To haul the sail boat the dealer gave me when my wife and I bought matching convertibles. :roflmao2:

J/K about the boat thing. I didn't want to use a trunk mount rack and a roof rack was, for obvious reasons, out of the question.

:lol:

I keep my Kuat Sherpa 2.0 rack in the garage. It's a really nice two bike rack, and only weighs 33 pounds. It's hanging on two hooks on the wall, and I can mount it on the car in less than a minute. I really like it. Bikes take 30 seconds to load or unload on the rack.

I have a piece of white tape on the arm that goes into the hitch receiver, so I can slide it in just far enough for the locking pin hole to line up. I stand between the bumper and the hitch and slide it in. Fast and easy.

Stolen overnight?
I always bring bikes into the motel at night. Now I have to worry about the rack being stolen!

Did they cut the locking pin? My Kuat has this locking pin and now I wonder if a crowbar could pop the lock off the end of the pin.


All these locking hitch pins are likely vulnerable to bolt cutters. It doesn't look like they are thick enough to defeat a cutter.
I see that my 1 1/4 inch hitch pin is 3/8 inch thick, but the 2 inch hitch pins are 1/2 inch -- better.

~~~

Any cable can be quietly cut with a good, sharp electrician's diagonal cutter, snipping a few strands at a time. My Kuat comes with a cable that locks into the rack. It's good for stopping grab-and-go thieves, that's about all.

Long chain
I may get a long case hardened chain if I want to leave bikes on the rack for a few hours. This site sells Abus hardened chains by the foot, with or without a cloth cover. I need 9 feet to go through both wheels of two bikes, and back to the hitch's hook loop -- that will be about 20 pounds of chain!

I doubt that a manufacturer could use the presence of a hitch receiver, standing alone and without more, as prima facie evidence to deny a warranty claim.

They could try but will not get very far with it.

It is not all that hard to remove it and put it back on. The rack is heavy, but it can be managed,

Normally, however, I always leave it on...but it was stolen of course.

I leave mine on all the time from March/April to about November. It went on early this year because I bought my new bike in March and I had to go pick it up from the LBS. My car is so low to the ground and it is so difficult to access the bolt that it really is a PITA to remove and re-install it.

I don't have an expensive rack though. It's an older Thule that I picked up on Craigslist.

i had a receiver mount for carrying bikes on my Honda Civic for 4 days before it was totaled in a car accident. I want to add one to CRV that replaced it. I had one installed on my older Mazda6 Wagon but never towed anything with it. I have mini van for towing my utility trailer. I would really like to put a hitch mount

i have ran a cable lock through the bike frame, rack, and I think even the hook on the side of the receiver.

Most trailer hitches have cutouts or loops you can connect a disk lock and security chain to. Use the OEM locking pin AND a security chain, disk lock and ulock to secure the hitch rack and bikes on the vehicle. Or replace the flimsy pin/lock combo with a large, high quality lock that will pass through the hitch mount. And if you're worried about losing the hitch, ask for special one-way bolts, or take a grinder to one or two of the bolts after installation and round them off. Thief won't be able to remove the hitch with rounded off bolts.

Sure, if a thief REALLY wants to steal your stuff, they will. But most thieves are lazy and opportunistic and will pass on your well-locked hitch rack and bikes.

i've been studying bike racks the last couple weeks and this thread has been helpful.

one question, in regard to security and any other key features: anyone know what the big differences/benefits are between the kuat NV and the thule?

I believe his name is Fred...