Hitch Mount Bike Carrier???

[kfp673]

Hello All,

We have a 2" receiver mounted to the rear bumper of our Travel Trailer and we recently purchased a 4 bike carrier from Wal Mart. We took it on it's first trip and it destroyed the paint on our bikes. No matter what I did it managed to scrape them. It was $150 rack so I thought it was OK but I guess not. We are returning that and looking for another option. The Thule looks great but is awfully expensive. Can anyone make a recommendation for a 4 bike hitch mount carrier? The difficult part seems to be that we have 2 adult sized mountain bikes, and 2 kids bikes that all need to fit. Having the kids bikes always seems to put their bikes near our chain or pedals etc. Should I just spend on the Thule or is there another less expensive option? Thanks!

[naturist]

Um, now you know why Thule actually GETS those prices for their units.

I second the recommendation to try to find one used.

[pconroy328]

I'm not sure where you live but Thule and Yakima gear out here show up on craisglist as often as the in-laws to a free buffet.

We bought a looked new but used 4 bike Thule for a fraction of the price of new. The previous owner wanted it out of their garage toot sweet.

[Campfire_Time]

Probably out of your price range, but we have a Swagman 2 place rack that we use on the back of our truck when not towing. I also would be leery of our bikes bouncing around on the back of a trailer.

But this Swagman 4 place rack is similar to our 2 place rack. Ours is going on 10 years old and has held up very well.

[Dick_B]

For previous posts on this popular subject try searching this Forum for `bike rack' and read on. To minimize the responses try searching the results for `four' or `four bikes' or `thule' or `saris', etc.
I, personally, would not want to carry four bikes on one rack due to the overhung load and the bouncing around of the bikes due to the bad roads.