Bike Racks

Maximum Carnage · **Posted:** Mon Jun 04, 2007 4:05 pm

I don’t know what to think of my bike racks. I’ve had this set up for a while but it just recently started to “annoy” me. As you can see in the first pic the Yakima crossbars are longer to allow the Raptor bike racks to mount. But it’s not…. How should I put it? It doesn’t exactly look good. So I would like to get some feedback and know what bike racks you guys are using. Post some of yours if you can with the bike rack mounted with or without bikes. Thanks.

Mine from the front.

And from the rear.

Options available for the Liberty
Yakima Spare Joe

Thule Parkway

Thule Spare Me

Surco OSI, similar to the Mopar

psinsyd · **Posted:** Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:01 pm

Hey Maximum,

I have the Sportworks T2 and would never mount one of my bikes on anything else. The rack is great. Sportworks was bought out by Thule so there is a possibility some of the parts are different, but the concept is the same.

Yakima also has a similar style.

http://www.thuleracks.com/thule/product ... =8&sku=916

EDIT: I do have a hitch extension on also to clear the spare.

Hope this helps!

Cowcatcher · **Posted:** Mon Jun 04, 2007 9:11 pm

I have the fold down, 4 bike Thule. I like it very much but it will not clear the spare when folded down. I am considering building an adapter consisting of a new 2" hitch receiver dropped directly below the OEM receiver.

csukoh78 · **Joined:** Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:34 pm **Posts:** 501

OH man, you are missing the best one! The MOPAR bike rack is awesome, it was designed for the spare tire. Its compact, tough, and looks really good. It carries two heavy bikes no problem, and because of its design, it is far more stable and secure than a hitch mount or another mount.

SnowgodCCR · **Posted:** Tue Jun 05, 2007 7:20 am

We've got ours up on the roof, I can't stomach the idea of putting all that $$ out back for it to get caked in road grime. I think that your bike racks look fine on the outboard sides, it makes the bikes easier to get up there too.

dog_party · **Posted:** Tue Jun 05, 2007 2:12 pm

Before I bought the KJ, I had a 4-bike, fold-away hitch-mount bike rack. That thing was great, but I didn't like it on the KJ. I didn't want to lose departure angle and the thing didn't get far enough out of the way to open the door all the way, even with a hitch-extender. I thought about a roof-mount, but I need the middle room for my kayaks and I didn't want posts to stick out the side. So I decided to get a two-bike spare-mount. After shopping and seeing each one in person, I came up with the following:

The Thule SpareMe is a great rack. It's strong and it's well-made. The people I found that sell this product can drop the price a bit too, especially if you're buying other stuff from them (or have spent a lot of money there in the past). I can not find it listed now, but when I bought the Thule, it was listed as being able to hold up the most weight (when compared to the Mopar and Yakima).

The Mopar is a strong rack too. It was my second pick. I like the build quality and the fact that it comes with a security cable, but I couldn't find anyone that would come as low on it as I found with the Thule Rack. I would call the Mopar and the Thule racks equal in

The Yakima Spare Joe didn't impress me. And, just to clarify, I am not an anti-Yakima person. My roof-racks are Yakima and I love the company. I just wasn't impressed with the spare-mount rack. It reminded me of a slightly modified trunk-mount Wally World job. It has the lowest load rating and the lowest price.

Thule SpareMe loaded down

Maximum Carnage · **Posted:** Tue Jun 05, 2007 2:29 pm

Sweet, that for the info guys keep it coming.

csukoh78 · **Joined:** Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:34 pm **Posts:** 501

SnowgodCCR wrote:

We've got ours up on the roof, I can't stomach the idea of putting all that $$ out back for it to get caked in road grime. I think that your bike racks look fine on the outboard sides, it makes the bikes easier to get up there too.

I've never had a problem with "gunk" getting on my very expensive bikes. Anything thrown up by the tires hits the wells, and rain, mud, etc goes up, over, or around. Ive hit some nasty stuff with them back there and never once got anything more than just a slight smattering on the very fronts or backs of the tires. It works great.

SnowgodCCR · **Posted:** Tue Jun 05, 2007 9:07 pm

csukoh78 wrote:

SnowgodCCR wrote:

We've got ours up on the roof, I can't stomach the idea of putting all that $$ out back for it to get caked in road grime. I think that your bike racks look fine on the outboard sides, it makes the bikes easier to get up there too.

I've never had a problem with "gunk" getting on my very expensive bikes. Anything thrown up by the tires hits the wells, and rain, mud, etc goes up, over, or around. Ive hit some nasty stuff with them back there and never once got anything more than just a slight smattering on the very fronts or backs of the tires. It works great.

Wierd. My spare tire is always covered in crap, and on the back of my friend's 'sploder, our bikes always come off dirty. Kinda like needing to use the rear wiper. Do you have a rear window deflector? That would make a significant difference.
I'm not talking about "gunk" persey, more a healthy (not so) coating of dust- like brake dust and the like. Maybe we have different road conditions?

Edit: Looking at your sig, it's probally the roof basket deflecting the airflow and keeping the bikes clean.

priell3 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 05, 2007 10:11 pm

csukoh78 wrote:

OH man, you are missing the best one! The MOPAR bike rack is awesome, it was designed for the spare tire. Its compact, tough, and looks really good. It carries two heavy bikes no problem, and because of its design, it is far more stable and secure than a hitch mount or another mount.

I had the Mopar rack on the back of my KJ and now on the back of my JK. I have to agree, it is awesome and tough. Even when driving over rutted trails the bikes stay secure and hardly move.

Pablo · **Joined:** Thu Feb 02, 2006 10:06 pm **Posts:** 1201

SnowgodCCR wrote:

We've got ours up on the roof, I can't stomach the idea of putting all that $$ out back for it to get caked in road grime. I think that your bike racks look fine on the outboard sides, it makes the bikes easier to get up there too.

I put it on the back, in a Performance 4-bike hitch mount-- because I can't stomach the thought of my bikes colliding with my house when I forget they are up there and pull into the garage. :cry:

Liberator · **Joined:** Sun Jul 24, 2005 3:42 am **Posts:** 397

Does the weight of 2 bikes add excessive strain on the rear door on these spare setups?

Also, what is the load weight difference amongst all these units ie Thule vs Mopar?

Maximum Carnage · **Posted:** Wed Jun 06, 2007 8:10 am

Liberator wrote:

Does the weight of 2 bikes add excessive strain on the rear door on these spare setups?

Also, what is the load weight difference amongst all these units ie Thule vs Mopar?

Exactly what I was thinking.

sleeve84028 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 06, 2007 8:37 am

There is some increased weight so maybe a little more force applied to the rear door but it hasn't caused any problems for the countless people that have a spare tire mounted bike rack. I have the MOPAR rack. I have driven with my trailer hooked up, two bikes and a full load of gear for 4 hours straight and never had problems...

Both brands are a smart choice - I liked the MOPAR one because it comes from Chrysler.

csukoh78 · **Joined:** Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:34 pm **Posts:** 501

No, the weight is not an issue. You have to remember, it was designed by Chrysler for Chrysler. The back door and spare tire setup was designed all along to be able to use this Mopar rack. It is interchangeable amongst rear tire mounted Jeeps, so it is a design requirement that the backdoor be strong enough to support both the weight of the tire and bikes.

Its pretty cool how it is set up. It has a turnbolt that reeeeeeeeeally cinches it down inside the bracket, and you have holes so you can put a lock on it to keep would be criminals away. You don't have to worry about it coming loose, it wont. Probably at least 5 inches of that bolt is inside the wheel holder bracket. Also, it comes with a J shaped peice of steel that surround the top cinch bolt, passes through the top plate steel, and down through so that you can padlock it. No one has a chance at getting at your bikes, because you are talking about something that is cinched down and locked to the vehicle, and the bikes are cinched down and padlocked through plated steel. Very secure.

Chrysler designed it to hold two bikes with a max weight of around 50 lbs each, for a total of about 100lbs for bikes. It is secure, smart, cool looking, and it is OEM so why risk someone else's good idea?

EDIT Forgot something. Most bike racks are metal on metal, such as inside the hitch, or on top of a metal rack, etc. This provides no shock or vibration support and will rattle your bikes to death. Just average road travel beats the hell out of them, because there is no mechanism to isolate your bikes from the road. My friends Saab Thule mount vibrated his CF bike so bad his handgrips came loose.

THIS mount, however, solves that completely. See how the center of the rack is tight in the middle of the wheel, but the actual weight bearing structures are braced against, and supported by, the sidewall of the tire? It is exactly the same as an air suspension on a big rig. Any vibration is absorbed by the tire, making this a nearly vibration and rattle free ride, and also preventing you from stripping the installation bolt, because the tire will give slightly with pressure!!!!

Ingenious design. Almost as if Germans had something to do with it.

Liberator · **Joined:** Sun Jul 24, 2005 3:42 am **Posts:** 397

csukoh78 wrote:

Ingenious design. Almost as if Germans had something to do with it.

Schiza!!! That is some review... I might hafta buy one now.

Some questions though on L82207520

Does the spare bike mount come with all parts except the lock to secure the bikes down and the lock to prevent you from removing the mount from the spare?

Or can you buy the backplate that mounts onto the back of the wheel separately ie. I think it should be the same as the rear ski rack mount right?

sleeve84028 · **Posted:** Thu Jun 07, 2007 7:47 am

Yeah no lock is included. But what I do is use a 6' long bike lock and feed it through the spare tire and the bike rack. That way if someone really wants my bike rack they'll either have to cut the cable or take the spare tire with them.

This cable lock also helps secure my bikes if I take a pit-stop at a resturant where I can't keep an eye on my equipment.

csukoh78 · **Joined:** Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:34 pm **Posts:** 501

if you look at the three bladed bolt that screws into the middle of the tirerack, they have holes in them. Those holes are designed to fit a masterlock, which will prevent the blade from unscrewing, preventing someone from stealing the rack. Also, there is a Jshaped steel plate that surrounds the lock plate that has a hole for a padlock. Very secure. The only way to steal the bike and rack would be to take the bike, rack, and spare tire all as a unit, but this is also very unlikely because the mopar is designed, once locked, to shield the bottom nut on the spare tire, preventing a wrench from getting to it.

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