Does Tongue Weight Capacity of Hitch for 2018 Chevy Cruze Factor Weight of Bike and Bike Rack

Updated 03/20/2025 | Published 03/09/2025

Question:

I am thinking about getting a 100 lb Ebike and bike rack that I would need to carry it on the back of a 2018 Chevrolet Cruze hatchback. I see your hitch is a class 1 200 lb max. Correct me if Im wrong but the effective weight on the hitch is much more than 220 lbs considering the bike rack and bike will be several inches behind the hitch which causes leverage which would multiple the weight on the receiver....right???? Not to mention the G forces of the car bouncing up and down on the roads. Do you have a class 2 hitch?? Am I over thinking this. Thanks

asked by: Tommy

Expert Reply:

Hey Tommy, I wouldn't say that you are over thinking this but you are definitely giving it some serious thought which is totally fine. So the 200 lb capacity for the tongue weight is going to be for the weight of a bike rack in it's typical location which is several inches back where it carries the weight of the bike. So if the weight of your bike rack and bike was less than 200 lbs everything would be fine.

Now the frustrating part on our end is that we don't have any e-bike racks that have a 100 lb weight capacity at this time.

expert reply by: Jameson C

Tommy W.

3/20/2025

Okay … so my bike with battery is about 65 lbs. And it has 2.4 inch wide tires ( not the 4 inch fat tires). So the combo of both bike and rack is less than 200 lbs. So the hitch should be sufficient. And I can seem to find a rack for the 1.25 in receiver. They all seem to be 2” racks. So is there any reason I couldn’t use a 1.25” to 2.0” adapter with the 1.25” receiver and a 2.0” bike rack. Thanks for the responses!

Jameson C.

3/20/2025

@TommyW We do have an e-bike rack that fits that hitch size with the Thule EasyFold XT part # TH903202. Since hitch adapters cut the capacity of the hitch in half I would not recommend using one.