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.

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.

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.

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.

You can find more information about BikeMaster’s Motorcycle Carrier HERE.

Heavy-duty steel construction for the highest level of strength and durability

Powder-coated black for a beautiful finish

Safely carries up to 500 lbs. and bikes with up to 5 in. wide front tires

38-1/2 in. steel loading ramp attaches securely to the carrier rack for convenient loading and unloading

Fits standard 2 in. class III and class IV receivers

18 in. long main hitch tube from center of hitch pin to center of ramp

Front tire slot included for additional stability as well as anti-tilt bracket