Racks for Cars

brucebanner

Hi All,

I'm thinking of buying a car but I also like it to be cycle friendly, i.e., I can fit a bike rack for perhaps two road bikes. Can you please give me your thoughts and, probably more importantly, your experiences with these bikes cars. The cars are ranked according to my preference

- Honda Civic
- VW Golf
- Mazda RX-8
- Lexus IS 200

Ideally, I'd like to get the Honda but if I can't get a bike rack on there, I'll have to consider the other cars.

Aggieboy

brucebanner wrote:

Hi All,

I'm thinking of buying a car but I also like it to be cycle friendly, i.e., I can fit a bike rack for perhaps two road bikes. Can you please give me your thoughts and, probably more importantly, your experiences with these bikes cars. The cars are ranked according to my preference

- Honda Civic
- VW Golf
- Mazda RX-8
- Lexus IS 200

Ideally, I'd like to get the Honda but if I can't get a bike rack on there, I'll have to consider the other cars.

Look up Saris Bones 2 or 3. I have the 3. They fit almost everything, you can look up the cars on their website.

nicklouse

TBH get a towbar fitted. simples. any car is fine then, safe secure and lockable.

mouth

I'd spend the money on a bike instead. Don't need a rack then do you?

andy46

I also have the Saris Bones 3 and while it is a good rack, I would say you might struggle to get it to sit nice on the Honda Civic.

It needs a decent rear bumper to sit on IMO and alot of newer cars tend to be pretty flush at the back nowadays. Like Nick says a towbar would be a better option or even a roof rack on a car like a Civic.

Good Luck

dawebbo

+1 for the towbar

Velonutter

dawebbo wrote:

+1 for the towbar

+2 For the tow bar, safe, aero and secure.

brucebanner

I'm not so sure which cars you guys are referring to.
Will the Saris Bones 2 or 3 fit on all the cars I mentioned?

moonshine

Velonutter wrote:

dawebbo wrote:

+1 for the towbar

+2 For the tow bar, safe, aero and secure.

- 1
Expensive
bike gets manky from road grime borne in vortice behind car

I've a couple of thule roof rack racks (1 x front wheel off one and i think the proride 591)
very good and secure, but i confess to just thowing my bikes in the back of my Beemer 320D estate most of the time.... much easier tbh...

mowflow

Don't know much about boot mounted racks as I've always been too worried that they would mark the car so I've always gone for Thule roof bars with the Mont Blanc bike carriers. Dare say I could fit 4 bikes but 2 is all I've ever carried and they were prefectly secure to 100mph+ (not big or clever :oops: )

As for the cars. I'd get the Civic or the Golf. RX8s are horrible, buzzy cars with a terrible drinking habit and the IS200 is just dull, dull, dull. I've had 2 type Rs (current shape and old shape), best cars I've ever owned and a MK4 golf GTi which I remember fondly. The good thing with the hatchbacks is that if you're on your own you can flip the back seats down and get 1 bike in the boot if you remove the front wheel.

mowflow

Don't know much about boot mounted racks as I've always been too worried that they would mark the car so I've always gone for Thule roof bars with the Mont Blanc bike carriers. Dare say I could fit 4 bikes but 2 is all I've ever carried and they were prefectly secure to 100mph+ (not big or clever :oops: )

As for the cars. I'd get the Civic or the Golf. RX8s are horrible, buzzy cars with a terrible drinking habit and the IS200 is just dull, dull, dull. I've had 2 type Rs (current shape and old shape), best cars I've ever owned and a MK4 golf GTi which I remember fondly. The good thing with the hatchbacks is that if you're on your own you can flip the back seats down and get 1 bike in the boot if you remove the front wheel.

andy46

brucebanner wrote:

I'm not so sure which cars you guys are referring to.
Will the Saris Bones 2 or 3 fit on all the cars I mentioned?

As I said in my earlier post this morning, I don't think the Saris bones will fit a Civic (current shape). You'd be better off with a Golf.

Also think about if your the kind of person who'll get upset if the rack scratches your car (I'm not) if you are, go for tow bar mount or roof rack.