Originally Posted by
maddmaxx
OK, another bit of useful information about hitch racks. My family rides several varieties of bikes with different sizes, bar configurations and seat locations. Sometimes the bikes have to be mounted facing in the same direction and sometimes in different directions to avoid interference between bars and seatposts etc. Picture racking a TT bike next to a beach cruser...
. My newest rack is sold by many outfits and looks like the picture. The Wheel supports are adjustable for width to accomodate longer or shorter bikes and that means that each bike can also be offset to the left or right of the car's centerline. Voila, its almost impossible to find a combination of bikes that will not fit together.
That's a very important point: make sure you select a rack that accommodates all the bikes you want to carry, and is suitable for kinds of hauling you intend to do.
For example, I don't know how we'd mount women's curved step-through frames on our Yak Getaway. We could use our rooftop rack, although that wouldn't be terrific because our Sequoia roof is 6 and a 1/2 feet high, so A) somebody would have to climb onto the roof, which is not designed for this weight, and B) we drive offroad to primitive campsites and other waypoints, which can have overhanging limbs that are perfect bike removers. Might have to lay it flat with a cargo net on top. But it hasn't come up because our family's ladies ride men's bikes.
So our rack loses versatility points in the range of bikes it can carry, but scores high in all-terrain capabilities. (The Sequoia is actually the limiting factor, although it's gotten us through some, "That was exciting, our right front wheel was in the air--uhm, let's not do that again--" places.
Our rack allows bike-sway, but velcro tape (REI sells some super heavy duty stuff) and bungie cords nicely overcome this to prevent dings and other impact damage on trips ranging up to 2300 miles so far. You immobilize wheels, handlebars, and pedals (you could remove pedals, we don't) then manually test and modify your rigging in the driveway, and you're good to go.
(One can understand why, in this circumstance, it's nice to not have to undo all this stuff to take the bikes off to load groceries, access the coolers, etc. from the tailgate.)