Bike rack help
 

Hi, I hope some friendly biker out there can help. I just got a compact SUV and I'm about to move across country. I never needed a bike rack before b/c I pretty much just rode to the trails from my apartment rather than driving my bike somewhere and then going for a ride. I had been planning on getting a standard bike rack for my trunk in order to move my bike, but my car died and I got a Suburu Forester, so no trunk. I don't think it comes with a hitch either. So are there any bike racks that I can install to the back of my forester that don't require a hitch? In other words, do those regular car bike racks work on SUVs or are there modified versions of the car racks I could buy? Also, there's no spare tire on the back, so a spare tire rack won't work. I know I could pay the dealer for a hitch and then buy a hitch rack, but I barely had the money to buy a car, so minimizing costs is a must.

THANKS!!

oh yea, and I'm going to have a cargo carrier on the roof, so I'm hoping to get a bike rack for the back of the vehicle. Thanks.

http://www.1aauto.com/1A/bike-rack/S...RA00007/222096
http://www.1aauto.com/1A/bike-rack/S...RA00023/262825

Not sure, I just kinda looked, and grabbed a couple links.

Two models that are EXACTLY what he/she said they were trying to avoid.

Many "trunk" style racks work just fine on SUVs. I just checked Saris website and it claims that the Bones rack will work fine for your SUV. I used my Bones for over a year until just recently (got a hitch rack). The Bones is probably about the best "trunk" style rack out there and you can them relatively cheap (under $100).

Check out the parallel thread on rack for Honda CRV.

I too have the Forester, but I opted to by the hitch and a Thule bike rack. The hitch cost about $115 and the rack was $95. About an hour + to install both. Was originally going to just do a roof rack, but I like the idea of having the 1-1/4" hitch for whatever/whenever I need to tow something. IMHO, well worth the money. Also, the rack I got pivots away from the car, so you can still get into the back hatch.

Thanks for the help. There's a Bell trunk rack for ~$30 at wal-mart. Even if it'll fit on my car, is it worth it or should I spend more for a better rack?

Thanks again.

Sears has a $50 Allen 2 bike rack on their web site. I have one, and it works for 1 bike really well. I would recommend it for a cheap, easy to use rack. You can go to the Allen rack web site to check for fit applications. I have seen that it fits Foresters '98-'05.

http://www.allenracks.com/products/trunk/102d.html

Sears site-

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...at=Accessories