Transporting my bike

If you aren’t carrying a lot of crap in the car, the easiest thing is to just take off the front wheel and throw the bike in the back of the car. (I’ve actually put a bike in the passenger seat of a Mazda Miata.)

The only time I’ve carried a bike outside the car was by tying the thing down (actually three of them) horizontally on a luggage rack with old inner tubes. This is called Beverly Hillbillies-style.

Roof Rack

– real possibility of driving into a parking garage and forgetting bike is on roof
Never done this. Ridden a few thousand miles with bikes on roof and never once forgot they were there.
– poor fuel consumption
yep…no way around this one
– noise
maybe our escape is just loud to begin with, but I’ve never noticed it
– I have no lawyer tabs on my forks.
are those required for a roof rack? I had no idea. All I know is all of our bikes work on ours, including the bikes with disc brakes
– more difficult to put bike on roof
I’m 5’7″, and have no upper body strength. Even I could get my 35 lb hybrid up on top of a ford Escape. It sucks, but I can do it.
– front wheel still needs to go somewhere
Get one of these. They are not perfect, but they do the job.
– come with built-in security (locks on quick release and rack mounts)
Yes, I this. We take our bikes to MI, and being able to park at a rest stop and leave them for a short bit to grab lunch is awesome.
– cheaper ($150-250)

Bonus of roof rack: you can use other attachments. Our roof rack also works with skiis and snowboard attachments, kyack attachments, and bags/box attachments.

My two cents:

I did roof racks (Yakima King Cobras) for several years on my old Subaru WRX wagon. The King Cobra holds the bike with both wheels on. I transported everything from light road bikes to DH rigs. Advantages are that they don’t mess with the rear door at all, and the bikes are safe from rear end accidents (which I never had, but you never know). Disadvantages were that they were tough to lift bikes onto them (and the rex was a pretty short car; I’d have needed a step stool with an SUV). Gas mileage took a big hit. You needed to be careful with parking garages and drive thrus and such. The bikes are in the air stream and swayed around a lot. The Yakima racks had issues with the trays cracking (I’d take them off and hacksaw the last few inches of tray and reattach them to fix it).

My current car (Ford Explorer) I went with a hitch rack (Yakima Holdup 2). Its substantially easier to load, doesn’t hit gas mileage to a noticeable degree, and holds the bikes securely. I have transported my touring bike with fenders on it; I just clamp the wheel bar to the fender. As an unexpected benefit it also blocks the license plate when folded up, which is nice in MD. Disadvantages are that it makes the rear door harder to use (rack needs to fold down to access it), it does mess with the backup sensors (it beeps constantly whenever I’m in reverse) and I guess if I ever get rear ended with bikes on there it will be expensive.

Given the choice I’d do a nice hitch rack.

+1 for the hitch racks (especially if you already have a trailer hitch?– done!)

I’ve used both. I had a Thule roof rack for a long time on my Prelude. That car was so low that I could ride with my bike under some low-clearance bars — But I would always drive with my sunroof open when the bike was on the roof so I wouldn’t forget it was up there. That is a real concern. I’ve known a couple people to destroy bikes by forgetting. Plus it’s pretty inconvenient to realize you can’t park in a parking garage (or on upper decks that have height restriction bars) — or go through a drive-through!

The MGP effect was significant (10-15%?) and the noise was quite significant — especially before I had the fairing installed. Plus it made my sunroof less enjoyable. Both my cars have roofrack systems now, so I imagine that as I eventually need to transport more bikes, I’ll get some cross bars again, but I far prefer the hitch racks.

I’ve had a few hitch racks since the roof rack. I have a Kuat rack now — bought it because it’s aluminum and hopefully won’t rust to pieces like my Raxter did [in two years]. It’s also pretty light for what it is. The integrated lock is easy to use (my hitch pins are locking, so the cable just goes onto the pin).

I also love how quick it is to throw a bike onto the back. If I really take my time, it might take 10 seconds.

And I would be screwed with a roof rack with my multiple fork axle systems (QR, 15mm). Yes, there are adapters, but another thing to have to mess around with.

In general the only disadvantage with the hitch rack is access to the rear door. And if you’re constantly opening and closing that door, this might be worth considering.

I like having a hitch rack that holds 5 bikes. Note that for little kids’ bikes or any bike with a step-through frame (don’t laugh), you will need to buy a bar adapter.

@Dickie 118749 wrote:

Roof Rack
– real possibility of driving into a parking garage and forgetting bike is on roof

I know someone who did this (put the bikes on inside a commercial garage & then tried to drive out). Totaled both bikes and tore up the top of the car. A very expensive mistake. Also ruined his weekend getaway.

@Dickie 118769 wrote:

…although the Kuat NV looks pretty awesome as well…. ughh, money money money!

FWIW, I really wish I’d spent the money for the Kuat rather than the Yakima I have. The Yakima works ok but has numerous issues and annoyances. If I could go back in time I’d get the Kuat for sure.