+1 I've seen little jeep liberty's with hitch racks (not the bike kind) overloaded with luggage. They look like the front wheels want to lift off of the ground. It reminds me of a tractor pull , where the guy gets to steer every so often when the front wheels come down and hit the ground.

 

I love my hitch carrier, If I had a pickup truck I would still use it. It is way easier to load and unload and I like backing into stuff with it.

 

I'm sure your light weight, little cars haul your bike and heavy construction loads loads well enough... But, may the Gods be looking favorably upon the poor bastard who has to make a sudden stop in front of you, because your little car isn't going to suddenly stop the heavy trailer behind you. Today's cars with all the power under the hood and ABS don't have the towing capacities of the yachts from the 70's, because they're too light to stop heavy loads. It isn't because they can't pull them. When it comes to hauling a trailer, it isn't 0-60 that is important, it's 60-0. Don't even bother arguing with me on this one, I've backed up with trailers farther than you've ever gone forward with them.

Cheers

 

here is some advice when looking for a carrier
I learned the lesson one day about a new one I got
its a dual carrier and I hate it

so things to look for
long ramp , my new one has short ramp and I use a offset mount to raise my carrier up by 5-6 inches so now the short ramp makes a super steep push up into the carrier

also this dual carrier has the tie down points behind the bars, in the middle of the carrier
so when I was hauling a new to me bike home it decided to roll towards the center. I did not strap the rear wheel (should of) . Bike fell off the carrier but luckily into my utility truck box which kept it from dragging on the road

My single carrier has long ramp, and tie downs off to the front
so the bike is forced down on the forks when strapped, never have to worry about rolling plus it has a stopper the front wheel press against

 

Depends on the design of the carrier. I WANT mine to roll towards the center...

My carrier does not have a stop in FRONT of the front tire. Instead, you roll the bike over the (folded down) wheel stop to where the front tire almost falls off the end of the carrier, then you lift the wheel stop which places it BEHIND the front wheel... then you strap it down to the center tube. (see picture) And if you didn't notice, there are no wheel straps used in the picture (not my picture). I always strap BOTH wheels to the carrier base.

Another thing I like about my carrier is the threaded nut inside the tube, which allows me to BOLT the carrier to the receiver... no wobbling whatsoever, (and no fiddling with the add-on wobble stoppers that don't work anyway, and tear up your receiver)!!!

 

This carrier is one of the best things i have ever bought. With the pedestal under the middle of the bike and four straps on, the bike is rock solid.

 

Maybe it's because I have one, but that just made me laugh silly.

 

Some buds and i went to a DS ride in Geneseo Il yesterday and this dude shows up with his bike on the back of an old mustang.



We rode there in style My buddys big diesel pickup

 

Like small plastic cars and your buddy's garage door?


What happened to your pickup. Did you have to sell it to get the Beta?



The pedestal unit appears to be a great idea and could also serve as a camp stool and maybe even a bike stand with another 2 x 4? Thanks for the post Dan. Great idea! Have you did a brake slam with it yet? Where are your fore straps attached? I have and didn't have any issue with the bike hitting my topper; I usually put braces between the tires & fender and use four ratchet straps.

 

A buddy of mine showed me that pedestal trick. You can crank the straps as tight as you want and , depending on the height of the block have very little pressure on the suspension. I could have made my pedestal a bit shorter in order to put more suspension pressure to the tires and thus to the carrier. The front straps are soft looped around the fork tubes at the lower triple tree. The bike is rock solid on the rack. No brake slams, but it did travel 2000 miles to Colorado and back with some bumpy dirt roads thrown in there. Agree with the camp stool idea.
Dan