I am thinking about getting the Mazda Class I trailer hitch installed on my CX-5 and using it to mount a bike rack that can carry both mens road and ladies mountain bicycles. Although I used a roof rack to carry our bicycles on previous cars, I am looking at the trailer hitch in part because I may also be pulling a small sailboat for short distances.
Because of the carrying capacity limitations associated with the Class I hitch, I can see an advantage to getting a rack made predominately of aluminum instead of the traditional steel. For instance, the Kuat Beta weighs only about 11 pounds.
In order to effectively determine which racks will fit the Mazda, I may need to wait until after the hitch is installed so I can measure the distance between the hitch pin hole and the rear of the bumper (e.g., need to know the minimum clearance required to ensure that the rack doesn't hit the bumper, particularly for those that fold up for storage). Can anyone provide this measurement so I can narrow down these choices now:
BTW: One of my criteria when car shopping last month was whether my road bicycle would fit in the car with the back seats down. Each dealer where I test drove a car let me put my blanket down to protect the car interior/bumper and then see how well the bicycle fit.
Thanks in advance
Because of the carrying capacity limitations associated with the Class I hitch, I can see an advantage to getting a rack made predominately of aluminum instead of the traditional steel. For instance, the Kuat Beta weighs only about 11 pounds.
In order to effectively determine which racks will fit the Mazda, I may need to wait until after the hitch is installed so I can measure the distance between the hitch pin hole and the rear of the bumper (e.g., need to know the minimum clearance required to ensure that the rack doesn't hit the bumper, particularly for those that fold up for storage). Can anyone provide this measurement so I can narrow down these choices now:
- Mazda bike rack for hitch (might be a Yakima Doubledown 2)
- Yakima Highlite
- Kuat Beta
- Kuat NV Core
- 1UP USA (very expensive)
BTW: One of my criteria when car shopping last month was whether my road bicycle would fit in the car with the back seats down. Each dealer where I test drove a car let me put my blanket down to protect the car interior/bumper and then see how well the bicycle fit.
Thanks in advance
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