready to go. Instead of further securing the bike on the frame with the hook, Thule T2 wheel mount racks secure the bike by clamping around the front tire. An additional feature of the T2 is its ability to tilt away from the vehicle creating more space at the trunk or hatch. Not only are these racks the easiest to use, but they offer the best bike support.

Standard Top Plate

This cradle style holds a bike at its top crossbar, and the padded, clamshell-like cradle closes around the frame of the bike to secure it to the carrier. In most cases, when loading a bike to a rack with this cradle style, you would first loosen the carrier's top plate by unscrewing the knobs. After loading each bike into its cradle, you would set the top plate back down over the bikes' frames and tighten the knobs. Some alternative frame and women's frame bikes will require a top-tube bike adapter bar.

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