Recommend a bike rack for the car

This topic has 23 replies, 15 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 9 months ago by DaveK.

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August 19, 2014 at 6:27 pm #1008288

Steve
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I don’t have a locking one, but I very much like my Saris Bones. I don’t use it all that often, but it just feels much more solid than other similar racks. I found a used one on CL that wasn’t too bad price wise.

August 19, 2014 at 6:28 pm #1008289

Emm
Participant

Can you make a roof rack? That’s what we did since there wasn’t one pre-built on the car. We use the following set up:
Thule traverse bars/foot pack (this is an example, ours are so old I don’t know if they even make the same ones anymore. They’re thule though).
Yakima roof rack (with locks)
and
wheel holder (works well, but not perfect. Also doesn’t lock)

The bike racks have worked 8 years now, been driven through mountains, bad storms, and all sorts of other conditions. The set up has worked well for carbon road bikes, aluminum road bikes, mountain bikes with disk brakes and my hybrid.

Bonus: They allow you to attach a snowboard, kayak, or any other adventure-needs.

August 19, 2014 at 6:35 pm #1008290

americancyclo
Participant

Looks like the Bones RS has locks, but I would not install it the way it is shown in the product page. I’d be afraid it would snap off the spoiler on the hatchback.

http://www.saris.com/product/bones-rs

Thule Archway seems to be another option

August 19, 2014 at 6:43 pm #1008291

jrenaut
Participant

The roof option is appealing but expensive. It would be cool to have a luggage rack up there for times we aren’t hauling bikes, and it would be cool to be able to get a tandem rack to carry the cargo bike. I think I need to look into the roof option.

August 19, 2014 at 6:46 pm #1008292

Crickey7
Participant

Is always an option. Not the cheapest, but you can install on almost any car and not worry about falling off. You can lock the bikes to it with a cable lock.

August 19, 2014 at 6:51 pm #1008293

jrenaut
Participant

My next car will have a tow hitch. Installing one on our Mazda 3 seems a little silly, though.

Also, now that I think about it, one advantage of the roof rack is parking – I had to have my wife get out the other day and help me parallel park with the rack on the back.

August 19, 2014 at 6:54 pm #1008294

americancyclo
Participant

http://www.instructables.com/id/Installing-a-trailer-hitch-on-a-small-car/

August 19, 2014 at 7:00 pm #1008296

Crickey7
Participant

Claims an install time of 20 minutes, which is only about ten minutes less than what it took me. The extra time was for recovering from dropping the socket wrench onto the middle of my forehead.

http://www.curtmfg.com/part/11383

August 19, 2014 at 7:05 pm #1008298

jrenaut
Participant

Very interesting. This looks like a project I could maybe almost do without turning to my brother-in-law to fix what I screwed up.

August 19, 2014 at 7:13 pm #1008299

hozn
Participant

Trailer hitch FTW. I installed one on our Mazda5 and Volvo V50; it was easy on both (though the V50 did require the use of a drill, which many do not).

I just bought a new rack — the Kuat Sherpa. http://kuatracks.com/en/products/hitch/sherpa/

It is awesome. Integrated lock and it is made of aluminum so it won’t rust out like my Raxter did. But in general having the bikes at the back of the car is very convenient — you can park in parking garages or go through the Taco Bell drive through after a long ride And your fuel efficiency likely won’t suffer as much. I lost 1-2mpg just having having the (empty) rack on the car when I used to have a roof rack (Thule rack on my Prelude).

August 19, 2014 at 7:25 pm #1008306

mstone
Participant

@jrenaut 92850 wrote:

Also, now that I think about it, one advantage of the roof rack is parking – I had to have my wife get out the other day and help me parallel park with the rack on the back.

wait until you go to park in a garage, and your wife has to get out to help you pick up the pieces

August 19, 2014 at 7:28 pm #1008307

dasgeh
Participant

I know at least 10 people, 2 of them close family members, who destroyed bikes on roof racks. My brother did it on his way to a triathlon. Both his bike and his wife’s. After a 6 hour drive to get there.

August 19, 2014 at 7:36 pm #1008308

jabberwocky
Participant

I ran roof racks on my old Subaru and have a hitch rack on the current Explorer. Much prefer the hitch rack. Easier to put bikes on and off. Doesn’t generate as much noise on the highway and doesn’t kill gas mileage the same way (not that I’d likely notice with the explorer).

August 19, 2014 at 7:37 pm #1008309

hozn
Participant

Yeah, I have known a few people that have destroyed bikes (and one did damage to the car roof too) with roof racks. You forget the bike is up there. (I used to always drive with the sunroof open when I had a bike up there so I wouldn’t forget, but still had to awkwardly back out of a parking garage entrance once or twice.)

As for parallel parking, I guess if you have a really fancy rack that you don’t want to scratch then it could be a concern. When I drive into the city, I just don’t worry if the rack touches the car behind me while I’m parking. I appreciate that living in Arlington makes that a non-factor unless the neighbors throw a big party.

August 19, 2014 at 7:56 pm #1008310

hozn
Participant

I’ve had great experience buying hitches from http://www.etrailer.com . You can put your car year/make/model and it’ll show you compatible options; they have great instructional videos too. Looks like most of the ones for the mazda3 — 2012, anyway (https://www.etrailer.com/hitch-2012_Mazda_3.htm) — don’t require drilling. So should be easy. You’ll just probably want some ramps to give yourself more clearance. I installed the Volvo and Mazda5 hitches without ramps — out of laziness (and not having anyone around at the time to help guide me onto them) — but that was kinda ridiculous.

Do pay attention to clearance requirements for the trailer you want (and the corresponding clearance specs for the hitch). The hitch was very recessed on the Volvo, which is great from a “it’s hidden” perspective, but not so great when I went to put on the Kuat rack and couldn’t fold it up. Luckily you can get hitch extensions, though you cut the weight capacity in half when you use an extension. Anyway, it wasn’t an issue with the hitch on the Mazda5, so probably a good chance that it won’t be a problem on the 3 either (of course the Volvo V50 is also the same Ford Focus platform as the 3 and the 5, so that’s probably a flawed deduction).
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