My wife and I are looking to get a hitch-mounted rack at the end of this year and I could use some advice/opinions.
I love the super-nice Thule 916 but it's so dang expensive.
So I was looking at alternatives on Performance and saw their XPORT 2-bike hitch rack but I can only find one review of it on mtbr.com so I don't know how well it would hold up.
Most of the time it'd be just my ~37lb Preston on the rack but I'd occasionally load up my wife's cruiser bike or a friend's heavy freeride bike.
Does anyone know about that XPORT model? A lot of racks tout the weight they can hold but that model does not mention it.
I see it has the brace that goes over the top-tube. Is that a bad thing? Some other manufacturers brag about their "no-frame-contact" designs. Are those top-tube clamp designs bad for the frame or something? They seem to be well padded and if I was really paranoid I imagine I could wrap a rag around it for insulation.
If any other hitch-rack models can be recommended I would like to hear it. We'd like to stay under $300.00 because we need to buy the trailer hitch assembly for our car too.