boosteddreams

I searched the forums but couldn't quite find the info I was looking for. I have two cars that I'm considering using to transport my tadpole trike; one is a 1990 Toyota Supra hardtop (hatchback), the other is a 1988 Toyota Celica hatchback. Neither car has a sunroof. As I understand it, my options consist of installing a roof rack or installing a hitch and buying a rack that fits the hitch. I'd prefer a roof rack, but don't know what will fit the trike. (If it matters, I have an HPVelotechnik Scorpion.) I'll be swinging by the local bike rack dealers tomorrow but wanted to get a head start on ideas/input. Who here has a smallish sporty car, and what have you done? Benefits/disadvantages to each method? Is one significantly more expensive than the other? Any input or advice would be welcome.
Thanks in advance!

mchell

Boosteddreams, I too, faced this dilema and after some phone call discussions with Charlie at Atoc, I decided to build my own to fit our Draftmaster. I have a Catrike "Road" and I believe a Scorpion would fit on my rack. We use the Draftmaster with a specialty rack attachment for our Rans Screamer, so I was half way there. I'm too old to lift a trike up onto the roof of the car, not to mention a tandem recumbent. We are driving a Subaru Forester and have used the system for a number of long trips now without mishap or wear and tear on the paint job on the trike or the tandem. If you like, send me a PM and I'll take some pictures of my set up and you can go from there.

VegasTriker

When I had a Colt station wagon I had two ways of carrying it outside of the car. I simply put the trike on the roof and ran a couple old bike tubes through the inside of the car. It never seemed to do anything to the paint. By the time I got the trike, the car was over 10 years old anyway. I had a standard rack that hung from the hatchback and I could put the trike crossmember on the two prongs of the rack with the rear wheel on the roof. I still secured the rear wheel through the car with bike tubes. Now I have a Scion XB and the darn roof is too tall for me to put the trike on top without using a ladder. The Scion paint is also a lot less durable. Since the same rack will fit the hatchback on the Scion, I'll bet I could still carry it with the rear tire on the roof and the crossmember on the rack. So far I have always carried it inside the car.

**Works on both a Wizwheelz and a Greenspeed GTO.

Shaman

ken cummings

I moved my tadpole trike a few times on a friends' roof rack. He had channels for three bikes. We shifted the channels so the left and right ones were spaced for the two front wheels and the middle one took the rear wheel. piece of cake.

jeff-o

Before getting a minivan, I had a Mercury Mystique. It's not exactly a sporty car, but it did have a receiver hitch. I bought a trike rack from WizWheelz and it worked perfectly well for transporting my TW-Trike. The rack is very adjustable, so it should work fine with your Scorpion. The cost was $250, plus the cost of the hitch.

mchell

Specs on the Wizwheelz rack indicate that it won't work with the Scorpion. I checked this rack out before building mine. I didn't want the trike sticking out beyond the width of the Subaru. As well, the Wizwheelz rack doesn't allow you to open the back hatch without first removing the trike off of the rack. My 2 cents.

Mike

jeff-o

Hmmm, good to know. Why didn't it fit?

I had to put the rack together slightly differently than instructed in the manual. Instead of supporting my trike at two points on the crossarm and one point on the frame near the rear wheel, I have mine set to match up with the crossarm and the rear wheel itself. The front boom sticks out a bit on the right side of the car, but not much further than the side view mirror. Of course, opening the trunk wasn't a problem because the Mystique is a sedan.

Dr.Deltron

As always, ...my $50 Hollywood folding trunk rack!

Works great for a "single" tadpole too!

Takes less than 5 minutes to load/unload the tandem from the car, but about half an hour to get the "crew" onboard & ready to ride!

Shaman

This is for sale on BROL at a very good deal. This is NOT my sale but thought someone here might just be interested. Motivated seller:
BROL Thread Link

CAtrikerider

https://www.hitchrider.com/2-trike-rack.htm

Hope this helps or maybe you can get some idea of what can be done.