Hitch Mount Bike Carrier

[thatmdee]

Hi guys,

I'm looking at hitch mount carriers - probably either a Yakima (Dr Tray) or Thule (unsure yet)

My first problem is, my car doesn't have a tow bar. I have a 2004 impreza. After calling a couple of places and reading a little, it seems only a flat tongue style tow bar is available, and not a hitch due to the lower towing capacity/ class of the vehicle.

I noticed this company supposedly do a 40mm hitch tow bar that includes my car: http://www.carasel.com.au/towbars/subaru/impreza (SEDAN, HATCH & S/WAGON & WRX 3/93-8/07 (40X40 HITCH BAR))

Most of the hitch mount carriers are 50mm. I also noticed Hayman Reece make a 40mm to 50mm hitch adapter (https://www.apbauto.com.au/shop/hayman- ... 40mm-50mm/)

This may or may not be a good forum to ask, but I'm wondering if this setup would work and if anyone has successfully done similar?

I'd prefer to stick with a hitch mount carrier if possible, as there are more wheel mount options for my carbon frame, i could move the rack to my partner's vehicle etc.

From what I gather, a ~25kg carrier, plus 2 x ~13kg bikes = 51kg.. I believe the tow ball capacity for my car is 70kg, so this should work?

Am I missing anything here?

Thanks!

[queequeg]

I run a Thule Euroway 947 On my Mazda6 with a standard tongue towball attachment.
The tow ball capacity on mine is 75kg. The carrier weighs 19kg, it takes 3 bikes of 15kg each, so fully loaded to spec you would need a tow ball with 64kg, and you would be fine.

Only thing to watch with a platform on a sedan is that going into certain driveways can be tricky because the rack sticks out so much that it can scrape the ground. Other that, it’s great.