I have a hidden hitch on my Fit Sport and also on my 2000 Civic. I use the hitch to transport a hitch bike rack (2-bike rack).



On the Civic, I use a strap on the trunk so the rack won't move a lot when driving. I did very long drives that way and everything went smooth.


On the Fit, I cannot use the strap as it will interfere with the spoiler. Up to now, I only did very short drives with the rack on the car. In a couple of weeks, I would need to drive the Fit with the rack on with 2 bikes for a very long drive. Not sure it is OK to drive it like that without a strap...


What are you guys doing, for those who have a hitch bike rack? Do you use a strap? If yes, how? Any other tip?



Maybe I'm just overthinking the whole thing...

 

I use a Kuat bike rack that has a pretty fancy anti rattle mechanism. My previous rack was threaded inside and the hitch pin was more like a bolt. I kept a wrench in the car.

Am I on the right track? Are you talking about the rack bouncing around in the hitch and that is what the strap is preventing?

This is an anti rattle thing on Amazon. It's the first one I came to for the 1-1/4" hitch. There are probably others made and I have never used that model.

 

Yep, you're on the right track!


I'll look for something similar, it's a good idea. Didn't know they made things like this...


Otherwise, anybody was able to use a strap?


EDIT: The strap is also used to remove a bit of load from the hitch itself...

 

Also, another trick....

Does your rack hold the bike with the wheels resting on it, or do the bikes hang with nothing supporting the wheels?

If you have the type where the bike has its wheels sitting on the rack. You can take a very lightweight ratchet strap and go from the outer corner of the rack, over to one of the holes for the safety chain. Adding a little bit of pressure puts the rack in just enough of a bind that it will not bounce around. Basically, you are creating a triangle with the ratchet strap. This trick as worked really well for me when using a hitch cargo basket on the back of my Jeep.

 

The bikes wheels are not resting in the rack. They are "floating"...
(sorry, English is not my primary language!)