Anyone done this? I'm looking at the Thule 917 T2 rack- wondering how stable it will be.

I can't see how a Class 1 hitch as shown (etrailer.com) could withstand not bending down with any tongue weight at all. I only see the hitches attach at the forward portion across the width of the car- can that possibly be stable enough?

If you have a hitch mount bike rack, or have tried anything that has some tongue weight, I'd love to hear about it!

I'm hoping to put this on, and not see the whole thing swaying independently of the car- i.e. flexing metal somewhere. Reasonable?

I know a 2" hitch wouldn't sway at all, but 1 1/4"? Thoughts?

Thanks a bunch.

-matt

 

This has been brought up before but the hitch from e-trailer works great. I mounted it two weeks ago and the design doesn't allow it to pull down. The specific maximum tongue weight they quoted was 200 pounds which is well within range if your planning on carrying a couple bikes.

I already had a rack that I bought from Wal-mart for about $80 that mounted perfectly to the hitch then I carried two fairly heavy bikes with no problems whatsoever.

The hitch attaches very securely with no swaying at all.

 

I do not have one, however a friend has the Yakima counterpart in 1 1/4", carries 2 bikes all the time on very twisty roads and is very stable with no noticeable swaying.
It has convinced me to go that route.

 

Thanks for both of your replies!

 

I have a hitch mount rack for my Accord (still waiting on my Fit). I also bought the attachemet (Thule) for ski/snowboards. I like the bike rack, but I don't really like the ski/snowboard rack. Oh, it's the 1 1/4" style.

When I get on the interstate at 75mph with snowboards attached, and get behind a semi, the wind turbulance shakes the whole car. I can watch in my rear view mirror, and the rack is rocking violently. Very unnerving. When I'm in clean air (no trucks or big SUVs), the rack rides nicely. All of the rocking that I see is from the small amount of play necessary between the receiver hitch on the car, and the shaft of the bike rack.
Note: I don't have any issues like this with my bikes attached. The snowboards are just so wide that they act like sails.

With that said, the receiver hitch is rock solid. With the forces applied from the snowboards, I was sure that it would bend the hitch, but all is OK. You won't be disappointed, and you won't have a roof rack scratching paint anywhere.

 

I have the Thule T2 2" version. for the van but was contemplating putting this on the Fit.

Any shortcoming if I use a 1 1/4" hitch and 1/1/4" to 2" adapter to use my Thule T2 bike rack?