What do you drive to transport multiple bikes/gear?

[Tuckervill]

Honda Element. Bikes can go on top, on the back or INSIDE with one seat folded up (or taken out, like mine usually is). Kid will be well protected by side curtain air bags, it gets 22 mpg, and you can drive it and park it anywhere. Also, it's good for dogs, because it has no carpet (the SC model has carpet, but is also less rough-and-ready than the other models).

Karen

[IFjane]

Honda Element. Bikes can go on top, on the back or INSIDE with one seat folded up (or taken out, like mine usually is). Kid will be well protected by side curtain air bags, it gets 22 mpg, and you can drive it and park it anywhere. Also, it's good for dogs, because it has no carpet (the SC model has carpet, but is also less rough-and-ready than the other models).

Karen

++++++1!!!!

I LOVE my Element! DH and I usually leave the seats out of the back because it is mostly just the two of us. We can carry 4 bikes inside (if it is just us) or on the roof. Tons of room. Ours gets closer to 25 mpg (local driving, no bikes on top). Oh, and it will carry a 10 ft. Christmas tree completely inside.

BTW, has anyone noticed the new Element ad in Bicycling magazine? About the dog friendly one? Built in ramp, bed and non-spilling water dish. I can't wait to see what one looks like inside!

[crazycanuck]

If you get a ute, there's a thread somewhere...(i'll have to find it...) that I posted pics of our bike holder thing that we made. It fits into the tray quite nicely.

[kimikaw]

I drive a Honda CRV. Gas mileage is decent. I can transport one bike in back with three people (one side of seat down) and limited gear . Two bikes in back with both seats down, and gear stuffed around- though you'd be surprised how much I can stuff around the bikes. We did just invest in a hitch and 3 bike rack. Just did a ten hour trip with tons of stuff and three passengers, three bikes, no problem. But for day to day, just one bike, I remove the rack and put it in the back.

[Chicken Little]

As soon as my Toyota Sienna blows the big one, I'm going for the Element. Mostly because I can't do the soccer mom look anymore. That being said, my Sienna has 150k on it without so much as a burp. It will haul anything. I have had 10 bikes in it with the seats out, and that includes the wheels. But it can't get out of it's own way, down a mine shaft, with a tailwind, in the snow.

I'm going for the FWD Element.

[PscyclePath]

For years I used a Dodge Ram 1500, with fork mounts for the bikes in the bed. Coming back from the last century ride of the season, a little old church lady right-hooked me. Since Dodges don't do a quick-turn quite like my Orbea does, I eventually wound up swapping for a Ford F-150 crew cab. It's been nice for the bikes, has provisions for a hitch mount,and gets a whole lot better gas mileage (21 mpg) overall than the Dodge did. I still need to replace the bed-mounted tool box to really have my rolling bike shop fully functional again, but I've been really pleased with the F150.

Tom

[channlluv]

Wow, this is tons to consider. Thanks, everyone! I like the Honda Element, too, although it's a bit boxy for my taste. The 4-Runner is a good choice for us, I think. His daily commute is only about five miles, if that. He'd ride more, but the road is treacherous for traffic in spite of the bike lanes, and now it's getting dark before he gets off.

Thanks, everyone! I'll keep you updated if we get a new bike carrier. <g>

Roxy

[ridebikeme]

If anyone is looking for a great rack for the inside of a vehicle... SAris makes an awesome one!! You have options as far as how many bike or wheels mounts that you want , and there are also different options as to how you place bikes on the rack... which can also give you additional space. It's a great rack, especially for those of you that put your bike inside the vehicle It's fairly heavy, so stays in place well and can be ordered in different sizes to accomodate your vehicle.

[Tuckervill]

If you go to my blog, you can see an "inside" rack I built for two bikes, which cost less than $100 to make. It can be modified and adapted to fit almost any situation. But it basically holds two bikes in the space of one. coolfiz.blogspot.com Look at the sidebar on the right.

By the way, my husband is 6'7" and if he had to drive the Element as his daily car, it would be too small (leg room). But he is comfortable for a few hours in either seat (the backseat is really roomy, and stacked like a stadium so you can see through the windshield, but he doesn't like sitting back there.) He drives an F150 supercrew cab.

Karen

[ridebikeme]

Great idea for the rack Tuckerville! I too, have a rack that I made many years ago, although it doesn't have the flexibility of the Saris rack. The Saris rack offers different attachments points, so that you can have bikes mounted in front of each other, at angles, and consequently have more space for bikes. The other nice thing is that it can adapt to different size bikes very easily, as you know, even different handlebar widths can play havoc with storing bikes. If I were only transporting my bike(s), then I would probably stay with the rack that I made... as you mentioned it certainly is much less expensive. But if you are carrying mutilple sizes and bikes, then the SAris rack is a great option!

[kenyonchris]

I have a BMW X3 (bought it used, my Dad was a BMW guy and trained me to be a German car snob) and I hate it. I have a Yakima roof rack on top and can put the hitch rack on the back to hold up to 5 bikes (if the 5th is the little bike for the 9 yr old). I also thought it would hold a mastiff. It doesn't.

When my son starts driving next year, I am going to get rid of the BMW and get him a used Toyota pickup. I like pickups for kids because he cannot carry around the entire neighborhood in it....and get myself the 4 runner.

BTW, I know a HOT guy that drives an Element. I can't get my head around the fact that it looks like a toaster. But he can fit the bikes for half the department in it, so none of us can jack with him.

[OakLeaf]

I like pickups for kids because he cannot carry around the entire neighborhood in it.

Remind me to tell you the story of the first time I got drunk, where on the way to the movies there were seven of us in the cab of my friend's pickup (no back seats in those days), and it was so crowded that one person had to work the clutch, another worked the steering wheel, gas and brake, and a third operated the shift lever.

Or not. The things we survived as kids...

[kenyonchris]

Remind me to tell you the story of the first time I got drunk, where on the way to the movies there were seven of us in the cab of my friend's pickup (no back seats in those days), and it was so crowded that one person had to work the clutch, another worked the steering wheel, gas and brake, and a third operated the shift lever.

Or not. The things we survived as kids...

Yeah, I know. I am regularly out with a kid whose parents saw fit to buy him (he is 16) a white panel van with a bed and full boom boom stereo system in it (these are educated parents). He transports around half the city. He manages to be wherever trouble is. Not my kid. I don't believe any kid is an angel, so why give them opportunity to be labeled as the harborer of trouble.