Moving with our bikes

[NbyNW]

And with three kitties and a dog, there's no room in the car for my bike too.

Definitely some packing logistics were involved, as we also had to carry enough clothes to deal with the drop in temperatures over potentially 2-3 months.

We've got just the one dog, but we got a roof-top cargo box for my wagon, into which we stuffed our winter coats and a few bags of clothes. With 1/3 of back seat down I could get my bike in standing upwards with front wheel off. That way dog had 2/3 of the back seat, and I still had a good amount of trunk space, and I didn't need to pile things up so as to obstruct my sightlines.

Carrying the bike on top would have been the next option, but I just felt that the bike was safest inside the car.

Plus, it's a little weird knowing that with cargo on top, the vehicle is a bit taller than your used to. Center of gravity goes up and you have to pay more attention to clearances. The car is still not taller than most SUVs, though, so I haven't run into any problems.

[OakLeaf]

Clothes you won't need in transit are the easiest and safest thing to ship. Jam 'em in a box, suitcase or plastic tub, use them to wrap anything fragile, drop the containers off at FedEx and they're at your destination like magic.

Use them to pad your bike, even (with care so nothing gets greasy, of course).

[GLC1968]

Yeah, our bikes were both on the back of the Prius for the drive. Bad move. Two bikes on the back of a Prius acts like a sail. Our MPG dropped to BELOW what the Matrix was getting (we drove both cars - too much stuff with two 70+ lb dogs). We found an ACE hardware and bought a socket set to switch the bikes to the Matrix and were amazed at the change in gas milage. It barely lowered the Matrix MPG at all and the Prius went right back up to where it belonged. It was all about aerodynamics and the shape of the two cars (and the engine size)... Live and learn.

Oh, and I have NEVER seen dirtier bikes before! We spent hours cleaning them up once we got to our destination. I am SOOO thankful we opted to take the 'rain' bikes on the car and not our nice road bikes!