I purchased a Curt Hitch from etrailer.com to use with my Yakima bicycle rack. The hitch installation took all of ten minutes, and the results are awesome. This setup is way better than putting your bikes on a roof rack, and there are no clearance issues. Here is a Flickr Photoset detailing the hitch and bicycle carrier on my CT: CT200h With Curt Hitch and Yakima Bike Rack - a set on Flickr
The hitch is massively sturdy for carrying bikes. It is attached to the CT frame with 4 M12-1.25x30mm hex bolts. You could easily carry the weight of four modern bicycles. Heck you could theoretically tow one ton with it. Here are the specs:
Rating: Class I
Maximum gross trailer weight: 2,000 lbs
Maximum tongue weight: 200 lbs
Curt Manufacturing does provide the following note:
Note: All non-trailer loads - bike racks, cargo carriers and so forth - should be supported with stabilizing straps. Failure to properly support these loads will void your hitch warranty from CURT.
I used a similar curt hitch on my former ride. It had the same specs and I pulled a trailler loaded with two GasGas trials motorcycles, through mountains, over gravel roads and rough terrain. I have complete faith in these hitches. After selling the trials bikes and trailer, I bought the Yakima hitch-mount bike carrier. I had great results with it.
On the CT? It's only been on the car for a few days, but it never scraped once. On my former car, however, we called it the spark generator when there were a couple of adults in the back seat.
I noticed no difference, but my sample rate is small... IOW, I have not done a bunch of highway miles with the bikes on the car; only city driving. I think it's possible to lower your highway mileage due to wind resistance with bikes on the carrier, but I would not expect to see a huge difference.
Thanks so much for doing all the hard work researching this. I am way too short to consider a roof mount system. My pink cruiser bicycle is going to look so cute mounted on the back of my ct.
Went with the CURT hitch & Thule T2. Only 25 miles on the fully loaded setup, but so far it seems quite nice. No additional road noise, easy to installed/remove the bike.
$125 as mentioned by another poster is the lowest I've seen for a hitch. The most reasonably priced rack (IMO) is the one I have. A Swagman XC2 will set you back about $150 shipped (depending on where you get it from and when). I've had mine for about 8 years.
eTrailer had the cheapest price on the CURT hitch ($134) with free shipping. Most important the install kit had backing plates and spring leaders for threading thru the frame. Installation takes 10 minutes like they state.
hey - have you experienced any issues with clearance yet? Would you be able to provide info on clearance for this rack on the CT?
Thanks!
JEB
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