how do you load your bike on the car?

[ttaylor508]

hi girls

i've been using a rear Thule bike carrier or a audi for a couple of years, and the draw back is that at the end of a trip on a highway, my 2 bikes are carpeted with insects...


so i'm investigating on different ways of loading them, possibly even inside the car, without damaging the interiors and getting greas all over when loading-unloading.

has anyone tried this method on her car?
http://www.bdc-forum.it/showpost.php...&postcount=129

ideas? suggestions? opinions?

We load our bikes this way in our Expedition and in the back of DH's truck when its just the two of us. DH used a piece of diamond plate angle metal and just bought the skewers and mounted them to the angle plate. It was a very inexpensive way to haul around our bikes. We bought a Yakima hitch rack a few years back and use it if we need to haul more than 2 bikes. I don't have any problem getting the bikes on the hitch rack, even the kids heavy mt. bikes. I am only 5'3ish and can still lift them onto the rack when it is on the Expedition which sits rather high.

[LilBolt]

We carry our bikes that way (except forks to the back) in the back of my Explorer and the back of bf's Saturn Vue (although, he has to drop his saddle a touch for the Vue). When carrying other gear, we slip wheel bags over the rear wheels to cover the cassettes and keep things a bit tidier. Front wheels go into wheel bags for their own protection. We've actually used this method with 3 bikes + gear, with bike in the middle fork toward the front.

[djgafi]

thank you girls.

yesterday i took some measurements and looks like with the bikes angled at about 45 degrees, like someone suggested earlier, they can actually fit even in a medium size car, which will work best for me here in europe.

here's the link where you can buy a fork mount, and build very easily your own internal-car-bike-carrier.

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-fork-mount-b...3A1%7C294%3A50

thanks to all for precious feedback!
now i'm on to the "appropriate" car search
:-)

[RoadRaven]

You don't "load your bike on the car"...

You buy a bigger car and/or a trailer.

One bike fits in the boot of my sonata... with layers of padding

Two bikes can be lain in the back of the van with the seats down (again, well-padded)

3-7 bikes will fit in our trailer, with special holders so that no two bikes touch each other or move in transit.

;p