bike racks/new vehicle/transporting

[Penn]

undefinedI just bought an EZ sport lwb this year. Now one toy leads to the next. Most of my riding is done away from my home so I need to transport easily. I am not very tall 5'4" and will be loading the bike myself. I have been transporting in my 1989 Ford Ranger which is just about to give out. I've been thinking of another truck since that seems to be fairly easy. I do not like minivans. I am a huge Honda/Toyota fan. Does anyone have any suggestions on vehicles or racks. Thanks.

[madpogue]

For a pickup, you can get a fork mount that you bolt to the bed floor. Pop off the front wheel, and put the fork in the mount in place of the front wheel.

How 'bout something like a Toyota Matrix? Probably room inside to carry an LWB if you take both wheels off. Not too tall to mount a roof rack, either. I just put a Saris roof rack on my friend's Matrix, and hauled a 50-ish lb. tandem on it. I'm taller, but not by much (5'8"), and have almost no upper body strength. Getting the tandem up there was a challenge, but not onerous.

[sch]

Performance has a PU rack that fastens to the rectangles punched out on the side
walls of PU truck beds, it is fairly easy to install/remove compared to a bed mount.
If the vehicle is hefty enough for a square tongue trailer hitch there are carriers
that mount on these. I was able to put my Rotator Pursuit, a very long WB bike,
in the back of a Taurus wagon with only a little difficulty. Cars that have hatch
backs and whose rear seats fold down allowing access to the main cabin from the
trunk can accomodate astonishing lengths of bike inside. Saw a Rotator Pursuit
put inside one of these by folding the R front seat back flat on a visit to Wash
DC. Steve

[N_C]

For a vehicle I recommend a Jeep. Any model & year that has at least the 4L Inline 6 Cylinder engine.

For a bike carrier or rack I recommend a Sport Works. Spend the money on the feature that allows you to fold it up when not in use. www.sportworks.com

[dpvan]

For a vehicle I recommend a Jeep. Any model & year that has at least the 4L Inline 6 Cylinder engine.

For a bike carrier or rack I recommend a Sport Works. Spend the money on the feature that allows you to fold it up when not in use. www.sportworks.com

I'm also an owner and fan of Sportworks. It's the fastest loading bike rack I've ever used plus because the bike is carried low on a hitch rack, your height is no big deal.

[captboom]

Ordered a Sportworks for a Burley Canto ;) - Over the typical recommended length, but they have an extended section for it if your LBS is willing to look it up. Too bad RackAttack doesn't do specials. :(

Draftmaster is by far the best design but WAY OVERPRICED. Nice idea, if you don't mind having to take the wheel off all the time. Other fabricators with better pricing should pick up the draftmaster design and run with it. I have a similar rack to the d raftmaster for DF transport that straps to any car/truck/jeep.

[megaman]

I have an EZ Sport. Been hauling it on a Graber rack mounted into a receiver hitch. I don't usually remove the wheels, just the seat back which acts like a sail. It is on a minivan. The bike is less than 6 inches longer than the van is wide.