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Making Sense of Hitch Mounts "The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart." -- Iris Murdoch Another good option for hard-core bikers is the hitch mount, which has several distinct advantages -- mostly that you can carry stuff on top of the car and on the back, so you could carry a box, a canoe, and a few bikes on the back just in case you get tired of paddling (blasphemy!). You do need a receiver hitch to do this, but since everyone's driving SUVs anyway, this shouldn't be a problem. Hitch mounts are separated into budget models and full-featured models. Both carry bikes just fine. The differences are as follows: Big Horns are the basic hitch racks. Nothing fancy but they hold your bikes just fine. The reason it's less expensive is that it's not as easy to fold up, as the arms don't fold, just the mast folds down to allow access to the rear of the car. If folding arms aren't important, this is a nice choice. You can add a DeadLock to make sure things stay secure. Available in both 2 inch and 1 1/4 inch receiver sizes. The King Pin series is a mid-level hitch rack, with the same features as the Big Horns, but with the addition of PinFold arms that drop down to take less space up for storage as well as on the back of the car. They come in several sizes, and are easily expandable with the addition of SwitchBlade anti-swing cradles. Buy the size you need now, expand as you need to. The Slickroc is a similar to the King Pin but with quick-release arms so it's even easier to fold it up when not in use, and the DeadLock comes standard. The next step is the FullSwing, which doesn't swing down but to the side, clearing the way for easy loading and unloading. The DeadLock's standard, so this one has all the features available on Yakima's hitch racks. The one "oddball" is the Hitchfork, which isn't really a rack per se, but allows the mounting of BOAs or other car top racks on a structure that fits on a receiver hitch. If you already own bike racks for on top of your vehicle, it's a good way to economize, and they don't move at all once locked in place. The Hitchfork also folds up nicely when on the car for easy parking. It comes with 2 BOAs, but you can add two more easily. The answer for which one works best for you is a simple one; buy the one with the features you require, no more. The more you spend, the more you get, but in the end, they all hold bikes. It's just a question of value and what you decide works best for your world.
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