What Bike Rack & Hitch is Best For Carrying 2-4 Bikes with a 2025 Subaru Outback?  

Buy the two inch hitch and use adapter to get down to 1.25 is needed. The trimming of the bumper was very easy and is not visible from the back of the car. It’s a little unnerving at first removing side panels but once you realize the amount of force needed the rest go easy. If a pin / rivet breaks, you can get em at Lowe’s. I’m a fan of Kuat or One up racks. You can get a swing arm for Kuat but it’s pricey. Trailer was very helpful ?? Barry K

Hey Brian, I have a 2025 Outback Onyx XT. I’m using a 1up quick rack for my bikes combined with a Kuat Pivot swing away to access the hatch. It’s a bullet proof set up. Doesn’t shake or shimmy at all due to the way the Kuat and 1up lock in place inside the hitch. I don’t carry more than 2 mountain bikes, but even with those the set up is stable. I chose the Kuat over 1up’s Rack Attach for the weight savings and ease of install. I’ve been super happy with the set up.

I have the 2 inch trailer hitch receiver on my 2025 outback. Period it fits tied up to the bumper cover no trimming necessary, but you do have to remove the bumper cover to install the hitch. That’s not a big job but something you need to be aware of the hitch is more than capable of handling any weight the outback can handle.

Thank you Claire and the other community members for their replies. As we have grown into biking together as a family I am trying to find ways to expand access with using bikes on other trails or when we go on vacation, so the exact logistics of what we are investing into is daunting and rather unknown. After posting the question I realize I messed up the year, but I was able to confirm I have the 2.5 L 2024 Outback (not 2025). 1Up was able to provide me this breakdown of the weights and what type of hitch to look for. It appears if I want to go for a swing arm + rack of 4 bikes I need a hitch that can handle more TW load, like the Blue Ox that I had looked at on this site as well, not because I will carry a load of 600 lbs, but because, as 1Up and Claire explained, you need more TW since the swing arm reduces its capabilities for convenience. "Regarding the necessary tongue rating for your configuration, you will need find the sum of all of the weights of the items in your hitch. This would be the swing arm (56 lbs for the standard), 4 bike heavy duty rack (~85 lbs) and 4 bikes (~128 if all are at 32 lbs). The total there would be 269. Since the RakAttach extends the system and adds another connection point, it reduces the capacity of the tongue by 50%, so your tongue rating would have to be a minimum of 538 lbs. The 275 pound limit of the RakAttach refers specifically to the weight of the heavy duty rack and the weight of the bikes. This rating must be followed in addition to following the rating of the tongue mentioned above. Based on the info you provided, you are well within the RakAttach's ratings (213 lbs between the rack and bikes)."