Up N Front is Out in front of the Competition

[Ron045]

Over the last few months, I have been doing research on A frame hitches to carry two bikes.

In alphabetical order, I looked at the...
Arvika A-Frame Receiver
Stromberg Carlson Bike Bunk
Swagman Straddler
Up N Front Hitch Receiver

The Arvika, Stromberg and Swagman all had similar designs for attaching to the A frame.

Stromberg and Swagman were the least expensive and both claimed to carry 100 lbs. The Arvika did not provide a weight but rather it says it can carry 3 bikes.

It is important to know that none of these products by themselves will carry a bike. They are receivers and an RV approved bike rack must be used in conjunction with these hitch receivers.

Even though I was hoping to do this on the cheap, I ended up selecting the most expensive of the bunch, which was the Up N Front Hitch receiver.

There were 2 main reasons why I selected this hitch.
1) The weight it can carry is 225 lbs. Far more than the Swagman or Stromberg.
2) I can leave this hitch installed permanently and still fold down the bunk on my Hybrid trailer.

For me... these two features alone made it worth the extra cost. With the other 3 designs I would have to disassemble and reassemble components every time I set up and tore down camp.

They did a major redesign on this unit which allows it to work with many Weight Distribution Hitches. You might see old posts about the Up N Front and the limitations with WDH's... but according to the manufacturer the new design addresses that. I have the Equalizer 4 point and it works well with that.

By the way the frame of the Up N Front which bolts to the A Frame is good heavy strong steel. The pics do not do it justice. It's substantial and needs to be so it can carry that weight.

Below are some pictures of my install and setup. There is a good video from the company on youtube on how to install this.

Kudos to the packaging engineer as well. They really put some thought into how to package this neatly while protecting everything from moving around.

Have Fun!
Ron

P.S. I'm using a Let's Go Aero Bike Wing 4 Bike Rack. It can be a 4 bike rack or Two, 2 Bike Racks. 2 Bikes are going on the A Frame and 2 are going on the rear. More to come on that in another thread.

[Ron045]

I reached my picture limit. Here are two more.
Ron

[Mr Canoehead]

Nice, that's tempting.

How much weight do you think it's adding to the hitch weight?

[Ron045]

Originally Posted by Mr Canoehead

Nice, that's tempting.

How much weight do you think it's adding to the hitch weight?

I'll be taking it to the CAT scales later this week and can report back on last years weights vs this years weights.

What you may not know is on another thread I talked about adding two bikes off the back in an attempt to balance the load.

Last year the bikes were in the trailer. So the weight was already there. So I'm really adding hitch material and the bike racks. I'm assuming 10-15% of that weight will be tongue weight. But we'll see.

Good question. Thanks for asking.
Ron