BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Will you be leaving the car (and bike) unattended?

I don't have a great solution for locking bikes and trunk-mount racks to the car. The best you can do is to find something under the rear of the car -- maybe there's a tow loop there -- to run a cable through.

I don't think the fact that you have a hybrid will make any difference.

I have a Saris and love it. Made from recycled materials in the US too.

@ Lyle: Probably not...although come to think of it, I probably will have to stop for lunch and my dad will want to eat too, so he can't stand guard at the car. I'm mostly concerned about it falling off while I'm driving.

@rsprake: Which model do you have?

What's the concern on the hybrid? Tube dimensions should not be a problem. If it is a sloping top tube, there is a bar that you can latch between the seat post and the stem, to make it straight across. I have one I don't use all that often that you could borrow for a week or two.

I've used a truck rack many times, btw. You will never find it to be as secure as you want it to be. I always tie the rack down with extra straps, and secure the bike to the rack with bungees. The rack will sway. But, I've moved bikes this way between Chicago and Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh and DC. Never lost one or damaged one.

One suggestion. Put an old sock on the pedal closest to the car bumper. Even if it looks like you have plenty of clearance, the bike will sway top to bottom as you load/unload/secure it. I've scratched more than one bumper by forgetting this little tip.

As for securing it.....the trip to DC is only 4 hours. You can spell each other for the meal/restroom breaks, or park in a location where one person can always see it from a window. It will be pretty easy to do if you stop between Pittsburgh and Breezewood, slightly harder if you wait until after Hagerstown to stop.

You could probably loop a good size cable lock around something substantial in the trunk and leave the loops hanging out to lock around the frame. It would keep the casual thiefs from messing with your bike.

Also maybe take off a wheel and put it in the trunk, make it less "stealable".

@Swalfoort: The diagonal top tube is my biggest concern. Also, thank you for the offer, but I'll be in DC for awhile and wouldn't be able to return it to you for a couple weeks at least.

I've often seen socks on racks, and I wondered what those were for. Well, I have lots of lonely socks, so I'll try that. I'll do the cable lock thing too.

+1 on the "old sock on the pedal closest to the car bumper"

I find that if I have my bike on my car, and want to go into a store or restaurant, I just take the bike off the car and lock it as I would if I were riding it. You can usually find a sign post or railing of some sort to lock to pretty much everywhere. Just dont forget your bike when you get in the car to leave.

Seems like Thule is a common bike/ski/board rack and cargo manufacturer. My only history with them is that my mom had a rooftop cargo container and rear-spare-tire-mounted bike rack, the latter of which is pretty intuitive and easy to use.

I've considered car trunk-mounted bike racks for the future. Any recommendations or concerns about products from Thule in general?

I think thule makes pretty good hitch/roof rack, but I think saris trunk racks are still much better than thule or yakimas.

I thought about a roof rack, but my Buick (heh) has no attachments, at least that I know of, so I'm sticking with the trunk rack for now. One of my friends hooked a roof rack up to his Mini, but I think it was better equipped for that.

The downside of roofracks are 1) you have to be able to lift your bike overhead, and 2) dont try to drive under anything with low clearance(like a parking garage) or you wont have any bikes left.

And they are also bad for your gas mileage.

@greenbike, I have a Saris Bones for two bikes. It even fits my wife's step through frame which I put on the rack using the seat tube with the front wheel facing the ground. It's not the most elegant solution but it does in fact work.

@greenbike You don't need attachments, the roof rack takes care of that. Hit Thule.com or Yakima.com and they have fit guides for any car. The real investment is in the feet/pads since they are custom for each car. The bars and bike mounts can be had for cheap on CL or Ebay all the time. I bet I don't have $200 in my rack and can carry 4 bikes.

Saris Bones 2, with Saris Bike Beam Trunk and Hitch Rack Crossbar Adapter for Dual Suspension and Women's Bicycle Frames, the best. Just buy it and don't look back.

I use a Hollywood rack. Cheap, carries three bikes, no complains.

Thanks everyone for the tips. I'm going to head out in the next couple of days to pick one up---the suggestions are really helpful. I'll let you know which one I get.

Alright, the acid test results:

Got a Hollywood rack from Biketek--Express I think--with an adapter bar. The rack was easy enough to set up, but I had some difficulty with the adapter bar because my handlebars are adjusted very high and for some reason, I can never get the bolts to loosen with my hex keys. Also, the way things went, the adapter bar didn't quite fit in the rack as easily as I had expected, but that was more easily solved.

After wrestling with the bike a bit, I decided to stop by Trek before I got on the road and the mechanic nicely came out and brought my handlebars down for me. Thank God.

I'm pretty pleased with the security of the rack, although the bottom straps will slip off my trunk every now and then because of the way the bottom of my trunk is. However, I used extra bungee cords and, after a little resetting at a rest stop, the bike didn't budge going up the steep hills in W.Va. and western Ohio.

Thanks to all for the advice, esp. for the "sock on the pedal" tip. It really helped a lot to have all this info!! Happy bicycling....