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I have been through a lot of bikes from a massive cruiser, to 2 stroke dirt bikes, to medium sized adventure bikes and have settled for now on a small displacement dual sport. I found that long hours in the saddle on pavement were not my thing so I wanted something light that I could hit the trails with and cruise on pavement as needed with no extended highway time planned. This meant I needed a way to transport my CRF250L on the slab. I do not have a truck or room for a trailer, so started looking into hitch mounted options.
I have seen the ramp style in action and they did not inspire a lot of confidence for me, and I needed something I could load solo. Despite the price, I elected to take the chance on the Ultimate MX Hauler because it comes equipped with a deck that can be lowered below the belly of the bike and jacked up via a hydraulic jack for transporting.
The unit is heavy duty, weighing in at about 80 lbs, and putting it together was fairly simply and straight forward with good instructions. The instructions on how to safely mount the bike on the rack are not good though, so I embarked on a testing phase. The rack has two, threaded keepers that you run through the foot pegs with large wing nuts to secure them. There is also a ring for using a tie-down on one side for securing the front. This is not enough because the bike wobbled around too much for comfort. It should be noted that on the first test, I did not tie down the front because the directions did not indicate to do so and the bike tried to pick up on the front. It was then I noticed the ring for a front tie down so just attaching the pegs is not enough.
On the final test, I used a ratcheting tie down on both sides of the handlebars. The bike was then very secure on the platform (not shown in pics). At this point, I went for a spin around the neighborhood and was presented with the next issue. The slack between the bar and the receiver allowed the bike to wallow around, even enough to make a "bump" sound on occasion and there was enough movement to make me uncomfortable. This would not do.
I had a hitch keeper which is essentially a bent plate and u-bolt that secures the bar to the receiver to keep it snug. I mounted the keeper parallel to the ground, and it helped, but the bike was still swaying right to left too much. I re-mounted the keeper perpendicular to the ground and that was the trick. I spent about 10 minutes driving around and even found a road that was littered in pot holes. In the end, I was satisfied with the security of the bike in place.
The removal process for the bike was quite easy. I removed the tie downs, lowered the platform until the bike was supporting it own weight, extended the bike's kickstand (on the outside), removed the inside peg bracket, loosened the outside peg bracket until the bike leaned and rested on its kickstand, removed the bracket and lowered the platform all the way. At this point, you can jump in the vehicle and pull forward a few feet, jack the plate back up and/or remove the hitch mount all together.
This system works great on a taller, dual sport machine but the platform may not go low enough for some street bikes without finding a hill or curb to assist. In the end, I think it will work quite well.
I have seen the ramp style in action and they did not inspire a lot of confidence for me, and I needed something I could load solo. Despite the price, I elected to take the chance on the Ultimate MX Hauler because it comes equipped with a deck that can be lowered below the belly of the bike and jacked up via a hydraulic jack for transporting.
The unit is heavy duty, weighing in at about 80 lbs, and putting it together was fairly simply and straight forward with good instructions. The instructions on how to safely mount the bike on the rack are not good though, so I embarked on a testing phase. The rack has two, threaded keepers that you run through the foot pegs with large wing nuts to secure them. There is also a ring for using a tie-down on one side for securing the front. This is not enough because the bike wobbled around too much for comfort. It should be noted that on the first test, I did not tie down the front because the directions did not indicate to do so and the bike tried to pick up on the front. It was then I noticed the ring for a front tie down so just attaching the pegs is not enough.
On the final test, I used a ratcheting tie down on both sides of the handlebars. The bike was then very secure on the platform (not shown in pics). At this point, I went for a spin around the neighborhood and was presented with the next issue. The slack between the bar and the receiver allowed the bike to wallow around, even enough to make a "bump" sound on occasion and there was enough movement to make me uncomfortable. This would not do.
I had a hitch keeper which is essentially a bent plate and u-bolt that secures the bar to the receiver to keep it snug. I mounted the keeper parallel to the ground, and it helped, but the bike was still swaying right to left too much. I re-mounted the keeper perpendicular to the ground and that was the trick. I spent about 10 minutes driving around and even found a road that was littered in pot holes. In the end, I was satisfied with the security of the bike in place.
The removal process for the bike was quite easy. I removed the tie downs, lowered the platform until the bike was supporting it own weight, extended the bike's kickstand (on the outside), removed the inside peg bracket, loosened the outside peg bracket until the bike leaned and rested on its kickstand, removed the bracket and lowered the platform all the way. At this point, you can jump in the vehicle and pull forward a few feet, jack the plate back up and/or remove the hitch mount all together.
This system works great on a taller, dual sport machine but the platform may not go low enough for some street bikes without finding a hill or curb to assist. In the end, I think it will work quite well.
