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hatch back bike racks
I have a 2010 Mazda 3 hatch on which I would like to use a rear tailgate mounted bike rack (don’t want to do the tow bar option and prefer to steer away from the cost of a roof set up).
The main problem is the silly little spoiler at the top of the door. There are no racks yet designed to properly accommodate this however I have seen a couple of similar situations (Golf, Subaru) where a rack has the straps running over the spoiler.
I wanted to see if anyone else has had this problem or if they use a similar rack which runs over a spoiler. Does the spoiler have a significant amount of weight on it or does the majority of the force get transferred to the glass and panel work?
I will be carrying at most 2 DH bikes, but more likely just 1 (or just a trail bike).
Any thoughts or feedback appreciated.
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I know you'd prefer to stay away from a roof setup because of cost. But have you tried looking on eBay? I have a 2005 Golf and picked up my Thule Roof rails and bike racks for under $400.
Personally I would never consider putting my Yeti on the back of any car because of potential stone chip damage. If I want to damage my bike then I'd prefer to do my way - in style and OTB. lol. Plus I take my bike everywhere I go. I would find it a Royal pain in the arse to have to remove it every time I needed to get into the back of the car. Which is all too frequent.
Do yourself a favour and get a roof setup. The cost really is insignificant to that of 2010 new car. Your bike will love you for it.
There's some Thule Aero bars here starting bid $75 (no bids):
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Thule-Aero-Bar-Roof-Racks... You'll need to get the Mazda Fit Kit #3069 (I think I paid about $30 for the Golf Fit Kit)
Better still there's a complete set up for $300 here:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Thule-Aero-Roof-Racks-2-x...
Hope this helps?
Phil
+1 to phil's comments. The other risk with rear-mounted racks is the bikes swinging in the slipstream, and knocking into each other and rubbing paint off where the clamps grip the frame.
We never travelled with our high end bikes for about a year becasue of those issues.
Later I got a 4-bike setup using the same style racks and the same bike carriers as the second ebay link listed above, for my Dunnydore.
They're a couple of years old but parts are still available from Roofrack World at Artarmon, and they work really well. Bikes are stable on the roof, and the clamp that grips the downtube is lockable. And no farting about with taking front wheels off and needing to find room for them in the car. Oh, and no paint lost either. All good.
I know you don't want a rear mounted one but thought I would add my 2 cents worth. I recently bought the Thule Euroway 945 2 bike carrier and its great. I was replacing a rack where the bikes hung because I hated it and therefore never used it. The Euroway 945 is easy to get one and off, the bikes are mounted with the wheels on and if you need to tilt it for access it is a breeze to do. The only downside is storing it when not in use.
I couldn't get the roof rack mounted one as my misses may potentially use it and she didn't want to lift the bikes that high. Also, I take my bike to work and park in an undercover car park so the roof rack mount wasn't an option.
Link here
http://www.thule.com/en-GB/AU/Products/BikeCarri...
I used a tie-on rack for a while - still have the scratches on the car... tow bar is the way to go, it shouldnt cost a heck of a lot to get one?
Thanks for the replies so far.
Re the tow bar option - the GF is pretty well against one - even the hayman reese style.
I wanted to avoid the roof option due to cost and also practicality. I like the idea of being able to load the car the night before with bikes in our secure gge and just drive away. A roof option would simply be too high. Same for taking bikes to work - low car park.
I have seen some of the hatch style rear racks and yes, they do look like without care an attention they could scratch.
The roof option may be the only way but having looked into this, if I go brand spankers, I'm not going to get much change form around $800 considering that I will need one for 21kg bike and one for a normal trail bike.
Tow Bar (carasel Tow Bars) I got mine and installed it myself
Bike Rack (GripSport)
Support Local Business
On the roof -
*Too high
*Can't drive into car parks, garages, etc...
*More effort to mount a heavy bike
*Less aerodynamic (so i've been told, still trying to work that one out)
On the rear
* Nice and low
* easy to load and lock
* drive into car parks and garages (load the bike the night before and just zoom, zoom, zooom)
Yep, I run a towbar mounted rack as well. I made mine though.
I went with the rear mounted rack for similar reasons to Jee10.
Mine's light enough to lift take out of the towbar hitch with the bikes still on it. Yet it's strong enough for me to stand on the ends (87 ish kg).
However, in my rush to make it, I didn't make it have the ability to swing down to oen my tailgate (wagon). This is on the list to get done one day. It's padlocked to the car, and the bikes are locked to the rack. So theft is definitely not a possibilty without damaging the bike.
Here's a pic, but ignore my mate. We got my car stuck on his "test track" for his 4WD. hahaha
I have a hatchback strap type one that works just fine. I had a Golf and now it works on the back of a Ford station wagon. Put some cloth tape ($5 from hardware store) under the contact points for the rubber pads as grit gets between the rubber and your car and scratches. The metals hooks that go on the tailgate are plastic coated. I think they are a good cheaper option.
I'm not a fan of the roof ones. I have carports and would hate to forget bikes are on the roof when I drive into the driveway. I can leave both wheels on by using the tailgate rack.