Bicycle Carrier -- Rear/Trunk mount

[ottaire]

Hey,
I am going to buy a bicycle carrier for my 1996 Toyota Corolla. I would like to use a rack that is easy to access (not on the roof of my car). Do you have any suggestions? Thanks!

[miffy'sFuji]

Yakima and Thule are reliable, well-made brands. I have a thule roof rack for my kayaks and haven't ever had a problem. My friends and I share a yakima trunk mounted 3-bike rack. I think it in part depends on what you want to spend. For something around $100, you do get a bike rack that lifts your bikes sufficiently away from the ground (depending on your bike's geometry, you may still have to remove a tire in order to keep it clear of the exhaust pipe) and will hold 2 or more bikes and is sturdy. We chose ours because my friend has a wagon and I have a sedan and we can use this type of rack on either car.

Sierra trading has a rack for a good price. This must be an older model, so I can't directly compare it to mine. If you will just be carrying one bike, there is a 2 bike model on sierra as well.
yakima rhode gear

[shasta]

Can someone tell me if a vehicle needs a hitch for a trunk bike rack? I don't see anything on the one in the link. I'd like one of these too so I don't have to try and get my bike in the trunk.

Shasta

[SadieKate]

Yakima has a little configurator to show what racks will work with your car. Other companies may have the same. We've had tremendous successful with Yakima and Thule. I'm always a fan of roof racks or hitchracks because they don't move around or loosen. Bikes with slanted top tubes are also much more stable when put into a fork or tray mount. I also like fork or tray mounts because nothing touches the frame/paint of the bike or the car.

http://www.yakima.com/Consumer/Step1.aspx

[miffy'sFuji]

Yup, I can see the advantages to having a more stable system than a trunk mounted bike rack (for which you don't need a hitch). My car has a few scratches from the bikes because of the way the rack fits onto the trunk. But I consider my car to be strictly utilitarian.

The roof mount racks are pricey though. You can get a trunk mount rack for 3 bikes for the price of one roof mounted rack (plus you have to get all of the other paraphernalia, some of which you could get used from craigslist).

The trunk mount setup works very well on a hatchback and the bikes don't come into contact at all with the car body of my friend's wagon.

p.s. We've used the trunk rack on trips of over 300 mi. RT with no mishaps.

[shasta]

Hmmm. Scratches on the car are no issue, on the bike though... . I don't know if I could get my bike up on the roof of the car without help. I'm thinking so I can take the bike to the trails about 40 minutes from here.

I just hate having to disassemble the bike or cramming it into the trunk every time I want to haul it.

Shasta

[Surlygirl]

We have the Saris Bones and it works like a charm. Its easy to use and hubby puts it on the trunk of his Volvo. I have the Trailer Hitch rack on my SUV.

[Crankin]

My husband also has a Saris rack that is hitch mounted. We have an extension so we can have 4 bikes. It is easy to use. I have a similiar hitch mounted rack that is the easiest thing in the world to use. You slide open 2 levers on either end, place the bike on the rack, and close the levers. It's called a U Haul. I can't remember where we got it (a lot of Internet research), but I think it may have been sears, on line. I am a mechanical dunce and very short, so this was the easiest thing for me to use.

[miffy'sFuji]

Most of the trunk mounted bike racks have rubber mounts for the bikes to rest on, so scratching isn't a problem for the bikes (unless you mix different kinds of bikes and one of those bikes has weird geometry). The scratch on my car came from the toe cage on my friend's bike...I have an older car with more of a pronounced bumper than most cars these days seem to have, so I think that is part of the reason the toe cage rubbed against the car.

[SJCzar]

I'm also a big fan of the Saris Bones rack. I've had two other rear racks that never seems to stay snugged up on longer trips, but my Bones very rarely needs to be tightened up. Last summer I left it on my car all season. Although, if you have a lot of gear and want to access your trunk you'd be better off with a hitch mount or roof rack.

[sydney_b]

I recently got a 4-bike hitch Thule with stabilizer bar. Love it. Kind of expensive, but rock solid. There are straps that go over the top tube and more straps that connect the stabilizer bar to the frame and front tire to prevent sway. Feel like my bikes are totally safe from harm, less someone really smacks us.

/s

[sprout]

I had a Saris Bones rack on my old car and it scratched the hades out of the trunk lid where the rubber feet where. I'm now using it on my new car and went to the pain of wrapping the feet in padded cloth and sticking material between the clips and the trunk. The thing hasn't fallen off yet, although I take it off when I'm not carting a bike around. My old car was a dark green, so of course it would show the scratches more than my current light colored car, but I'm still being overly cautious about scratches.