How to Carry Two Bikes if your Trailer Doesnt have Room for a Tongue-Mounted Bike Rack

Updated 05/10/2021 | Published 05/07/2021

Products Featured in This Question

Malone MicroSport Trailer with Post Style Carriers for 4 Kayaks - 800 lbs

(112)

$2321.10

RockyMounts BrassKnuckles Roof Mounted Bike Rack - Wheel Mount - Black

(24)

$349.99

Question:

We recently purchased a MicroSport trailer to carry our 17 ft sea kayaks and it is working well for us. We are interested in trying to carry our bikes at the same time and may purchase the Lippert Hitch-It 2 Bike Rack for Straight Tongue Trailers, part # LC731138. However, our boats are quite long and we wondered if we use a hitch extender if we can attach that rack to the extender instead of the tongue of the trailer. There is not room to put the bikes in front or between the bows of our kayaks.

asked by: Merry M

Expert Reply:

I have a possible solution for you.

First, though, using any hitch extender comes with the downside of reducing your hitch's capacity (usually by 50%). That, plus the addition of some sway, is the reason I wouldn't recommend using the Hitch-It, part # LC731138, on a hitch extender. Besides, the Hitch-It is designed for the tongues of a trailer, which are larger than extenders.

Instead, since your Malone MicroSport doesn't have any room for a tongue bike rack, I suggest carrying your bikes on your roof. Your previous question hinted at already having a roof rack, so adding some bike carriers on that should be simple.

I recommend two of the RockyMounts BrassKnuckles, part # RKY1201. It's a wheel-mount bike rack and can fit on round, square, aero, elliptical, and most factory crossbars. It has a weight capacity of 45 pounds. I've linked to a video review of this below.

expert reply by: Kef G