Doing Some Research...
 

I know a company that makes Hitch Mounted Bike Racks, Gear Boxes, Enclosed Pods all that Bikes can fit on or in, mostly in the RV Market. My question is "What do you use to haul your bikes and equipment, especially cross state, region, nation?"

Why do you want to know?

I am trying find out what people use on the forum so I can educate myself.

I put the stuff in the back of my Forester or rented SUV. Last month I drove a rental with my touring bike and gear, including 4 panniers, from Philly to Ohio to start a tour home. Wasn’t the first time.

I'm able to fit 3 bikes in the back of my Sante Fe Sport with a weeks worth of luggage for 3 people. I have to take the wheels off and the saddle/seat post out of the seat tube. Not something I'd do for a daily trip to go for a ride though.

I think you'll find that most people use:

• hitch mounted racks
• bikes inside their vehicles
• roof mounted racks
• trunk mounted racks

There are a number of reasons why someone might choose one over the other, usually related to the size and type of vehicle and also how much other stuff they might be carrying, the number of bikes they want to transport, etc.

I use a roof mounted rack.

It may be surprising to some how much bike and bike stuff you can fit in vehicles if you remove the wheels. My ex-GF’s small bike fit comfortably in the trunk of my Mazda Protégé along with other stuff. We transported two bikes, two large duffel bags and other stuff to a supported tour in a Camry. I’ve gotten my large, long wheel base touring bike in small vehicles. I only rent SUVs to get to the start of tours for the sake of convenience. So I can pull out the bike, attach the panniers and other gear, return the vehicle and hit the road.

Thule T2 (Clasic) with additional 2 bike extension.

Hitch mounted rack

Leave the wheels on and throw it in the back of the pickup truck. Super convenient and can carry two that way. If I had a rack in the back I could carry 3 or 4 with the front wheel off.

Take both wheels off and can fit a 60cm in the back seat of the Volvo 240 sedan.

i'll use some good tires & grab some good sleep along with some decent gut fuel.

I’ve used most types of bike transportation methods.

Carrying bikes inside a vehicle, RV, camping trailer probably provides the most peace of mind than any exposed carrier. We currently have a van and it makes packing the bikes for a trip easy and worry free.

I would think a hitch mounted tray is next and then any other hitch mounted rack. There are security concerns and possible damage to the bikes as a second bumper.

I’ve used a roof rack, which does get the bikes off the ground. I find them a little tough to secure the bikes from theft.

The one method I haven’t used is an enclosed pod or hitch carrier. For long trips that would be nice, but I would think a pretty expensive investment.

It does boil down to how much you want to spend for the level of peace of mind when traveling.

John

Regarding roof mounted racks - Depends on height of the vehicle. A small one no issue. Full size van/pickup etc, got a ladder?
Ask how many bikes on roof racks have been destroyed by low drive throughs and garage doors.

Gone local and cross country with hitch tray racks, roof racks, hanging racks, and stuck in the back of a pickup. All work.

Depends on the situation. Personally, on a long trip I would want my bikes inside my car protected from weather. If you have to do a thousand mile drive in torrential rain with your bike strapped to anywhere on the outside of your car at highway speeds you might want to do a full overhaul when you get home. Bikes on the outside of your car are fine for short trips but for longer drives keep your bike inside your car

The rack depends on your mission. I have a Kuat NV 2.0 on a Highlander. It works great for road bikes. I have used it for trips of 650 miles over Alaska, Yukon, and British Columbia rural roads. It worked well and even hinges down to allow use of the hatchback. The drawback is that it is not designed for use with bikes with fenders; there are work arounds but none appealed to me. But it is my go to rack for road bikes, or any non-fender bikes.

I also have a Thule EasyFold XT. It is a beast. I carried one of my wife's ebikes from Oregon to Alaska on it without a glitch. It is mounted to a Ford F350 long bed crew cab. I also hauled my wife's big beach cruiser (again with fenders) from Alaska to Oregon with no problem. I have now welded a super heavy duty hitch to my RV and will soon head from Oregon to Texas and Florida and back with a big ebike and a road bike. There is no agreement about whether a rack on the back of a 5th wheel is wise, but I think this one is stout enough to deal with the moment arm concerns.

Good luck in your search. There are lots of good racks out there. And there are a lot of video reviews that can help.

Mike

Hi! The biggest one so far was only the replacement of shock absorbers :)

For trips I know I am going to take my bike off ride when I get there I use the hitch rack from Kuat.

If I have stop in public ( eat, errands,etc.. )
I have three moving blankets that I leave in the rav4 so I can store two bikes inside big mac style and you can't see that bike are inside the car between the tinted windows and dark blankets. Just looks like pos old suv.

Agree. Aside from ease of access, having bikes on the roof is a huge aerodynamic drag. I see a noticeable drop in highway fuel economy when carrying bikes up there, plus it's noisy. They also seem more subjected to the elements, bugs, road grime, etc plus the aforementioned fear of sheering them off while driving under an overhang or into a garage.

I would say that a hitch mounted rack would be my #1 choice for carrying bikes (assuming they don't fit inside the vehicle). They can affect back-up-camera/parking sensor aids so be careful when reversing, but otherwise this setup is much easier to use and doesn't affect fuel economy as much. Unfortunately, on some cars (mainly coupes and sports sedans... where bike racks are even more critical) installing a hitch might not be possible, or might require a custom job that modifies the rear bumper and/or exhaust. If I had a taller vehicle like an SUV or van, I would 100% go with a hitch mounted rack.

Bikes inside the car are great and would always be my preferred option if space allows, but there are some issues with this approach as well. Carbon frames, wheels and handlebars are easily damaged by stacking anything on them when laying sideways, for instance. I've carried two mountain bikes inside my small sedan by removing both wheels, but this required the rear seat to be folded and didn't leave much room for anything else in the car other than two people in the front. It was a bit of a pain to get the bikes in/out.

As someone who's recently done a 7hr drive with 3 people and a large dog in a small sedan along with a week's worth of luggage I can say with great confidence that squeezing any bikes inside the vehicle would've been impossible (or would've required a level of packing mastery that I've yet to achieve).

I nearly did that driving to the start of the Savage Century in Delaware. The start location was at the Gore R&D facility. It was a new starting location for the ride. The club running the ride gave people directions that routed people under a very low railroad overpass. Just as a I entered with my large, custom IF on the roof, a wave of terror swept over me. the GF got in the driver's seat (her IF was small) and slowly piloted the car forward while I walked along side to make sure there was enough clearance. My heart was still pounding when I got to the registration table. When I got home, I measured from the top of the saddle down to the ground. The height was 2" less than the marked clearance.

Later that week, the GF emailed the club running the ride. A representative was quite receptive. The next year there was a warning in the directions about the low clearance for people thinking of taking the route to the start.

As Billy Martin famously said (in the Lite beer commercial), "I feel very strongly both ways".

I have a cheapie Allen trunk-mounted rack which I use on my rusty old beater. It's cheap and lightweight and easy to store away when I'm not using it. But it also leaves rub marks on the car's paint.

I also have a hitch-mounted rack for my WRX which cost a whole lot more because it also necessitated buying the hitch, something I wouldn't need ordinarily because I don't have anything to tow. But in use the rack itself is a breeze to use! Much faster and more secure than the Allen.

Rain does not hurt bikes. Just be sure to have the chain lubed, and also that there are drain holes in the frame if you have internal cable routing.I have done many cross country trips with bikes (including full suspension MTBs) on the outside of the car for over a month at a time. Every imaginable weather condition other than salted roads. Never had a problem.

Just another unnecessarily unpleasant comment. If it doesn’t interest you then don’t click on it.