General Cycling Discussion - What vehicles will bike(s) fit in?

I'm looking for vehicle choices that I can carry my bike, and perhaps 2 bikes, in either the trunk or the back seat or trunk pass-through, preferably without having to remove the wheels.

What kind of bike? A mountain bike with wide bars and fat tires will be a little tougher than a road bike with narrow drop bars or bullhorns. The latter will probably fit lengthwise in the trunk of a smaller sedan with the back seats folded down. Two might fit side by side, but I've never tried.

Taking at least the front wheel off will increase the chances significantly. As long as it's a bike with quick-release levers and no lawyer lips, taking the front wheel off should be pie.

a couple of Litespeed road bikes. I can fit mine (1) in the backseat of my Honda Civic hybrid, taking off the front wheel. But what I'm wanting is a vehicle that I can put 2 bikes inside of, safely locked up, and preferably without taking off the wheels of either bike.

Time to get a minivan! Take your bike to the dealership and test fit. Bets are you will find a dealer really wanting your business and cut you a good deal! All the while, they'll rob you in F&I.

I have a minivan with no seats and an extra wide yakima rack. I can accomodate like 9894357893 bikes.

Land Rover Discovery....... Any full size van, Front wheel off just about any SUV..... I can fit 4 inside my Range Rover with front wheels off!

I bet ten bikes would fit in my F-250

If you want a small car, get a hatchback. One where there is no permenant shelf over the trunk. I've got a VW Golf, and my bike fits in there with both wheels, with room to spare.

a vehicle that has a space at least slightly bigger than the bike itself.

I'm looking for vehicle choices that I can carry my bike, and perhaps 2 bikes, in either the trunk or the back seat or trunk pass-through, preferably without having to remove the wheels.

Are you wanting to lay the bikes down or have them up on their wheels? Either way if you're hauling 2 bikes you'll need something a bit larger then a car. Unfortunatly you'll need a Stupidly Useless Vehicle, or SUV. The better way may be a pick-up truck with a bed top on it, if you want them inside something. At least a truck is not stupidly useless.

The less expensive alternative would be to haul them on a external carrier attached to the vehicle.

If an SUV is hauling sports equipment, how can it be Stupidly Useless? I though that is what SPORTS utility vehicles were for, hauling you and your sports gear to wherever you need it to go to.

I rented a Toyota Matrix a while back. Looked like there would be plenty of room for two bikes down flat once the rear seat was down. And it was a nice car to drive.

And there are people who swear by the Honda Element. Remove the rear seats, and two bikes go upright.

But they are just sooooooo ugly.

The Honda Element comes with the option for two bike brackets inside, and two bike brackets on top, allowing for four total for a trip.

Don't forget pickups. Its not hard to equip a Tacoma with fittings for a couple bikes in the bed, and the nice thing about having bikes in the bed of the truck is that you can drive through low overhangs, not worry, or not worry if the moron behind you will rear end you, causing no bumper damage, but fatally wounding your steeds if stored on a rear trunk rack.

The Honda Fit is advertised as having room to fit at least one bike standing up sideways in the back, if you flip up the seats. It's a really neat car - i'm thinking about getting one.

a vehicle that has a space at least slightly bigger than the bike itself....slightly bigger than the bike parts... I''ve put my bike in the back seat of a '70 Beetle, but then I could get my double bass in there when I needed to.

I have no problem getting a bike in the back of my forester. Could get several back there if I took the wheels off.

I have a buddy that takes the wheels off his and sticks it in the trunk of his 4 door civic.

If you want a small car, get a hatchback. One where there is no permenant shelf over the trunk. I've got a VW Golf, and my bike fits in there with both wheels, with room to spare.


I've got a VW Golf (GTI) as well and can definitely fit one bike with both wheels attached....not sure about two though.

I can fit three bikes in my Ford Explorer, with the wheels on. Kinda hard, but its do-able.

I'm pretty sure the Nissan Xterra has an interior rack option that holds 2. Worth a look.

Grand Caravan or Grand Voyager with back seat removed. 22 + MPG unless you get the 3.8L motor.

Wouldn't it be cheaper and more reasonable to get a car/vehicle that fits all your other needs, and then just spend a whopping $120 on a trunk rack? Just a thought.

I wanted a small car for things that you can't get in other cars. I swear my bike is bigger than my car--at least it looks that way on the back of my trunk. :)

my subaru impreza wagon fits one bike with the seats down and the front wheel off. two would be a bit of tetris but not that hard. i just don't like lying bikes on top of each other.

With slow speed rear-enders being so common where I live, I wouldn't want to stick anything on a rear rack... don't want a bumper scratch to end up being a $2000 bike compaction. Roof racks are better, although I'm sure everyone fears the low clearance drive through.

roof racks are the way to go

43288
I strongly recamend that you get out of the habit of laying your bike on its side at any time especially in a car that will bump it around as you transport it. Eventually you will bend or break the derailur support and your bike will either shift poorly or it might need replacing altogether, you might even break part of the frame in the process. Its just not a good thing to do.

When transporting your bike you should keep it upright, most people take off the front wheel with a QR skewer and that makes the bike smaller in size. The photo above shows some fork clamps used for transporting a bike upright.

Putting a bike inside a vehicle makes it less of a thief magnet. You will find though that auto manufacturers don't go out of their way to be helpful (they give cubic inch measurements for cargo areas but you need height and length measurments) and sometimes are downright misleading (when they show a picture of a bike inside their vehicle, its usually a small sized MBT, what if you have a tall road bike?). Measure your bike as you would have it for transportation then make a practice of going to showrooms with a tape measure.

good luck.

Any bicycle can be fit in any car.

Leaving the wheels on is a different matter.

But taking the wheels off a bike generally takes me less time than folding down the seats in a car.

PT cruiser works great with a fork mount on a board.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d195/GonzoDawg/bicycles/07%20TdG/BBpacked.jpg

Any bicycle can be fit in any car.

Leaving the wheels on is a different matter.

But taking the wheels off a bike generally takes me less time than folding down the seats in a car.Might be generally true, but for my Stow-n-Go Dodge minivan, folding one side of the rear seat down to fit the whole bike in (wheels and all) takes approximately 5 seconds. Which is probably about the same as removing a quick release wheel, but I don't have to put the wheel back on at the other end of the trip...

If I need to carry many bikes, I can completely reconfigure the seats in less than two minutes. And I don't have to take any of the seats out and find a place to store them, either.

Love that minivan! :D

Same with our Honda Odyssey.

Roof racks are definitely the way to go, and you can lock bikes to the rack. That way you don't need to worry about choosing a vehicle predominantly based on one criterion. That said, the Element is definitely a cool vehicle though I wish it had some more power. I had an old minivan and could fit 4 bikes in without the backseat and without jamming them into each other.

PT cruiser works great with a fork mount on a board.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d195/GonzoDawg/bicycles/07%20TdG/BBpacked.jpg
BluesDawg, that is just plain smart. Could you please post more pictures of how you have "Ribby" sandwiched in your PT Cruiser? It would help to see how she's secured in between the seats ... to protect from sliding around and getting scratched ... and how you protect the car's upholstery ... and how the forks/board-mount don't get in the way while you're driving.

A Grand Marquis trunk is good for two things:
1. Yodeling, to hear your voice echo in the cavernous space.
2. Carrying your Trek 730, flat-barred, 700C x 38 wheeled, mountain bike with the front wheel removed.

At this year's Detroit Auto Show, I was admiring the Toyota Prius (hybrid). Small car hatchback that would be perfect for one bike with the back seats down. I may get one of these cars in a few years, after they get the hybrid-bugs out of the system, to carry a bike to offroad places.

I don't have any good pictures showing how the bike goes in the car. The one below might help a little.
I remove one of the rear seats to make room for the rear of the rearward facing bike to fit in. I usually use bungees from the handebars to the D rings at the rear corners of the cargo area to secure the bike so it won't fall over. The bike can either be angled toward the passenger seat which may need to be nearly full forward or the rear wheel can go between the front seats as in this picture. I do not believe a Prius would be tall enough for the bike to fit in this way. You need a tall wagon. A smaller bike might work in shorter vehicles. Lowering the seat would help get it into a shorter car too, but I do not need to do this in the PT with my bikes.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d195/GonzoDawg/bicycles/06%20BRAG/Day7carloadedhome.jpg

Please see this before buying a hybrid!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smug_Alert!

I really don't think there is a problem with laying a bike down, just keep the weight off the rear der. I've drove thousands of miles with bikes in the back of hatchbacks. I feel much more secure with the bike in the car. Sometimes I will even lock the frame to the rear hatch post of the car, in case someone breaks into the car.

It is suprising which small cars will fit a bike. It must be a hatchback of course. ( why they don't sell in the States I don't understand).

Small cars I know will fit a bike with the front wheel off (and my bikes are huge). Toyota Matrix, Honda Accord wagon, Honda Fit, and believe it or not my Acura Integra holds my bike quite well.

My Toyota Corolla, believe it or not, will fit my bike with the front wheel off if I fold down the rear seat. Not sure whether this would work as well with a bigger bike though (I'm 5'2" so my bike isn't all that big).

Subaru Outback and Subaru Forester: Both can easily handle a bike if the rear seat is folded down. Remove front wheel of course. The Forester is a little taller, but narrower - but I'm thinking that I "might" be able to transport a bike upright with a front fork holder (see below for Suburban plan). If so, it might actually hold two bikes.

Chevy Suburban: can actually hold bikes in upright position with third seat folded. I believe 3 could fit in there pretty easily. This weekend I'm going to build a front fork holder/skewer thing on a piece of lumber to lay on top of the folded seat so I can transport two bikes that way. Might even figure out a good way to store the front wheels so they don't lay around or bump into the bikes.

I really like inside/secure/clean transport of bikes. No muss, no fuss. It's very dirty and dusty around here, and it's just nice to lock the bike(s) inside.

Aside from wagons and vans,a Toyota camry or avalon will take TWO roadbikes,less the front wheels,a Crolla ill NOT....A Niaasn Altima or Maxima WILL, a Sentra NOT.Subaru,a Legend or Forester WAGONS. In American brands: Malibu,mid-size or large Buicks,Olds,including Acheiva,NOT Alero,Hyundai Sonata Sedan Or Wagon, NOT a smaller Hyudndai..Ford:FocusWagon,noty hatch or coupe.An LTD or Crwn VIc. or ANY Taurus. These cars will fit two up to 59cm framed road bikes.

Aside from wagons and vans,a Toyota camry or avalon will take TWO roadbikes,less the front wheels,a Crolla ill NOT....A Niaasn Altima or Maxima WILL, a Sentra NOT.Subaru,a Legend or Forester WAGONS. In American brands: Malibu,mid-size or large Buicks,Olds,including Acheiva,NOT Alero,Hyundai Sonata Sedan Or Wagon, NOT a smaller Hyudndai..Ford:FocusWagon,noty hatch or coupe.An LTD or Crwn VIc. or ANY Taurus. These cars will fit two up to 59cm framed road bikes.

I have a Toyota Camry and I guess you could put a second bike on top of the folded down rear seat. Is that how do you do it? Can you get the bike in through the back door or do you have to slide it in through the trunk?

a vehicle that has a space at least slightly bigger than the bike itself.
:roflmao:

My trooper with my folding/city bike inside (it's garaged in there, in case I need it).
43655

Subaru Outback and Subaru Forester: Both can easily handle a bike if the rear seat is folded down. Remove front wheel of course. The Forester is a little taller, but narrower - but I'm thinking that I "might" be able to transport a bike upright with a front fork holder (see below for Suburban plan). If so, it might actually hold two bikes.

Chevy Suburban: can actually hold bikes in upright position with third seat folded. I believe 3 could fit in there pretty easily. This weekend I'm going to build a front fork holder/skewer thing on a piece of lumber to lay on top of the folded seat so I can transport two bikes that way. Might even figure out a good way to store the front wheels so they don't lay around or bump into the bikes.

I really like inside/secure/clean transport of bikes. No muss, no fuss. It's very dirty and dusty around here, and it's just nice to lock the bike(s) inside.
Update:

Chevy suburban: Three bikes upright with front wheel removed. Third seat folded up to forward-most position. I mounted three fork mounts on a 2X8 laid across the front. If a bike is slightly too long, it can be swiveled slightly to fit. If the third seat were completely removed, I believe you could fit 4 bikes in there, alternating forks and rear tires.

Subaru Forester: There is plenty of height and length (with rear seat folded down) to do the same sort of arrangement (board mounted fork mounts). I tried my daughter's bike, "small" size Giant OCR. It fits upright with seat in place. If a person put a quick release on a seat so it could be lowered, I believe you could fit a larger frame in there no problem. The length is very adequate, the limit being the height. With the bicycle seat down, those larger frames would fit in there, and I think you might be able to fit three, but at least two.

Front wheels with both of the above arrangements: I set the wheel between the bike and the side of the cargo space, leaned away from the bike with the point of contact being rubber to rubber with the bottom of the rear tire and forward against the pedal which is in a low/horizontal position. The wheel stays put because gravity and there is little or no risk of damage to the bike or the wheel.

I think I could also mount a wheel holder on these boards and might check into this next week.

I can post photos if this doesn't make sense. It really works well: keeps the bikes safe in the upright position, keeps them secure, and around where I live, keeping them inside makes a big difference in dust - I drive on quite a few gravel roads and live in a dusty environment.

Subaru Outback: I think it has a little more length and width than the Forester (with seat folded down of course), but a couple inches less height. therefore, even my daughter's small bike could not fit in there upright. With the seat down and the fork mount arrangement, it could easily hold two or three bikes in the upright position. Almost any bike can fit in there lying down with front wheel off.

1986 Chevy Scottsdale short bed pickup truck: could easily hold 4 bikes upright with fork mounts. I bought a commercially produced cross-bed bar-mount thing, but the 2X8 with fork mounts attached would work fine as well. You can buy locking skewers and could screw the 2X8 down with safety screws if you had security issues.

A 62cm road bike with nothing removed, not even the wheels, will comfortably fit with rear seats folded down of a:

Toyota Prius
2DR Ford Explorer

Al

http://www.liebherr.com/me/en/40787.asp why dink around with toy machines? Get one big enough to ride in.

I have to second the Honda Element. I can fit mine and my wife's trek 3900 in there without a problem and without having to remove the front wheels. They stand straight up. And you don't have to worry about them being stolen. They're locked up in the car. I own one and love it, when I'm not cycling of course.

Then again, alot of people think they are ugly but you don't see the outside when you are riding in it! Check out the Element Owners Club forums for more info. Its another forum I frequent.

www.elementownersclub.com

43288
I strongly recamend that you get out of the habit of laying your bike on its side at any time especially in a car that will bump it around as you transport it. Eventually you will bend or break the derailur support and your bike will either shift poorly or it might need replacing altogether, you might even break part of the frame in the process. Its just not a good thing to do.
When transporting your bike you should keep it upright, most people take off the front wheel with a QR skewer and that makes the bike smaller in size. The photo above shows some fork clamps used for transporting a bike upright.


good luck.

Wrecked a couple of Deraillers over the years with bumps that were a bit heavy.

I have a small MPV- European vehicle so by your standards it is a mini. It has height to the rear of the vehicle and with the front wheel off and the rear seats down- I can get 3 MTB's in the thing. Lower the seatpost if too high but Keeping the bikes upright has saved a lot of damage.

http://www.liebherr.com/me/en/40787.asp why dink around with toy machines? Get one big enough to ride in.
Hmmm ... I don't think that ride would fit in my trunk, even if I took all the wheels off.