RedRocket204 wrote:
knowles24 wrote:
Not sure what kind of damage you have seen? Are you referring to scratches and gouges? Our bikes are all $250 or less and they are only used for camping so I'm not terribly worried and scratches.
Yes, scratches and gouges. Don't get me wrong, on bikes you are referring to, I wouldn't be as concerned as well. Just wanted to point out that my bikes, along with all my riding friends, are bikes where unnecessary damage, such as scratching/gouging is not acceptable. Yes, I realize that sounds a bit snobbish but when I spend $3k-$6 on a bike, that type of damage is not acceptable. Yes, I am into MTBing that much where I find absolute value in a $6k full suspension bike however those purchases are very few so I research the death out of it to get what is right for me. Just wanted to give you an idea where I was coming from and why I won't use frame mounted bike racks. :)
knowles24 wrote:
Personally, I wouldn't be removing the rack to transfer to a vehicle just because I really like having the rack extremely tight and secure with bolts rather than the hitch pins. However, we also don't leave the campground with our bikes.
If you look at the Thule T2 online, you can see they actually have a hitch pin that is threaded on 1 side where you secure the pin with a lock washer/nut which does completely tighten that connection down to where it does not move. Now, to your previous posted point on clearance with the Thule T2...that I am not certain of without actually measuring it out.
I do want to stress that your idea for the 2" top mounted receiver is awesome!
Oh ok, I appreciate all input. You either learn stuff by "buying experience" the hard way or taking advice from people who have different experiences to share. I could understand protecting higher dollar bikes from scratches. We aren't mountain bikers, we just ride around the campground and lake, etc. It was just really becoming a burden to load and unload them each time using the ladder rack and bumper mount rack. They never loaded the same way twice, I did scuff my camper once when one of them shifted, etc... so it's nice to have a permanent solution now.
The 2" receiver on top also serves the purpose of sealing the top of the tube to keep water out. On the second bracket we didn't make a receiver for the top because it was only going to be used for bikes (and they take forever to build), but as you saw in the picture we had to weld the gap closed to keep it from filling with water.
The receiver built from scratch took a long time to build. It's usually the smaller stuff that takes way longer than you expect. I thought about just using the top plate off one of the Swagman bumper kits and welding it on (and that may have worked), but I can tell there is a significant difference in the quality of steel. Everything we used is USA steel and just holding it, drilling through it, and welding it feels so much different that the Chinese branded stuff. I don't know if their's is cast (if there is such a thing as cast tubing) or if it's just a lower grade blend of steel, but it was worth the extra effort to make it from scratch with US steel.
