General Cycling Discussion - Car rack for 1999 Volkswagen Passat

Has anyone bought the Base Carrier Bars for a Volkswagen Passat?
It looks like there are two options to turn this into a bicycle rack. Either the Fork Mount Bicycle Rack or the Bicycle Lift.

Both bikes fit inside with the seat folded down, but it is a little complicated getting them in and out.

Any other suggestions?

THANKS! :D

We use this.

http://img235.exs.cx/img235/9963/sarisbones7tc.jpg
It's a Saris Bones 3 if you look at the silver part in the middle of the second picture you'll see that it's a tube that the straps go through (as shown in the first picture. This tube has an interior diameter about the size of a soda can. What we do is lock a contractor grade Master Lock cable to the frame of the car (at one of the tow points). Next we run the cable through the rack weaving it through the wheels frame etc then we use my Kryptonite EV disc lock to secure the other end back to the cable. When we take the bikes off to ride we just wind the cable around the rack to take up slack and lock it to the portion coming up from under the car. Yes we go through some (ahem) interesting neighborhoods, but with this setup we haven't had a problem even when we stop for lunch after a ride. Just be sure to use big intimidating locks not puny padlocks. Also the bikes don't "wag" while driving. As far as being rear-ended goes we have renter's insurance that will cover them if they are damaged, destroyed etc. If you have more expensive bikes a rider can be attached to your car insurance (it's not that much more).

sort of a side note: Where the cable would hit / rub on the bumper I slit one of those foam "noodle" pool toys down one side and slipped the cable inside (they have a hole that's the perfect size) a little duct tape and boom no girlfriend wigging out about roughed up bumper paint.

Originally posted by tanqy
Has anyone bought the Base Carrier Bars for a Volkswagen Passat?
It looks like there are two options to turn this into a bicycle rack. Either the Fork Mount Bicycle Rack or the Bicycle Lift.

Both bikes fit inside with the seat folded down, but it is a little complicated getting them in and out.

Any other suggestions?

THANKS! :D

In terms of another angle, I had a 98 Passat. I purchased a 1 1/4" hitch from NAPA, and used a hitch mounted rack. It worked very well for me.

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice! I remembered that my parents had an old Yakima roof rack in their garage gathering dust. I asked about it and it is now ours. The only problem is that I believe that it was on an old Acura Integra prior to its life in the garage.
Can anyone identify the type of towers? It came with two cross bars, a wheel fork, and a mount similar to the current "steelhead"
I am thinking that we would have to buy new Q towers ($218) and Q99 clips ($24.00) plus at least one more mount (at least another $100). So all that we would really save on is the cross bars and the mount (if we could get the old one to work).
Is there any place to get clips for this old tower?

Putting both bikes in the trunk is really getting old fast. I think that if this doesn't work out I will look into the hitch mount and then the trunk mount. Either way I need to make sure both of these new babies are insured! I would really like an option that we can reuse on another type of car.

A friend of mine has the Saris rack that Raiyn mentioned and it's great. It holds three bikes and took us less than five minutes to switch it fom his VW hatchback to the trunk of a sedan. And I believe they cost about $140 US, at least on the Saris website. As a matter of fact I think I'll pick one up once I get a car.

Thanks chrisk!
The Saris rack has a great price! Hmmmm...

I need to buy bike racks for one of my cars, and I am debating between a VW or Yakima rooftop system for the 2001 Passat wagon and a decktop system like the Saris for the 2003 Dodge Stratus sedan.

John, the saris works on both.

I have a 98' Passat with a Yakima roof rack! It's the only way to go...

But, it'll cost you. The grand total came to JUST under $600!

Mike

Geez, the Saris roof rack is awesome and could be had for about 2/3 the Yakima. Mine goes on and off in a couple seconds (celf-centering load bars) and looks and works great.