cycling705

Hello.

I'm looking to buy a new bike rack / carrier for our SUV. I'm not sure whether I should buy a trailer hitch carrier or a roof rack.

We have three bikes:

- Men's Hybrid Fitness (Specialized Sirrus Sport)
- Women's Recreation (Fuji Crosstown)
- Children's Bike (varies from year-to-year)

Any thoughts on the pros / cons of a roof rack vs. hitch rack?

I'd prefer not to take off the front wheel each time. Is it still possible to use a roof rack?

Thanks as always.

Marcus_Ti

Roof racks will lessen your gas mileage a bit. They also put you at risk of damaging your house and destroying bikes if you have an idiot-moment and try to use your garage (I know a shop manager who had this happen). However, most all vehicles can be made to use them. You also need not worry about a fender bender as much. Also nice, as you don't need to unmount bikes to get in your car/SUV trunk/hatch for stuff you packed or are packing.

Hitch racks...nice things....so long as you have a suitable hitch. But get in the way of your trunk/hatch. Also can put bikes in harms way of fender-benders.



Roof racks that don't require removal of front wheels exist. I have 2 rails for my Mazda hatchback that do just that. Kids bikes might be problematic, depends on the sizing.

GerryinHouston

I have them both. I had used Thule roof racks (3) on my Subaru Forester (07). Did not require wheel removal. You see the 3 bike carriers here (the middle one is empty).



You can appreciate that to reach out to set the middle bike on the carrier, you need a footstool and help. Although I had both, I fell over and my knees put two little dimples on the car's door. Never used the middle one again. Mind you, the bikes were nineties bikes, over 30 lbs each. A CF road bike would be a lot easier to handle.

These days I use a Thule Vertex 2. A hitch mounted hanging rack. A very well designed carrier that drops out to let even a mini van gate to open. Needless to say that you do this exercise without any bike on. Thankfully the trunk lid of my Mustang opens without having to tilt the rack out of the way. I carry it on the car most of the time. One nice feature that most of the pricier hanging models have, is the anti-sway fittings which do not allow the bikes to swing into each other.

PaulRivers

Hitch rack for sure.

Roof Racks:
- A LOT of people forget they have the bikes up top and try to pull into their garage, damaging or destroying the bikes and the rack
- Require a lot more effort to get the bike on and off (lifting it up a lot higher) and greatly raise the risk of loosing your grip on the bike while putting it up and having it smash onto the car and leave dents and scratches (neither is perfect but a roof rack is worse)
- Worse gas mileage than a hitch rack
- A lot of work to take on and off the car (again neither is perfect roof racks just tend to be more putzy and time consuming)
- If you buy a new car the one I was looking at required a new $100 kit to mount it on a different car (edit: Marcus_ti points out below that you'd also need a new hitch on a new car, so it's more of a draw).

Marcus_Ti

OTOH, most cars do not come with hitches....so either way if you get a new car you're looking at needing some modification of hardware to get any rack to work.

PaulRivers

You're right, I hadn't thought about that, edited my post.

Main thing for me is people forgetting they're up there.

GerryinHouston

It's true most cars don't come with hitches. But I'd be hard pressed to find a car that will not accept a Class I hitch with no harness. It's just a bolt on application.

If I can put one on a Mustang GT, what car wouldn't get one? A Corvette, a Dodge Viper or a Lamborghini?

cycling705

Thanks, everyone. Your insights and opinions are very helpful.

I'm sold on the hitch type carrier.

Any recommendations on which brand / model would do the best job at keeping the bikes from sliding around and scratching / damaging each other?

Elvo

Kuat NV 2.0 or 1UPUSA

cycling705

Again, thank you everyone. You've been very helpful.

fietsbob

Roof racks make your fuel economy less .. and worse the faster you drive.

though the bundle of bikes on a Trunk rack are also Un aerodynamic..

Adding [2"] hitch on the car you have the option to use a trailer for bikes camping gear garden supplies etc.


Noted on Europe trips: , people get trailers rather than pickup trucks .

Enclosed trailers let you lock the door, too..

sdmc530

Hitch racks are great. Just started using the Thule Vertex and its rock solid. installed a receiver, so east to install bolt on and you are good to go. Bike was easy to load/unload and was very secure. Should have done this years ago.


go for it you will not regret it.

jefnvk

I've been rear ended enough to never want my bikes back there. One in my trunk even took minor shifter/brake damage when my Mustang was rear-ended. Worse, in Michigan if you are rear ended with bikes back there, they are not covered under insurance (unless you have them listed under homeowners/renters).

Just this week got a roof rack, one of the fork mount kinds, but before that (and honestly, probably for the future too except when hauling two bikes) they just go in my trunk. Easier to just leave them there for nice days after work, too.

jefnvk

Yeah me too, and it is obviously a state by state auto insurance law thing, but it is worth considering. I don't have anything truly valuable, but I'd hate for them to end up a tangled mess AND not have a car.

PaulRivers

1UPUSA if cost is no object. Their wheel style rack has each tray come apart and fold in half so it's easy(ish) to store and transport. It costs around $1,000 for 4 bikes though.

I like the looks of the Saris Freedom 4. Or if you're only carrying 2 bikes, the Saris Freedom 2. No arms to deal with, just rubber straps. I'm not a big fan of the "arm" design.

The Quiet One

I would pay to see that.

jefnvk

I've seen quite a few trailer hitches on Corvettes, for pulling small trailers to autocross events with race tires and tools. Find a local SCCA event, you can see it for free!

Plotone

I have a Thule Helium Aero that I use with my FIAT 500. It's far back enough that I can easily access the hatch.

WVU_Engineer

There is a Smart Fortwo in our parking lot with a trailer hitch, I wonder what they do with that.

Hokiedad4

Uh, really? Hefty fines or imprisonment?

Anyway, hitch racks are incredibly convenient. I can throw the rack and my bike onto the car in less than 5 minutes. It does cost about 2-3 mpg on my sedan.

jefnvk

Yep, at least if you get pulled over for it obstructed and also have drugs and guns....

Michigan Supreme Court ruled that any obstruction is technically illegal about two months back, very much inclusive of bike racks (and, presumably any trailer ).

Tow ball, bike rack ? if your plate's blocked, cops can stop, high court says | MLive.com

Marcus_Ti

It is illegal to obstruct or cover up license plates (with anything) in lots of jurisdictions (USA and everywhere)....especially rear plates (many places don't care about front plates as much and some don't even require them).

Now how often people actually get written up for it? Probably not that often, but when they do they let the world know about it.

PaulRivers

Thanks for the link, but another Supreme Court ruling decided that cops can use evidence obtained after a straight up illegal stop "if the officers conducted their searches after learning that the defendants had outstanding arrest warrants":
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/21/us...tops.html?_r=0

I couldn't find it in a quick search, but there was another case where the officer pulled someone over for something that turned out to not be illegal (I think it was having 2 working tail lights, and it's not the more recent story, it was over a year ago) and the court decided it was fine anyways.

I'm not sure it's worth worrying about whether your bike rack obscures your license plate, as there's a good chance they'll just make up some excuse to pull you over anyways.

jefnvk

Nah, not really. To me, I more view it as just one of those things if you're spotted pulling out of a bar at night and the cop wants an excuse, gives them an excuse to flip on the lights...

Cheddarpecker

You have it backwards, otherwise why would Chrysler pay to install so many hitches on Jeeps to alleviate concerns of fuel tank punctures? It's a heavy, C shaped bracket made from material that's thicker than your unibody frame, and it makes the rear of the frame much, much stronger. As a result, the frame will crush ahead of where it mounts.

I won't mount one on my four cylinder Jeep because it lacks the power to make use of it, and because I don't need to drag it on the rocks. I'll probably drag the hell out of it once I'm driving the six again.

To the OP, the only downside to a hitch mount is road debris. The low pressure area behind a vehicle is a great place for circling trash off of the road to float around in, and if you hit water, whatever is back there gets coated. That fine grit can get pretty deep, especially with open bearings like cheap hubs and bottom brackets.

I knock off both of my wheels and strap them together with the frame against one side in the back, inside the vehicle. I release one strap and it all comes out. I can carry two bikes like this easily enough but my interior storage for camping stuff is greatly reduced.