As much as I prefer to start and end rides from my house, like all of us I need to transport the bike. My rack is probably C*V by now..... Yakima with the first version of clamp the frame, don't take the wheels rack. (Nishiki on the roof for going to work after dropping the car of to replace a vandalized driver's window)

What do you use?

Not mine, but the picture basically shows a rack similar to what I made for my 4Runner.

One of these days I'm gonna get a hitch mounted to the car- one of those fancy Saris ones has my eye.

I use a Yakima Jetstream roof rack and Forklift bike holder. It's the take your front wheel off variety. I don't fully trust the other kind. The aero cross bars are nice; very little wind noise compared to the old round bars.

I would very much like a hitch rack.

I have one of these strappy deals for the back of my car. It works well enough for the $20 I paid for it used. I live up a steep hill and figured it would get me to ride to work more often, and it did exactly that.

an old Subaru branded unit that I got cheap on Craigslist. I like it cuz it's light, easy to install & remove & fits in the back of my car between rides

I use a Küat NV. It's a bit pricy, but it's really nice. It's hitch-mounted but the installation doesn't require tools and takes about 30 seconds. The rack doesn't touch the frame at any point. It seems to make people nervous when they put a bike with fenders on the rack, but I do that all the time and haven't had any problems. It also has a built-in cable lock (which I trust to keep a bike secure as I go through a drive-thru if I'm in the car -- I carry a chain if I want more security) and a built-in work stand (removed in the picture below). There's also an add-on you can get if you need to carry four bikes.

I use a Yakima Hold UP hitch rack for most cycling duties. I also have a roof rack on my Kia Soul and I scored two Thule wheel on roof top racks for cheap that I use one of them as a third option when both my wife and son come along for a ride.

I also have a Saris Bones rack that I still keep because it comes in handy when I need to phone home for support. I have had to make the call of shame twice and it's easy to tell my wife or oldest son to just throw the rack in the car and I will put it on when they arrive. The Saris Bones racks are always on CL for cheap.

I wanted to make something like that for my Nitro, but there wasn't quite enough headroom. This is one of the things I miss about my old minivan.

I usually transport more than one bike in my pick up. I have built a couple of bars that spanned the bed of the truck, and added these attachments. If I am carrying one bike, I put it in the back of my Scion Xb.

Hapro Atlas 2. Clicks onto the tow hitch, carries two bikes and tilts with the bikes on the rack, so you can still open the rear hatch. Love it.

On the back of mrs non-fixie's 500C:



On my WJ:

My wife has a Honda Element. (I don't have a car.) We just throw the bikes in the car. They can almost stand up. One of these days, we should get a rack.

No hitch here, so I usually use my Saris Bones. It'll adapt to anything, and I mean anything.

I also have available a roof mounted Thule 2 bike rack. I've run long trips with and without bikes on the roof - presence of bikes seems to make little difference with respect to gas mileage. BUT NOT SO of the rack itself. Even an empty rack knocks my mileage down by 10%+ on the highway (2015 Passat 1.8L turbo).

I use a variety of Thule fork-mount bike trays on roof cross bars, either the clever rotating built-in aero cross bars on our 2015 Outback, or Thule square cross bars on fitted towers ($$) on the 2011 Kia Optima. The latter crossbars and trays, with different towers, have been mounted on at least five different cars over the years. They’re quite secure, but require care when putting bikes on and off the racks, as well as the obvious garage risk. Worth noting for those that use ferries, is that the extra height results in additional ferry fees. Doesn’t seem fair.

And I can attest that [MENTION=111144]Andy_K[/MENTION]’s Küat NV works fine with fenders. I was worried about my new Berthoud stainless fenders on that mount, but my concerns were unfounded. Several beautiful C&V bikes were very secure, and as he says, essentially untouched by the rack. And I was impressed at how quickly the entire rack goes on and off his car, as well as the bikes on the rack. Certainly less wind drag than my roof mounts, hence minimal impact on gas mileage.

BTW, one downside of full-length fork-mount bike trays is that they may not be compatible with longer front fenders.

I think I'll try a Saris Bones on my MK V GTI. It's too low for a hitch rack. It will scrape just backing out of my steep driveway. The manual warns that the VW roof rack will hurt mileage even when empty.

That's the one issue I've had. With SKS Longboard fenders, the front mudflap is quite stiff and very nearly reaches the ground. Fortunately it's flexible enough that I can manually bend it back out of the way or tuck it into the wheel well on the tray, but it's at least worth noting.

I used to use a Saris Bones trunk rack. I had a problem with that scuffing the paint on the seat tube just below the cluster. Watch your tubing decals if you use that one!

I carry right-sized squares of bubble wrap to wrap around both my ST and TT when using mine. Before that, I had lost tubing decals, too.

Saris Bones rack works on several vehicles but special circumstances require different approaches.
Camper loaded.jpg

Carrying my wife's RANS Wave recumbent means mounting the Hollywood hitch rack with fork mount trays and a modified tray for the long wheelbase 'bent. No pix of that one yet.

We also have a bike board to carry bikes in the minivan...
bike block in red van.jpg

...and for the times when I travel in the Westy alone I can remove part of the bike board and mount it in the Westy.
bike block Westy use.jpg

I also have a Saris roof rack with four fork-mount trays but sold the vehicle for which I have the matching mounting clips so no longer use that but it was a solid way to carry up to four bikes if the vehicle is not too tall.

I use a Saris Bones as well. It is probably 20 years old now(?) and it still works fine. I have used it on vans, hatchbacks and sedans no problem. I should probably looks into getting new straps just in case but It just keeps working.

I use a Hollywood SR1 spare tire rack - 2 bike.

Works great, small, foldable, & blends in well when not in use.

First rack was made with 2 x 4s and a couple of release skewers for my pickup. It fit between the cab and the wheel wells and set in, lift out. Next had one similar to @noobinsf for the minivan. Also used it on the Stratus. Now using a rack similar to @squirtdad save I use fork mount trays. But really the only time it gets used is if I am hauling the tandem. Got a sidewinder for that. Otherwise the front wheel comes off and the bike goes in the hatch. Got lucky and scored a full wind deflector for the front. Really cuts down on the wind noise. Those little wing things they sell don't work.

@Grand Bois. Any roof rack empty or not cuts into your mileage. But so do rear racks.

I got a Nashbar Shadow rack last year. While not as user friendly as the more expensive offerings, it works for me. I like not dealing with straps. It sticks out far enough that I can still carry a bike on the outer position with my truck's tailgate down. That was important when moving my son to/from college. I got mine on a 25% off deal, so it was only about $100.

Nashbar Shadow 2-Bike Hitch Rack

98% of the time it's just me and one bike in the Corola sedan so I use an old
Rhode Gear trunk mount rack. Since it's just one bike, I bobbed ithat rack to a "one holed". Very easy to put the bike on to and to remove. Easy to install on the trunk lid and easy to remove. I added felt to the rubber holders where the TT rests to minimize paint damage. I also added Velcro straps to the downtubes to hold the wheels steady. Some added security but primarily keeps the wheels from windmilling along, grinding the paint off the bumper cover.

When I go road trip on the interstates I put the bike in the back seat and the rack into the trunk. No reason to sandblast the frame for hours or to hose the bike down in hours of rain.