MaxxHaul 50027. Solid basic bike rack for $86 new or $70 used in good condition from Amazon resale. I bought this for about $100 in the fall and the current $86 price is the best since 2022 or so per CCC.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GBPBW1T
I carry a couple of cheap hybrid bikes and this rack has been extremely solid. No rattle and the bikes have not moved in the cradles at all. I have not put a ton of miles on it, maybe 150 total, but it has been reliable so far. It is attached to a 2010 Jeep Wrangler with KO2's and it had enough clearance without adding a hitch extender.
Comes with the anti-rattle hitch tightener which worked as expected and is a bit of a theft deterrent. For a little extra safety, I also use a cheap locking hitch pin (MaxxHaul 70050). The bikes get locked to the platform carrier using a cheap cable lock. Sure, it can all still get stolen but at least there is a little deterrent there.
I found the tilt feature not useful because of the way the Jeep back doors open. With the fairly long clearance and the tilt I bet it is useful for most SUV's with a back door that opens upward.
Building and installing this were relatively easy, but the instructions are not amazing - they are ok. I had to tighten the main bolt that holds the vertical post to the horizontal post to eliminate all rattling. Some reviews have people doing crazy things with bungee cords to eliminate rattle and I have not had to do any of that.
Overall, this has been perfect for my needs and I would have been really upset if I spent hundreds more on a rack after seeing how solid this one is.
A bit of background on racks because I searched way too long for the right balance of cheap and decent. I looked at tons of racks, ranging from $50 to $1000. Platforms seem preferable to arm style racks - more stable and supported for the bikes. The clamp down arms on this MaxxHaul are on the crossbar of the bikes, which is solid for my needs, but I have heard others have two complaints. First, it is better if the clamps are on the wheels instead of the frame so the frame is not scratched or damaged. Does not have any impact on me because I have cheap bikes so I'm not going to pay extra for the rack that holds the tires instead of the frame. And I haven't had any damage so far. Second complaint is that some bikes will not have a crossbar in the right place to hold it down firmly. I have a women's cruiser which is very non-traditionally shaped and it was fine for us. But I guess this could be an issue for some.
If you have money to burn, there are racks with extra nice to have features (better tilt, swing arms, tire securing arms instead of crossbar, etc etc) but this should handle most use cases cheaply.
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That rules out 99% of ebikes and many box store quality mountain bikes.
That rules out 99% of ebikes and many box store quality mountain bikes.
For mountain bikes, it is a good call to check your weight, there are definitely cheap full suspension MTB's that are over that weight. But I would suggest that many MTBs, even cheap ones, are under 38lbs. I looked at a Schwinn and an Ozark Trail at walmart just now and they were both in the 35lb range. Not recommending those by any means, but I took a quick look at weight to make sure I was not way off here
(And if you are thinking about a cheap full suspension MTB, it seems like bike folks would say don't bother - get something else)
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