[mamawildbear]

Originally Posted by Festus2

mamawildbear -
I still maintain that the safest way to install a bike rack is to have a receiver-type that is either welded to bolted to the frame. Mounting bikes on a rack that is attached only to the bumper with U-bolts is, IMO, unsafe and irresponsible. If you read the posts in this thread and the reports of twisted bumpers, broken welds and "missing bikes" that should tell us something and we should all pay attention to what has happened to others.

If your friend's bikes are hanging from a rack which is held on by U-Bolts, I would encourage them to think about those folks that are following their RV down the highway. While it may "work great" and "didn't negatively affect the drive", it is unsafe and is an accident waiting to happen. It may not happen today or tomorrow but why risk it? Why put other peoples' lives in jeopardy?

Yes, I know, nothing has happened yet so why all the excitement?

Rant over.

I see what you mean. I'm guessing it's not the bumper or u-bolts that are that actual problem but that people are overloading them. I just searched for bolt on hitches on which to mount my bike rack and almost all of them say max weight 200lbs. I haven't weighed them but I'm darn sure my heavy bike rack plus our 4 adult sized bikes are well over 200lbs.