Bike racks (car)

If you get a tow hitch I can highly recommend the Kuat NV 2.0. I have had the four bike version on a small vehicle for a number of years and it is reliably fantastic.

Of course, hitch racks are worth it. I’m not a fan of roof and hitch racks. Some options like inside car racks(example) are useful but depend on the car for sure. I’m a proponent that the bike should be driving you, not the opposite!
Cheers!

Yep. I’ve often simply put my road bike in the back of my SUV lying on its non-drive side. Fitting two bikes is trickier, but I’ve done it on a number of occasions putting a moving pad over the one and carefully laying the other road bike on top. This can be good for longer trips where I might be stopping along the way and want the bikes out of sight, or protected from inclement weather. On a few trips where I brought our bikes on a flight, I was able to fit both inside a rental sedan, one behind the front seats with the front wheel removed and one in the truck with both wheels taken off. Mountain bikes become trickier due to size and weight, and sometimes the muddy/dirty condition of the bikes. A platform type hitch rack is by far the quickest and easiest method for routine transport.

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I have gone for the seasucker setup some time ago and I must say I am quite happy with it.
I do admit I was a bit worried at first, especially about the risk of pressure loss in the suction cups but this has proven not to be a problem. It is easy to check and takes only a minute to adjust if necessary.
Two additional advantages not yet mentioned. The setup is small and I have carried it with me, in my suitcase, on several occasions, to put them on a rental car in order to transport a rental bike. Also, depending on the shape of your car, the bike can be positioned lower than on a roof rack, not only better for fuel economy but this also lowers the risk of hitting something. As you can see in the picture.
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also in europe you find the treefrog https://treefrogracks.com/ which are also approved by TUV for road use and cheaper than seasucker ones. OOTH the seasucker are used by UCI in races! So if properly installed they’re reliable

I always wonder how many bikes get demolished by drivers pulling into garages and forgetting about the bikes.

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If we have bikes on the roof, we don’t open the garage door as we drive up. Of course, that requires remembering that we have bikes on the roof in the first place!

LOTS! Just 2 days ago a mate showed me a few pics of his crumpled Cervelo R5 that was on the roof when he drove into the garage 6 months ago. He’d had it only a few days …

That is a tragedy. I’m surprised the companies who sell these don’t have a removable sticker you can put on the inside of the windshield that reminds you that you have bikes on top. Seems like a $.75 solution to a $7000 problem.

Yeah. I do things like give the garage remote to my wife or daughter, or throw it in the back seat so I can’t get to it. But I can see how accidents happen when distracted.

I put the garage remote on the same keyring as the lock for the bike rack and it stays in a bag in the boot. Indo feel happier with bikes on the back of the car tho

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Twenty years ago I had some friends who lived in Appalachia where it was a long drive to cycling events, and most century rides ended with an exhausted multi-hour drive home. They had a fairly large reminder sign hanging from the dashboard, one side of which said BIKES ON CAR and the other said NO BIKES. That way they only had to remember to flip it correctly when they loaded and unloaded.

How are you driving your car into the garage, mine is full of bikes, no room for a car

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Ours is half-full of bikes, but still with room for the car! No way I want to leave the car outside in our wintertime. :slight_smile:

The operative words here are “remember” and “correctly”. :grinning:

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I agree, I love my 1UP, it is built like a tank. I have taken bikes on cross country road trips at high speed and never had an issue.

Also switched to the 1UPUSA rack years ago. LOVE IT. Bought a single with an add-on, so I travel light 99% of the time, and then there’s the occasional time my wife agrees to a rail-trail ride.

I’ve driven into the garage with the mountain bike on top, another with the road bike on top. The vinyl siding shows the dimples and dents, but remained uncracked.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, the bikes were UNDAMAGED EACH TIME! They forced the Yakima crossbar mounts backwards several inches, scarring the cartop rails but not breaking them. Yakima was unhurt as well!

I was very fortunate that I don’t drive too fast into a garage and I heard the awful noise of impact and stopped before going too far in. I was sick to my stomach until I backed out for a look and saw the bike intact!

BTW, it isn’t just your garage you have to worry about with bikes on top, and all the notes or tricks you can think of won’t necessarily help if you forget when you go thru a drive-thru fast food or worse, a bank drive-thru. Those are often brick or stone and the damage is almost sure.

I’ve never regretted changing to the 1UPUSA rack. It’s WAY easier than lifting a bike to the roof, it is at least more out of the wind and probably creates less drag on mpg, and it provides an excellent workstand when needed. It does tip back out of the way if you need access to the rear hatch, but frankly, I usually just remove the bike for that and put it back on. Super easy to do.

We lived on Long Island for a while, and many of the parkways there have low bridges, some down to well under eight feet. We would avoid these as much as possible when driving with bikes on the roof, but there were still a few nervous moments.

On the plus side for the bikes on the roof (or in the car), they are out of the way if someone decides to drive into the back of your car. Speaking from experience. :frowning:

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Ah yes the old Robert Moses parkways.

We drove on the Merritt Pkwy years ago in a minivan with bikes on the roof. My wife watched out for min heights ant bridges and I got off at almost half. The most stressful drive of my entire life.

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