alfhasian

I'm in the market for a hitch-mounted bike rack for a 1.25" hitch. My search so far has me down to the following 3 choices:

• Kuat Transfer 2
• Thule T2
• Yakima Holdup 2

Does anyone have any experience or opinions on any of the racks I'm looking at?

Pendergast

I'm a member of the 1UP USA cult.


https://www.1up-usa.com

Elvo

1upusa

52telecaster

not those racks in particular, but I put a 1.25 receiver on my Honda fit and bought a cheap Hollywood rack for 2 bikes and it works quite well. I love the receiver setup. Hard to go wrong I'd say.

Drago1010

Thumbs up on the Kuat Transfer 2. Great rack and at a good price point. It secures very securely to the hitch (I have a 2" receiver so I use the adapter) and it is easy and quick to load and secure the bikes.

jpescatore

Another vote for a cheap hitch-mount rack: I've been using a $70 Allen 4-bike rack for years, works great, keeps bike secure and apart - though it is really a 2 bike rack if you really want to keep the bikes apart.

For my wife's car I've looked at the $500 tray type racks but they just seem expensive for the value you get.

talphie

mstateglfr 

I have a thule t2. It's the 2", but it's the same thing as you are looking at.
its solid, well built, and easy to use.
if you have an rei near you, buying with one of their seasonal 20% sales. It's the cheapest way to buy one.

the yakima you are considering is effectively the same. Same quality, sameish price, etc. Rei seasonal coupon is cheapest for this one too.

the only downside to both the thule and yakima is weight. Both are heavy.

honcho

My son has a Thule T2 which is fine but heavy. We got a super deal on it at a closing bike shop but I wouldn't have paid the going price for it.

I use a Saris Freedom 2 with a longer bar for a recumbent. It works great. It was another bike shop closeout and we paid an additional $80 for the longer bar to fit the recumbent. I like it because it is simple and sturdy.
https://www.saris.com/product/freedom-2

As an aside, it's awfully hard to do with most bike stuff, but I try to buy stuff from at least semi-democratic countries. Kuat and Yakima hitch racks are mostly chinese production. Thule hitch racks, last time I looked, were USA made, Saris is definitely USA made.

Bigbus

I picked up a used Thule in a Habitat for Humanity store for $20.US and it works fine even if it is a tad heavy. I also hang my bikes on for tuning as I can work the pedals when I only have 1 bike on it in the outer hanger. In fact, except for tuning the bikes I rarely use it unless I break down and the wife has to come fetch me. She'll be the first to tell you how heavy it is

rm -rf

The Kuat Sherpa 2.0 is a little more expensive.

It's light, near 30 pounds. I can lift it off the garage wall hooks and install it on the car in less than a minute.

It's very fast and simple to load bikes, and they are very secure while driving. There's a thin cable lock included to prevent casual bike thieves from grabbing the bikes.

These racks that hold the bike by the front wheel are very nice, but won't work with a front fender, of course.

Juan Foote

I have a Kuat on my 2" receiver. It has been an incredible rack. The only suggestion I would make is to change the locks to something off stock. Kuat didn't release a lot of key combos, so there are a lot of them in the wild.

sirkaos

I have had the Kuat place carrier for 2 years. Two inch receiver. Nice unit. Holds our expensive road/mountain bikes very well and dont give a second thought while I am driving down the freeway. I dont like the hanging bike racks at all.
However, I developed about 6 months ago some looseness in the pivot joint and called Kuat about it. They sent me a brand new assemble that I bolted on my self and it work excellent. No cost, they paid for shipping and the unit. Excellent customer service that they stand behind their product so well.

Canker

I'm amazed this thread has gone this long with only 2 members of the cult posting



1UP

FrenchFit 

I use what is now called the Yakima Literider. It's a hitch hanger. Keep in mind that a hanger rack allows you to work on the bike like it's on a shop stand, that comes in handy doing repairs while traveling'.

I have a Thule rack too. I prefer Yakima stuff..

alfhasian

I actually purchased the Yakima Holdup 2 because I liked the integrated cable locks and how neatly everything folds up. I hadn't previously considered the Sherpa 2.0 and after looking into it I'm returning the Holdup and will be buying the Sherpa. The ~20lb weight savings is huge because I plan on attaching/detaching it with every use, and the tool-less anti-rattle mechanism on the Sherpa looks like it would be way easier to work with than the anti-rattle bolt on the Holdup.

Thanks for your suggestion. Hope it's worth the extra $100!

fietsbob

You choice of a 1.25" hitch receiver , rather than a 2" was the first, unfortunate, decision , limiting your options..

PaulRivers

People don't usually have a choice on this...their car only takes a 1.25" hitch, or it takes a 2" hitch.

You have a choice in that you could buy a whole new vehicle I suppose...this is a dilema I face...I'd have to switch to a vehicle that gets about half the gas mileage of my current vehicle in order to get something with a 2" hitch and I don't want to be driving something to work each day with half less mileage for the 1% of the time I need to carry 3 or 4 bikes right?

rm -rf

After the first time on the car, I added a square of white tape on the rack's hitch insert so that it lines up with the outside of the car's hitch receiver.
I stand between the car bumper and the hitch, then slide it in up to the tape mark. Put the rubber cap onto the hitch lock before sliding the hitch pin into the receiver, then the lock just clicks onto the pin. Tighten the rack's anti-rattle knob finger tight, and I'm ready to go. Fast!

52telecaster

+1, Honda fits fit small hitches.

ucfdad

Another vote for the Kuat Transfer 2. Have had mine since August and it works great

dwolsten

Another vote here for the cheap Allen racks. I've had two of the 3-bike racks (gave my old one to my ex and got a new one just like it), and they're fantastic. For less than $70, they're unbeatable: they're simple, well-made, fairly lightweight, and reliable. They don't have any fancy features like one-handed tilt-down (you have to mess with a big clevis pin), but for this price what do you expect? If price were no object I'd probably get a Thule Helium Aero, but those things are $300.

TrojanHorse

1 up.

https://www.1up-usa.com/product-category/bike-racks/

Not super light but easy to take off and put on whenever you want. Very well made and right here in the USA too, if that's a factor for you.

Cyclist01012

everyone i know that has owned a Kuat rack has sold them and switched to Oneup.

Kapusta

Yes, it shows a lot of restraint on their part not to post more about 1UP in a thread that was not asking about it.