Bike Rack for 2" Hitch

Thank you all so very much. You have given this girl much to think about and many tried and true options. I would have never thought of not blocking the back door from the inside, but so very important!. Locking bolt hitches, receivers and adapters, Curt front hitches, I've a lot to learn but the process is already fun. You all rock!!!

We have used a front mount hitch for bikes on our Silverado for the last 5 years covering about 50 000 miles.

The first carrier had the bikes hang from their frames. This did not work well with the wind driving. The bikes were always swaying.

We have used a Swagman rack for the last 4 years. It works great. Bikes are stable. It is very easy to load/unload. No issues with seeing or engine cooling.

You can see the bikes in my profile picture.

Just thought I would pass this along, what people do with it is up to them.

Federal fire safety Regs. state an RV must have an Emergency exit out the bedroom. (back of a Class B) So if the rear door window doesn't pop out, the rear door must be able to open from the inside.
Many of the rear mounted racks, boxes, etc. don't allow the rear door to open.
This is the reason the older Roadtrek 200's (no rear door) had a pop out window

Wherever you mount your rack, try to avoid the 1&1/4 inch receiver style that come with an adapter to fit your 2" receiver. They don't always handle the bounce, plus they wiggle a lot. I had to strap mine to keep it from swaying side to side and over a particularly heavy bump the 1&1/4" bar into the receiver bent.

I have a Thule 2 bike platform rack that I love. It is rated for 2 bikes up to 65 lbs each, needed that for my wife's e-bike. It is super easy to load and unload bikes, has a locking bolt type hitch pin that eliminates rattling, has built in cable locks for each bike, folds up when bikes are off, folds down with bikes on or off to access a back door.

Bought this Yakima bike rack at a garage sale last about 4 years ago for 10 bucks! It holds two bikes. It is not a swing away.

I added a front-mount receiver to my 2015 HD2500 Silverado to carry a two-bike Kuat rack. I am happy with it, but it is not without issues.

Two companies make a front mount receiver for my truck. One mounts just under the bumper. The other mounts thru the bumper which requires that you move your license plate to one side of the bumper. Not wanting to cut a hole in the bumper, I went with the below bumper version. If I had it to do again, I would have mounted it thru the bumper to get greater ground clearance. (I'm on my second Kuat-supplied hitch lock as I sheared off the first on a concrete parking space curb.

To be able to fold up the rack when empty, I needed to use a receiver extension that moved the rack forward about 3-inches. This defeated the Kuat's device that keeps the hitch from moving around in the receiver. I used a Blue Ox Hitch Receiver Immobilizer which provided a rock solid connection between the receiver and the extension.

The bikes significantly reduce night visibility - to the extent that I avoid driving at night.

The bikes trigger my front parking sensors so I have to disable the sensors every time I start the truck. And yes, there should be a way to configure the parking sensors so they stay off, but according to Chevy, it's a "safety feature" that you have to turn them off every time you startup.

Bottom line is even with the issues, I much prefer having the bikes firmly mounted on the front rather than bouncing around on the back of our 5th wheel.

All very good advice and Not to hi-jack the thread but as a side note that may be helpful.

One thing is that they bounce a lot and if the rack is not tight in the receiver that added movement only amplifies that bounce.Stressing not only the mounting point but also the bike rack.

I have tried almost every Anti Rattle device on the market, most have been no good or so complicated and cumbersome that they are useless. I have a whole tool box full of them.

Until I found the one at Hitch Rider. This will keep everything tight.

Their Hitch Vice is the best and easiest one I have come across and it really works.

In the cycling world, Thule, Yakima, Kuat and RockyMounts are the most popular and all very good options with nice features... but they are not the cheapest options out there. Don't forget that you usually get what you pay for.

Thanks so much for the responses/advice; I appreciate you sharing it with me.