Love that Freudian thing, since we're definitely going with the 2". Heh.

As for the bikes fitting inside -- yes, they are supposed to. I know lots of people who can carry two or three bikes in the back of their E without taking out seats -- just putting them up on the sides.

Our bikes are very tall and don't fit in that way. I don't know if it's because they're hybrids, or if it has something to do with them being shaft-drive or what. I just know that (curses) they won't fit in unless we pop the front wheels off, and (I know, this is dorky) we haven't mastered that yet. Ours don't pop off as easily as they're supposed to. The woman at the LBS said it would be easy, then it wasn't -- I had to hold the bike while she worked with it. Then she said, "It's no big deal, just different than I've ever seen before." But it took both of us to do it, and she knew (or could figure out) what she was doing. That doesn't bode well for me hauling my bike alone.

Plus if we take our bikes camping, we'll have the back filled with camping gear and will need to put the bikes on the outside.