Recommendation: use a hitch extender for bike rack

[VoodooMaverick]

Bikes

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[colinl]

I have a tailgate pad too and have used the pad and rack at the same time. But the pad doesn’t work well when you’re carrying gear when going camping or other activities. The Maverick bed is small

agree and that's why I kept my hitch rack instead of selling it. in this pic, the bed is completely full under my tonneau cover.

for any given daily ride, though, tailgate pad has huge advantages in convenience and ease of use.

 

[Lookn4bikes]

What about hauling tricycles?

 

[colinl]

What about hauling tricycles?

I didn't take a pic, but I have hauled a trike on a tailgate pad. it was more stable and easier than townie type e-bikes. some e-bikes are really top-heavy which makes it sketchy to use a MTB tailgate pad unless you reinforce it with some tie-down straps.

 

[Richard Kratz]

It's a suburban mountain bike trail in a very wealthy area. When I get there, I see Ram Rebels, Raptors and Rivians. All with tailgate pads or hitch racks with the bike right up against the tailgate. Meanwhile I'm sitting back on the tailgate, chillin'. Seems like nobody else is set up to do this but I do recommend it. The hitch extender was cheap. I've seen guys pull mtb bikes out of a Ford Fiesta, so you don't need anything special to hit the trails. However I'll say that by far, I think the Maverick is the best and cheapest middle ground vehicle for this purpose.

Like the rack but I have a more cost effective solution since my rack releases to fold down so after I unload the bike I can open the tailgate.

 

[ATXTACOS]

So tired of looking at the rack in the reverse camera. Just been busting out the tailgate pad lately. I should polly ride more to justify the rack.

 

[Surly Old Bill]

So tired of looking at the rack in the reverse camera. Just been busting out the tailgate pad lately. I should polly ride more to justify the rack.

I think I got on my bike twice last year. Running has taken up most of my time. And I'm old, I've been eyeing those pedal assist Turbo Levo's pretty hard...

 

[colinl]

I think I got on my bike twice last year. Running has taken up most of my time. And I'm old, I've been eyeing those pedal assist Turbo Levo's pretty hard...

my neighbor and riding buddy owns a bike shop and has specialized. the new levo is pretty great but honestly I don't need that kind of power at all, so I'd go with a levo sl and if you want more battery life you get the range extender.

I've actually spent some time (maybe 15 hours) on my father in law's first gen levo sl and that bike has enough power for me in eco mode. of course it would since I ride about 1000 miles of singletrack a year on my acoustic bike.

 

[tom_tucker]

Like the rack but I have a more cost effective solution since my rack releases to fold down so after I unload the bike I can open the tailgate.

I already had the bike rack and it's a just a straight 10" hitch extender which is cheap, $50. The swing-away are nice, but they're $500 and up. I don't have a swing-away.

 

[Richard Kratz]

I already had the bike rack and it's a just a straight 10" hitch extender which is cheap, $50. The swing-away are nice, but they're $500 and up. I don't have a swing-away.

My swing away cost $150 when I bought it in 2015 but I'm sure it costs a bit more now.

 

[Richard Kratz]

So tired of looking at the rack in the reverse camera. Just been busting out the tailgate pad lately. I should polly ride more to justify the rack.

Polly ride? Tailgate pad? Sorry I'm uninitiated.

 

[Richard Kratz]

my neighbor and riding buddy owns a bike shop and has specialized. the new levo is pretty great but honestly I don't need that kind of power at all, so I'd go with a levo sl and if you want more battery life you get the range extender.

I've actually spent some time (maybe 15 hours) on my father in law's first gen levo sl and that bike has enough power for me in eco mode. of course it would since I ride about 1000 miles of singletrack a year on my acoustic bike.

Is acoustic bike a leg powered bike?

 

[dbozman]

An “acoustic” bike or whatever other ridiculous name (Amish, meat, etc.) are actual bicycles. If it has a motor, it ain’t a bike.

Off the box, I’ve been experimenting with my new Mav. I have a One Up single, but you can’t lower the tailgate with the rack folded. Currently running a Fox Mission halfstack, which is fine.

 

[colinl]

An “acoustic” bike or whatever other ridiculous name (Amish, meat, etc.) are actual bicycles. If it has a motor, it ain’t a bike.

I'm Kansas, literally in the middle of 2 large cycling communities that are at opposite ends of the eMTB acceptance spectrum.

4 hours east, in Bentonville, nearly all rental bikes are now eMTB. at least 50% of visitors bringing bikes bring eMTB. I have no idea what the percentages are for locals but I'm guessing more and more powered bikes every year.

meanwhile 9 hours west of me, in Summit County CO home to the Breck Epic, Leadville 100 and other major mtb history, there are still signs up for no Ebikes. there's some cheaters - I certainly wouldn't say anything to an older rider on one - but a lot of bikes are still fully human powered and people like it that way.

one thing I've definitely seen is that in Bentonville, Tulsa and other areas, younger riders (14-30 typically) ride MTB trails illegally on Surrons and you can't really stop them or catch them. and with the arms race going on with 'actual' eMTBs (class 1 is a fading memory) it won't be that long before the performance is nearly the same. we'll lose trail access in wilderness, state and federal parks that currently disallow dirtbikes when people realize that a high powered 10-20k eMTB behaves on trail more like a dirtbike than not.

I started on dirtbikes at age 5. now that I'm 49, I'm sure I'll eventually be on an eMTB, but are they just going to be quirky electric dirtbikes that you have to pedal? I have friends that were faster than me on MTB and then got e bikes, and they ride them responsibly... but much faster than a human can sustain.

 

[dbozman]

I ride all over the country. Last time I was in B’ville — which, admittedly, was a couple years back — I never saw a moped. Hard to imagine the reasoning given almost no real elevation gain.

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