Good Cars for Bikes

[Ritamarie]

I witnessed two cyclists backing their motor vehicles into each other last year in a popular trail head park in Seattle. A few bikes got smushed...

Sorry, had to chuckle at that.

I like my bikes inside the vehicle. There have been plenty of times I've gone to/from a ride in the rain. Also, plenty of times I'm going to another ride in a day or two and just leave the bike in the car, or need to load it up a day or two early. It's safe, snug and dry inside.

I have a Toyota 4Runner, way too big for your needs, but I pull a small horse trailer with it too so it serves a lot of purposes. If buying American has any appeal, my husband has a Chevy HHR which is a hatchback and we get two bikes in there easily with the front wheels removed and the back seat down. The seat has to come off my husband's bike because it's tall. Good gas mileage, zippy little car.

[GLC1968]

but I think they would fit with the wheels on also.

Yep, they did in mine. I could also easily put my bike in the back of my Mini (wheel off).

Now we use our Toyota Matrix for bike transportation. They can fit inside with wheels on, but they have to lay on top of each other. DH's is too tall to stand up, we tried. We usually just use our trailer hitch bike rack. Even with bikes on the back, we get about 33-34 mpg highway. We just turned over 90K miles on the car and it still drives like new.

[Ritamarie]

Toyota Rav4 with a truck bed mount just laying inside.

Or just get a couple of these http://www.performancebike.com/bikes..._1031488_-1___ and mount them on a piece of wood.

[copperlegend]

The BF's mother has a Honda Element, and she easily transports her fully assembled bike in there, standing up! I think there are even hooks for a couple bungee cords.

[runningteach]

I have a Toyota Rav4 and can put my bike in without taking a wheel off. Fits great. It is easy to get my bike in and out. Picked the Rav for that reason when I needed a new vehicle. Recently I was hit from behind in a 4 car accident, and have to say that it got crushed, but I was fine. Luckily I wasn't transporting one of my bikes.

[wavedancer]

I like my Passat wagon. We can fit both bikes with wheels on in the back, lying on top of each other with a packing blanket between them. I will keep this one until it dies, but am also looking at other options for the future. The Fit sounds good. Has anyone tried or seen the Mazda 5? It looks like a pretty good option for gear transport Mazda 5

[zoom-zoom]

Has anyone tried or seen the Mazda 5? It looks like a pretty good option for gear transport Mazda 5

It's OK. We would look at one if it were possible to remove the rear row of seats. For a family of 3 we would have NO use for that and it would leave a TON of room for bikes if those could be dragged out or even if Mazda offered an option without the rear bench--it's too small to be useful for anyone over the age of 7.

[irrealised]

I have a Rav4 and I love it. I have two fork locks mounted on a 2x6 and can fit two bikes in the trunk AND keep the larger half of the backseat up.

[jp4995]

I have a Ford Escape (2008 model) and it's great for bikes! My bike and my husbands bike fit in the back (seats folded down, front tires removed) upright, we hook up a couple of bungee cords to the seat brackets and it's good to go. We put the front forks in a couple of fork lock mounts to protect them.

I have the V6, 4WD version and I get way above the EPA estimated fuel (estimated is 17 city/21 hwy), I get around 19-20 city and upper 20's on the highway. It also comes in a 4 cylinder and/or 2WD for a little bit better gas mileage. There is a hybrid option but it is a bit more expensive.

[Jaclyn]

We have both the Element and the MINI, and love both.

The Element is typically configured without the rear seats. It holds our tandem (with the back wheel between the front seats) as well as two single bikes and a ton of gear. You can hose out the interior! My only complaint is that the roof is high enough that this 5'0" kayaker really struggles to load our kayaks on top (we carry a small footstool).

The MINI carries two single bikes, but only with at least one of the seats pushed pretty far forward (it would be difficult with two tall passengers). My bike fits great with the passenger seat pushed forward. With two bikes, we put a picnic blanket over my bike on the bottom. Must remove both front and rear wheel on my partner's 58cm bike to put on top. But it works.

I do not want my bikes outside - too many risks. We hit one of those 7'6" warning bars once with three bikes on the roof rack. We were very fortunate that we only bent the rails on a saddle. And although we own a Saris Bones trunk rack, it is almost never used.

[Blueberry]

My only complaint is that the roof is high enough that this 5'0" kayaker really struggles to load our kayaks on top (we carry a small footstool).

Heh. It's not any better at 5'4.5". My DH has learned to lift our sea kayaks by himself - I stabilize the ends....

[skinimini]

I love my Mini!!! And, you have the option of a bike rack that fits conveniently on the rear bumper. Costs the same whether you order custom (when you order the car) or retrofitted. Whenever other Mini owners around Atl. see my bike rack, they drool! I'll post pictures in a bit.

[channlluv]

+1 on the Rav4. I love mine, too. I can load my Ruby Comp with the wheels on, plus my daughter's Trek mtb, and all our gear, toolbox, picnic basket, and all the stuff we normally carry in the wayback.

Normal gas mileage is in the neighborhood of 24mpg, but when we drove cross-country, fully loaded, we were getting 400 miles to a tankful, or 28mpg.

Roxy

[Pedal Wench]

I should have added to my initial Rav4 comment. Yeah, I use the bike mount (and could have easily bought just the mounts and used a piece of wood, but I like the adjustability that I get with the bar - I can slide the mounts around depending on how many bikes and which bikes I'm using.

And, yes, I can also get the bike in with the wheels on, even a bike with aerobars. There's one in there right now like that! But, it's less secure and can slide around. I worry about the on my Colnagos - they're all handpainted, and the paint is notorious for chipping, so I'm a little more careful with those guys.

[Cataboo]

subaru outback - hitch rack on the back - very easy to get the bikes on, and I have the yakima lock/cable to lock the bikes to the car, the lock to lock the rack into the hitch, and if I'm going to be leaving the bikes on the car - I start adding more cables/U locks/whatever to make sure all the wheels & bikes and such are locked to the car.

I've got the roof rack and have a couple bike mounts for up there - which I use if I want easy access to the trunk for whatever reason, or if I need to carry a ton of bikes. I can lift the light road bikes onto the roof rack by myself without having to stand on anything.

I can also just lay down the back seat and fit the bike in the car, I can stack a few on top of each other if I want - I haven't tried removing the wheels and seeing if a bike would fit in the trunk area,but I think it probably would. I can also just put a cloth or someting to protect the back seat and put the bike in the car in the back seat area (but I have a small bike).

Regarding kayaks - the outback's a little high for my 5'1ness to put the kayaks up on the roof just lifting. If I've got a person helping me, I can lift one end, as the other lifts the other end... Okay, maybe what I really want to say is, I can't lift a 60 lb 17 feet kayak straight onto the roof by myself, I could probably manage a shorter kayak. So what I do is - I've got rollers on my rear roof bar and a kayak loader extension that comes out of it... so I pull out the extension, I put the front end of the boat on that extension, resting the back end onto the ground - and then just pick the back end up and push it forward onto the rack. Then I can stand on the back bumper and on the wheel wells to tie the kayak down.

I think a similar system might work for some of the shorter people with a honda element, to put the kayak up. Although, if it's a short kayak, it should fit in the back of the element (my friend carries her sit on top like that)