Bike Carriers

[karterron]

Anyone using the bike carriers that mount to the back of your vehicle, similar to the moto-jack rack?  What are your opinions, what brand are you using, and where did you buy?

Bought a new truck and the wife wants the trailer out of the garage.  I have 3 bikes to carry and will need to get one of these carriers to fit all 3 and gear.

 

[Zerotact]

I doubt you will find one that will hold 3 dirtbikes, as that would overlload most hitches. I have only seen the bike racks that hold only one bike....

 

[NYkdxer]

You may be able to fit all 3 bikes in the bed of your truck, if not, try 2 in the bed and 1 on a carrier. I've only seen carriers that hold 1 bike. Why not store the trailer outside :) ?

 

[skipro3]

Put your bikes on the trailer and store that way. It shouldn't be any more room with the bikes on the trailer plus you can store the extra stuff under the trailer and not forget it when you take it out of the garage.

 

[karterron]

Woops, my original post wasn't clear. I only need the carrier for the one bike, the other two will go in the bed of the pickup (one bike and one small kids quad). In order to bring gear also I will need the carrier for the CR250 in my sig line. I'll put the YZ85 and Honda 90 quad in the bed of the truck.

The local Farm and Fleet sells a 500lb carrier for $80 ($60 if I can catch it on sell). It basically is the same thing as a bike carrer but has a square box instead. I may try and make that work for the YZ85 and haul the CR and quad in the truck. I just wonder about these carriers and how stable they are.

Part of the deal with getting the new truck was getting rid of the trailer. We were using the wife's van with the trailer but she got tired of us using it and getting it dirty. Deal was to buy a truck and get rid of the trailer for garage space. I'm trying to figure out a way to make this work. My youngest does not go that often so the quad would not be with us every trip.

Sorry the wording on the original post was confusing.

 

[skipro3]

I've got one of those box / platform carrier. Check a local dealer's catalog. I remember seeing an add-on for a rail at my shop's catalog. If I can find the brand name, I'll get back to you.

 

[holmy]

I understood the first post, cuz I'm kinda in the same shape, but I don't have to get rid of my trailor,it's just on long hauls it's so much nicer without a trailor. Gas mileage is better too. Let me know what you come up with.

 

[wibby]

I helped a guy load a Honda scooter onto one of those rail hitch mounts last summer. I don't know if they are all like that one or not but it wobbled from side to side way too much for me. He was driving a big motor home, shoot he'd never be the wiser if that baby broke loose unless he saw it in his rear-view shattering into pieces.

I'd like to get one of these: www.motojackrack.com

 

[HomeMadeSin]

I just bought the aluminum one made by Spectrum Indsutries. ...a hell of a lot more than $90 and I'm not impressed.  There's a post in here somewhere....

 

[karterron]

I figured there were all kinds of posts on these things. I miss the search feature and don't have time to scroll through 200 pages. Search has been down for a while so I guess the bug wasn't able to get fixed.

There seems to be a fix out now to cure the wobbly problem. I figure that since we are dealing with dirtbikes that weigh at most 230lbs with fluids the hitch should handle them with no problem since most are rated at 200lbs of tongue weight. I have researched most of them and the cost seems to be out of line for what they really are. That is why I was thinking of going with the one at the local Farm and Fleet. Cost is 1/3 of the others, is rated at 500lbs, and the size is 20" by 60" which should be fine. Plus I like the fact that if it doesn't work out I am out $80 versus over $300 for some of these carriers.

 

[HomeMadeSin]

sorry, I put it up just a week ago.  Here it is:

 

http://www.dirtrider.net/forums3/showthread.php?amp;threadid=77604

 

[wibby]

I believe you get what you pay for, well, most of the time at least.

You can probably rig up a cheap hitch mounted cargo carrier for your bike. But can you trust it? I could just see someone going down the freeway and hit a chuck hole and have the whole rack, bike and all break off, just to save themselves some cash. :laugh:

I'd rather buy something that was actually designed to carry a bike in the first place.

 

[little jeff]

You can probably make one. Find some 5" or 6" extruded angle iron to sit the bike on, and then get some 2"x2"x1/4" steel tubing and mount on iron and then mount to your hitch. I have a motoX caddy for my bike. You see the adds in back of bike mags. I had to beef mine up a little by placing 2"x2" steel tubingon the edges and bolting to hitch directly. pretty solid setup, so instead of one tube going into hitch, I have three that are bolted.
Little Jeff

 

[karterron]

I was thinking along the same lines as little jeff. The material cost of these carriers is $30 at most. The rest is profit and labor, so it really is not an issue of getting what you are paying for. When dealing with a chain like Farm and Fleet or Walmart they force the manuf to lower the costs in order to sell 1000's of units. Kind of like spark plugs, have you priced spark plugs at an auto parts or Walmart and compared to what the dealer charges? The local dealer does not buy enough to get a decent discount so they can't compete with the National Chains.

We have bought the carrier from Farm and Fleet and the construction is very good, no problems with the welds or quality like some are posting here. I will have to make a tire track and bolt it in to keep the wheels in place. All in all, I will have less than $80 in this carrier versus $200 plus for these others. One other thing I am noticing, since this carrier is 20" by 60" it seems to have less movement in it than these bike carriers do, more mass I guess. Plus a square will always be stronger than a single track.

So far so good, I'll let you guys know that are trying to decide how this works after we use it a few times.

 

[CRPilot]

Check out the one I designed and built. Going on 5 years with out a problem. I get many comments form other racers on the design and how sturdy it is at the races.

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/jmbeckman/lst?.dir=/Bikes+and+Riding&.src=ph&.view=

Note: The tie downs in the picture have been replaced with steel turn buckles. I didn't want anything to do with nylon straps in this application.

 

[karterron]

CRpilot

How much do you have in that in material? I have a pretty good idea what the cost of that is and it does not jive with the price some of these companies are attempting to charge.

 

[CRPilot]

Karterron-

I was lucky enough to find the large aluminum channel at a scrap yard for $20, then the rest of the materail was about $35 plus a final $10 to have a local shop weld up the aluminum front tire holder which was then bolted to the main channel. All in all less than $70 plus my time.

 

[Amadeus]

Karterran, can you post some pics of what you got for $80? Anything under $100 is worth just buying(if its built well) vs. making it. My time is valuable! I havent found anything at a reasonable price either so $80 sounds good to me if it works.
email me if you have time....I want to hear more.
[email protected]
Josh

 

[grackle]

I posted this question awhile back.  Here is the thread http://dirtrider.net/forums3/showthread.php?s=&threadid=74874&highlight=moto+rack

I ended up getting one myself and have no complaints.  Ive used the Moto Tote before and it wobbled like hell.  I don't think it was going anywhere, but it just made me uncomfortable.  I had one eye on my rearview at all times.  With the moto rack jack I'm don't feel the need to keep one eye on my bike all the time.

 

[karterron]

Amadeus

I don't have quick access to a digital so I pulled this photo from an ad.  It is the same carrier that I bought.  I then modified it with angle iron to hold the wheels in place.  I have not used it yet but it seems like it will do just fine and for 1/3 the price the carriers run.  Plus there is room for a gas can also.

 

 

 

[karterron]

Photo didn't work,  I will email it to you.