Hitch Mounted Bike Carrier

Time to get a hitch mounted bike carrier and I'm wondering if people
have good/bad/ugly experiences with any of the carriers I'm looking
at. I've always owned Yakima gear but I'm not locked into them. Here's
what I'm looking at:

Yakima KingPin 4
Thule 935 4 bike
Performance Oddessy Xport 4 bike

They all have fold down arms and all fold away for rear access when
the bikes are off. The Performance rack claims to be able to tilt back
with the bikes on, via a foot pedal. This is kinda neat if it really
works. Does anyone own the Performance and can vouch for the tilt away
while loaded? Good/bad things to say about any of them?

Price wise they all work out to around $225 via mail order when you
price in locks and shipping.

Any advice/insight would be appreciated. Thx!

(Steve) wrote in message . com...
Time to get a hitch mounted bike carrier and I'm wondering if people
have good/bad/ugly experiences with any of the carriers I'm looking
at. I've always owned Yakima gear but I'm not locked into them. Here's
what I'm looking at:

Yakima KingPin 4
Thule 935 4 bike
Performance Oddessy Xport 4 bike

They all have fold down arms and all fold away for rear access when
the bikes are off. The Performance rack claims to be able to tilt back
with the bikes on, via a foot pedal. This is kinda neat if it really
works. Does anyone own the Performance and can vouch for the tilt away
while loaded? Good/bad things to say about any of them?

Price wise they all work out to around $225 via mail order when you
price in locks and shipping.

Any advice/insight would be appreciated. Thx!

Take a look at the Sportswork rack. It comes in a 2 or a 4 bike
version.
I have the 2 and love it. The bike sits on its wheels and is secure.
It folds up and down in ~5 seconds and it takes ~ 15 seconds to put
the bike on or off and another 15 seconds if you want to lock it.
Wheels stay on and no weight on the frame and bikes do not hit each
other in any way.
I thought I'd be taking it on & off the vehicle but it is so easy to
flip & down I don't bother.

Take a look at the Sportswork rack. It comes in a 2 or a 4 bike
version.
I have the 2 and love it. The bike sits on its wheels and is secure.
It folds up and down in ~5 seconds and it takes ~ 15 seconds to put
the bike on or off and another 15 seconds if you want to lock it.
Wheels stay on and no weight on the frame and bikes do not hit each
other in any way.
I thought I'd be taking it on & off the vehicle but it is so easy to
flip & down I don't bother.

I love my Sportswork rack. Everytime--and I do mean everytime---I go
anywhere with it and either take the bike off or put it on, people nearby
come up and are amazed by how quickly the operation can be done. I should
get a "finders' fee" from Sportswork for all the demos I have done.
Recently, we changed it a bit to carry a recumbent. That wasn't any problem
at all--just some angle iron and some bolts and wing nuts and it is carrying
a LWB recumbent easily. Like you, I thought I'd be taking it off the
vehicle, but I leave it on in the idea that maybe I could rescue a cyclist
some day. I have it on a Honda Accord, BTW.

Pat in TX

"Steve" wrote in message
om...
Time to get a hitch mounted bike carrier and I'm wondering if people
have good/bad/ugly experiences with any of the carriers I'm looking
at. I've always owned Yakima gear but I'm not locked into them. Here's
what I'm looking at:

Yakima KingPin 4
Thule 935 4 bike
Performance Oddessy Xport 4 bike

They all have fold down arms and all fold away for rear access when
the bikes are off. The Performance rack claims to be able to tilt back
with the bikes on, via a foot pedal. This is kinda neat if it really
works. Does anyone own the Performance and can vouch for the tilt away
while loaded? Good/bad things to say about any of them?

Price wise they all work out to around $225 via mail order when you
price in locks and shipping.

Any advice/insight would be appreciated. Thx!

I have a hitch mount rack that also tilts down when there are no bikes
mounted. I thought it would be really important to me, so I paid the extra
50 bucks.

In 3 years, I've never used that feature! I would recommend a hitch rack
though - far cheaper than rooftop racks (at least, for my car) and very easy
to use.

The only problem is that I have to remove the front wheel of bikes,
otherwise the tire is in the path of the exhaust.

I drive a honda civic hatchback.

cheers,
Paul

I have a Saris that is like the rack you are considering. On my first long trip
with it, the wind pressure against the bike pushed one of the rubber lugs
backward so that the bike was at an angle to the car.

I stopped frequently to "straighten out" the bike, and permanently fixed it
with a 1" radiator hose clamp behind the offending lug.

Otherwise - OK

RRon