Many moons ago, I was shopping for alternatives for carrying bikes on my 01 Outback Wagon and posted in these groups for advice.
I'm thrilled to post success based on info gleaned from the newsgroups. I have a few happy joy joy dances to toss out into the net.knowledgebase:
1) eTrailer.com is way cool. I ordered a Hidden Hitch Class 2, 1 1/4" receiver hitch from them my Outback wagon. A big honkin box with the fully assembled hitch receiver arrived at my house. As promised, it went on remarkably easily. Now, I don't fancy myself a terribly gifted mechanical sort, and I have to say it was a low-risk, very high-satisfaction couple of hours I spent putting that hitch on. The only rough spot in that installation was loosening up the bracket for the carbon canister enough to let the hitch bracket slide between it and gas tank (the cannister bracket's bolts were getting a bit rusty after 3 Chicago winters), but other than that it was remarkably easy. Having done it once now, I could probably put another on a similar Outback in under 30 min. I had no idea putting a hitch on a car would be this friggin easy. All this fun for a whopping $125 plus $17 shipping.
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2) Sportworks (now owned by Thule) hitch mounted bike racks are a joy. Literally, I can mount my bike on one of these in all of 30 seconds. One pressure bar, and one strap, and off ya go. I managed to find a used Mod series 2-bike system for sale locally and it was in great shape. It was a 2" receiver model, but a $60 part from Thule later (which my bike shop had in stock locally) and voila--it now fits my 1.25" receiver and gives me "flip up" functionality to boot. It's easily removable from the hitch as well, and the bikes are quite stable on it. It's remarkably satisfying to watching them in the rear view mirror.
Cost was $175 (used, like-new condition), $60 for the replacement folding receiver. The new equivalent is the Thule Sportworks Transport T2 which runs about $300, but stock is non-existent on these things locally right now. You can get them here apparently:
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Note the 1 1/4" receiver model is limited to 2 bikes. The 2" lets you expand up to 4, but... you can't get a 2" receiver on your Outback installing a hitch yourself, and Sportworks poo poos the use of adapter sleeves.
3) Early in my rack hunt, I picked up a used Yakima Raptor roof mount bike system for $15 at a garage sale. I threw $60 for 2 packs of 24H Yakima MightyMounts, and presto, I now have a pair of Yakima Raptor bike rails on the factory crossbars of the Outback. The system is quiet and sturdy. My Outback now can carry 4 full size bikes, and none of the mounting is a pain at all, and no disassembly is required for any bike. Note: 24H is the right size for my vehicle. Use Yakima's configurator to roll your own. Raptor
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MightyMount 24H (attaches Raptor to Subaru factory roof rails)
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Of course, even with the bargains I managed to find, I've got more money tied up in bike transport than in my actual bike (also bought used for a song), but having good transport gear makes it
_so_ much easier to get to a safe place to have an enjoyable ride. And I can also carry myself and 3 riders to our big annual ride which adds to the fun.
It was remarkable how much crap I had to wade through to get a bike transport system I'd be happy with, so maybe this'll save someone some time.
Best Regards,
-- Todd H.
2001 Legacy Outback Wagon, 2.5L H-4 Chicago, Illinois USA
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