Originally Posted by Ranger
I've stated this before. Fear of getting rear ended is no reason to avoid a rear mounted rack any more than fear of rollover is a reason to avoid a roof rack. Rear mounted racks have much less drag and will not kill your gas mileage.
It's not "fear", it's statistics. You're much more likely to get rear-ended than in a roll-over. If you drive regularly in any city over about 100,000, it's not a matter of whether you'll eventually get rear-ended, but when (and will your bike be on the back).
I just did 230 miles in the Saturn wagon with a tandem, a hybrid and roadie on the roof rack, three humans, two feral cats and the day's worth of gear inside. Confess to having sped much of the way. Mileage went down from 31 to 28 MPG, about 10%. I never measured the effect of the rear rack on the mileage of my Nova (it was a '72 Nova, after all...), but I'm sure it's gonna be a few percent, anyway.