BikeMaster's Dirt Bike Hitch Mounted Motorcycle Carrier

Jun 27

Jun 27 BikeMaster's Dirt Bike Hitch Mounted Motorcycle Carrier

For what it’s worth, I’ve NEVER used a hitch mounted motorcycle carrier in my life. I’ve seen every design and price tag imaginable- yet the fear of my bike falling off has always kept me away until recently. I had the opportunity to go riding/camping and really wanted to take our family camp vehicle. A first generation Toyota Sequoia, obviously has nowhere to haul the bike like a truck and or trailer. I started to check into different brands and styles and was pretty quickly priced out of a majority of what is available. I’ve seen the BikeMaster Motorcycle Carrier before, but with it’s price tag I’ve always assumed it wasn’t made very well and likely risky to use. The closer it got to the trip, the fewer options I had in front of me.

Needless to say, the BikeMaster Brand Hitch Carrier was shipped to my door. After opening the box and laying out all the parts, giving it the once over and dissecting the design- I was pleasantly surprised on the quality of hardware used. It immediately went together pretty easily and I was able to breeze through the detailed instructions.

Bikemaster’s Motorcycle Carrier assembled.

This is where I began to note a few features that I thought were really cool. The main support is designed in such a way that several different types of motorcycles can be loaded. Depending on the footprint of your bike, you can configure the support bolts in such a way to allow the bottom of the tires to “seat” in the support. This is a pretty cool feature as a variety of potential customers could put it to use.

The other cool detail I noticed- which I now think is the most important design aspect of the carrier, is the receiver pinch bolt hardware or “anti-tilt device”. There is a threaded block that slides inside the carrier portion that goes into the receiver of your truck or SUV and where the hitch pin would normally go. A bolt then tightens the plate against the side of the receiver and pulls out all the rocking and slack. Since the main support is 7 feet or so, this is super important and something I overlooked when deciding which carrier to go with.

BikeMaster’s Motorcycle Carrier comes with a loading ramp that secures behind the main support.

With the bike loaded up along with the SUV filled with camping and riding gear, I gingerly drove towards the freeway constantly checking out the bike in the mirrors. As the miles piled up I got more comfortable with the bike on the hauler as nothing moved or budged. After the first 80 miles or so I checked and everything out and all the straps were tight and the bike was solid. Round trip was over 300 miles. If there was ever a road to test the limits of a hitch mount motorcycle carrier, THIS IS THE ONE. I hit dips, curves, potholes, washboard gravel and literal washouts in the road. The bike did not budge at all. I arrived pretty late to the campsite, so it was dark and some of the huge dips in the road were unexpected. There were a few times I thought for sure the bike was going to need my attention or something was going to need to be tightened. I even went to re-torque the bolt for the anti tilt device and everything was fine.

The 2019 Beta 390 RR-S never was in danger. This carrier is solid and did a great job handling rough road conditions.

I’m super happy with the BikeMaster Motorcycle Carrier. It does the job well, keeps the bike secure and even surprised me with a couple features. You cannot beat the price of this thing and is certainly worth it if you are in the market to haul your dirt bike with an SUV, van or truck full of gear.