bike rack suggestions?

[shanek]

Its easier to load a bike on a hitch than it is to to put it on the roof. My bike wieghs 45lbs and after day of riding liftng it onto the roof is a bit of a chore. The rack also scratched my roof. They come with rubber pads for the feet but it still managed to scratch it. I put some of that clear headlight protector film on it as soon as I noticed the scratch though. Its just personnel preference. If you go with a roof rack Yakima offers 2 different styles for our cars. If you go with the Q towers the rack will fit any vehicle, you just need a different set of clips.

[Eric Clark]

I have had thule and yakima roof racks and I like the thule much better. I find it easier to use and feels better built. I do not trust trunk mount racks as they can easily scratch.

[Paul in NZ]

roof racks are the best way if you have three or four bikes but they have their disadvatages.Trunks mounnts would be ok but you would need to take steps to protect the paint.
So that leaves hitch.I have had a three bike hitch but its best if you stabilise it back to the car with an extra strap or tie down,and most hitch es work best with normal triangle frames.The biggest drawbacks of a hitch is
1) unless you design it esp(which i did) you cant open the boot with the rack in place.The bikes need to be tied down well,and there is a lot of stress on the moount where it mounts on the hitch,and you need to make sure the thing is mounted properly.One other small point,two or three bikes on the roof wil murder fuel economy

[crashit]

I finally got a pic of my new rack.

[eggdog23]

I've got a '94 540 sedan, with hitch.

I would not use a hitch-mounted bike rack. I think Bimmer had a Q and A a few years ago about someone with a Z3 doing this, and it bent the metal where the hitch attached to the car. The weight of a balanced trailer on the hitch is less than the weight directly on the hitch loaded up with some bikes.

[bbig119]

I still haven't bought anything yet, but that's certainly a good point to keep in mind.

[rickm]

I'd go with a roof mount. As far as them falling off, I've never lost a bike. Get a good locking system, I have a Thule that locks the front fork in place. Once locked in it's not going anywhere.

This picture is one of my "lighter" loads. 3 bikes and a surfboard (a 9'8" at that). Drove from Asheville to Destin with the cruise set on 85mph and had no problems. Some wind noise but I still managed to get 29mpg! A couple of years ago I did the same trip with 3 surfboards and 2 bikes, this year we'll have 3 bikes and 3 boards.

Time for me to get a wagon I think.