Anybody use a hitch mounted motorcycle rack?

Anybody have any experience with one of these? It would be nice to have, but I suspect that it would rock back and forth, which would make me crazy.

Guy at work has one, he added two ratchet straps coming from the ends of the bumper to the other end of the rack (think big "X"). that seemed to get rid of the shaking at speed.

Paul B

woody. Go over to New England dirt bikes forum. Many there use them and some have recommended some hardwear upgrades etc.

Haven't used one myself but a buddy had a MotoJackRack and really liked it.

It clamps to the bottom of the frame, below the engine, and the wheels hang free. It has a small hydraulic jack that raises/lowers the bike. I can't find their Web site, they might be out of business.

44Dwarf wrote: woody. Go over to New England dirt bikes forum. Many there use them and some have recommended some hardwear upgrades etc.

Thanks for the tip. It looks like I'm about a day away from needing that forum anyway.

Ya and your local guy so you should hang out their too... I know one more site to waste riding time on but the wife will get used to it soon enought...

In reply to Woody:

One of my DH racing buddies had one of those. I think it got destroyed when he was re-ended and the bike ended up in the back seat of his Cherokee (after repairing minor damage, I think he still rides it). It worked well for him otherwise, but he eventually bought a van so he could carry more than one bike as well as keeping it away from prying eyes when parked in front of his house.

Would make me nervous, but if you do it, keep the tire out of the path of the exhaust. The heat will cause it to swell and explode. Happened to a mountain bike of mine.

I use one to haul my dirt bike around. If you don't cheap out you will not have to worry about it swaying and rocking back and forth! You get what you pay for with these things. I can't remember the manufacturer of mine right now, but I will check when I get back home tonight.

I think I'm going to make a motorcycle dragger so I can easily tow the bike with the 5.

My dad had a home-made version. Version 1.0 had a bit of shake, we added a bar to connect one end of the rail to the end of the truck bumper, and we did something with the tie downs (I forget exactly what ), and the shakes stopped. We also added reflective tape and eventually trailer lights due to tailgaters.

Nice thread on this subject here:

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=725014&highlight=carrier

I use one to haul my dirt bike to races. I love it, use the wifes MPV(I did put air bag helper springs on the rear) and get close to 25mpg at highway speeds, try to match that with a truck. I use 3 straps, one on each handlebar and I use an extra one on the swing arm just in case. Never had any rocking or swaying, but mine has a rattle/sway lock that clamps onto the hitch and locks the carrier over to one side.

In reply to Taiden:

don't forget to take the chain off the rear sprocket!