I need a way to haul about 9-11 beach cruisers about 6-8 times a year. I drive a Hyundai Accent and already have a trailer hitch and a bike rack that holds 5 bikes. That has a 300lb tongue capacity and i believe my car has about a 1000lb load capacity.

Am I better off getting a roof rack to put 4 more bikes up there or would it be better on my car to pull a trailer with the bikes on the trailer instead?

A trailer from Harbor Freight runs about $250, light kits are reasonably cheap.

A roof rack is going to run about $400 -$500 or so for 2 bikes, probably $700 for 4 bikes.

Thus I'd go the trailer route especially as you can get a bare bones model then build the mounts. Pickup truck mounts such as the Saris, run about $28 ea..

Also easier to load up a trailer then a roof mount.

I should have been more clear, I am very handy and pricing is not an issue. I am more so looking for input about how hard it will be on my cars engine and transmission.

Ten beach cruisers is on the order of 300 lb, plus another 100 lb for the racks. That's comparable to two adult passengers plus some luggage. So if it's just you and the bikes (and perhaps one passenger), you're not exceeding the load the car's drivetrain and suspension was designed to handle. The roof rack is a little worse aerodynamically than a trailer, but the trailer adds more weight. Neither will add any undue stress on the drivetrain if you keep your foot out of the throttle.

I'd go with the trailer. Loading several heavy bikes on a roof rack is not really something I'd want to do even a couple times a year (let alone 8). A towed trailer would make loading and unloading a lot easier and would also allow you to carry a full complement of passengers and/or gear inside the car without any worry about overloading the suspension/tires. The trailer also has the advantage of being useful for hauling a wide variety of non-bicycle stuff.

I'd suggest the Trailer , too ... Cal Trans used to Run a Trans Bay Van + Trailer Shuttle at Rush Hours , When BART forbid Bikes on their Trains.

The load was Much larger and Heavier than what you Propose, steel trailer purpose Built so bikes secure & not jumbled together .


An enclosed Trailer will also add security against theft, behind Locked doors (+locking trailer Hitch )

dont plan on going enclosed, i feel that would be too much weight to pull behind my hyundai accent. maybe ditching the roof rack idea and doing the hitch is the way to go...

Cars like the Hyundai Accent have a load capacity of about 750 pounds. I believe that Hyundai does not recommend that you tow anything. Most roof racks have about a 150 pound load capacity,not because the rack can't support more but because of the way it affects the centre of gravity of the car. Frankly, I don't see any way you could safely transport 9-11 very heavy bicycles. My suggestion is that those times each year you need to transport that many heavy bicycles that you go and rent a full size van