PatrickGSR94

So after months and hundreds of miles of cycling, having to take both wheels off of my bikes to get them inside my GS-R (could only carry one at a time) I was finally able to get a bike rack with Christmas money. I decided I wanted something that would never touch the paint, so I opted for the hitch-style rack. Of course that meant I had to get a hitch bar with square receiver in addition to the rack itself.

I went with Draw-Tite hitch bar from etrailer.com: https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Hitc...eid=1994201568

Installation was a snap. On 2-door Integras there are already large holes in the frame rails behind the bumper for bolting the bar in place. It also secures to the rear tow hook. The holes in the frame have a sort of "flange" around the edge, so the tow bar hardware comes with spacers to keep the bar and bolts/nuts from crushing that flange.

In order to get a nut up inside the frame rails, the bar includes nuts with a long "handle" piece welded on, so you can stick it up inside the frame rail. The only problem I had was that these handles were rather thin and flimsy. When I tried to torque the bolts to the specified 75 lb-ft the nut tried to turn inside the frame rail, and actually started to bend and pull the handle up inside as well. Oh well, I think the bolts with locking washers got tight enough.

For the rack I went with a Thule Doubletrack platform style rack. https://www.etrailer.com/Hitch-Bike-R...e/TH990XT.html I don't like racks where the bikes hang from the top tube, especially since most bikes nowadays have sloping top tubes. It comes with locking hardware and keys - the bolt securing the rack to the hitch has a lock, and each bike top tube securing hook has a lock. It also folds up out of the way when not in use, only adding maybe 12" to the length of the car. The whole thing seems very well built, but that also means it's VERY heavy, at nearly 50 lbs. With the tow bar (almost 20 lbs), the rack, and both of my bikes on it, it adds over 115 lbs. to the back end of my car.

The only other minor issue is the placement of the hitch bar is a little farther out from under the bumper than I like, which means the rack sticks WAYY out. But it's no big deal. It actually allows good access to the rear hatch with bikes on the rack.

I carried my road bike to the office yesterday, and of course I was a little nervous about it at first with the whole thing swaying and moving as the car went over rough roads, but it worked great and didn't have any problems. I have to say, that is MUCH easier than flipping my bike upside down, removing both wheels, and trying to stuff everything into the back of the car with half the rear seat folded down (other half containing child seat).

On with the pics

Hmm looks like I need to reapply some undercoating




With the bar installed you can barely see the thing.






The rack, gotta figure out some kind of garage storage solution.


On the car, folded up:


One bike installed:

PatrickGSR94

Two bikes:


At work yesterday:


You can see how far it hangs out off the back of the car:

PatrickGSR94

Added reflective strips, hopefully will help reduce chances of getting rear-ended.

treadtread

Looks good!

Chandne

Nice. I like having a good bike rack. I hate taking the wheel off and stuffing it into the vehicle. I just got a 1UPUSA rack so need to sell my Thule T2.

PatrickGSR94

Yeah I've been having to take both wheels off for the past 9 months since my kid's car seat is in there so only one side of the rear seat can fold down. This is way easier, despite being heavy, and I can carry 2 bikes at a time.

xenologer

Huh? none of the bikes in your photos has a rack on it. All I see is a car rack.

PatrickGSR94