treadtread

I'm finally looking at buying a rack - my son can cycle well enough that we'd like to go further afield, but he isn't old enough to do door-to-door rides. I tried out the fit guide at Hollywood Racks and it looks like my best options are these three:



All three racks are rated to 35 pounds bike each, and have three bike rack variations. Prices are about $75 for the Express, $120 for the Baja and $150 for the Expedition. I expect to transport my bike and my son's initially, and hopefully my wife will join us later. Any recommendations or observations? I don't mind spending the money - but I'd rather not spend $150 if the $75 or $120 will work just as well (I'm not exactly flush either). I expect this rack to be used once or twice a month - we hike almost every weekend as a family and we don't want to reduce that.

I priced a hitch mount at a local shop, and it looks like everything will set me back by about $500-$600, which I cannot afford.

I posted this in General, and received a couple of suggestions - one was about install-it-myself hitch mounts but frankly, that is beyond my tinkering expertise level, and the other was for a Yakima $180 rack. Hoping I'll get more replies here.

RonH

I've always had Saris Bones trunk rack. Never had a problem.

travbikeman

I'm partial to the Thule Raceway. At the moment, Amazon is selling them for around $330. I bought mine this past February, when the price was only $230.

It's strong, so far hasn't rubbed or scratched my paint and is surprisingly simple to use. Plus, Thule's site shows it a fit for the Passat.

https://www.amazon.com/Thule-Raceway-...=thule+raceway

treadtread

Thanks for that recommendation. I'm planning to wait till Black Friday anyway - all this research is ahead of time so I know what I'm looking for by then.

Harhir

You may want to check the local Craigslist pages. There are always lots of them for sale. You can find used ones from $25 to $100 or more. Most trunk mounted hitches are universal.

wunderkind

Why not go get a hitch at U-Haul for $150. A hitch mount isn't too expensive.

SkyDog75

When I was looking at a trunk rack, I was leaning toward a Saris Bones. A friend of mine was happy with his and reviews are generally very good. Hollywood Racks have a decent bang-for-the-buck reputation and my guess is that the Baja model would suit you just fine. I don't think I'd go with the lower-end Express model. It has more space between arms, so fitting kids' bikes may be more of a hassle. And the quick-release arm adjusters on the Baja and Expedition models seem like they'd be handy.

Personally, after weighing my options, I opted to install a hitch instead of going with a trunk rack and I'm glad I did. It takes me maybe two minutes to attach the rack when I want to haul bikes, it won't scratch the car, and I still have access to the trunk. The class 1 hitch set me back about $120 and my Prorack 4-bike rack was under $100. It looks like hitches for your Passat are a little more expensive though, and installation is more of a hassle -- and thus more expensive. If you wanted to look at hitch racks and don't want to install it yourself, you could get a hitch installed at U-Haul for about $250. Add another hundred bucks or so for a decent entry-level bike rack and you're way above the cost of a trunk rack.

dwmckee

Our shop sells zillions of Hollywood racks and never have any complaints. We also sell Thule and Yakima and have lots of complaints about the price opn these but no complaints about the quality.