Best/most economical way to get a bike rack on an an OBW?

Used. I found one on

Might most to go custom for the hitch then. Premade hitches for OBW are 1 1/4". Most, but not all 4-bike carriers are for 2" receivers. You can get a custom hitch built for you wagon.

I bought an upgradeable Yak 2-bike carrier, and added another bike mount. OK, since I rarely carry 3, and it's much lighter than larger carriers, but a problem because

3 barely fits (it really takes some forcing to get 3 on).

Mine folds down, and I can fold it out of the way of the hatch with 3 bikes on, but it isn't especially easy. With 4 (if it held 4) I think you'd have to unload bikes first. If you want to open the hatch without unloading withg 4 bikes, I think you need a swing-away style bike rack. Expensive and quite heavy: I think those are best suited to big trucks.

Ah ha!

Based on your experience, how's this one look? Claims to hold 4 with a 1.25" receiver:

But, I'm not sure how it would do holding women's style bikes that lack a horizontal top tube.

-- Todd H.

2001 Legacy Outback Wagon, 2.5L H-4 Chicago, Illinois USA

I did a bit of research on hitch mounted racks for my Forester and settled on Allen.

Sturdy construction, good features, and cheapest by far when compared to the self-styled top of the line competitors. Maybe not as well known a name, but they claim that they invented the rack almost 40 years ago! They come in both 1.25" and 2" mounts. They pivot both at the top and at the bottom for easy access to the tailgate and for safety when you're not carrying bikes (arm folds down to minimize the chance of getting stabbed). The 3-bike version cost only about $100 at Dick's Sporting Goods, and the 4-bike one was just a bit more expensive.

As for a hitch receiver, I concur in the recommendation for

. They have a good Web site that will lead you to just the models that fit your car. I bought the Hidden Hitch for my Forester and just installed it yesterday. The other choice was Drawtite. Prices were equivalent, considering that the Hidden Hitch included a drawbar. While you're there invest in a locking pin ($15 as I recall.)

UPS shipping was very fast and only cost about $20 (halfway across the country). When I think of the small things I've bought on eBay and paid $10 or more in "shipping and handling!"

It did inded match all the holes, though I had to pursuade one metal bracket on the car just a little bit. The kit included all hardware and a minimal but acceptable set of directions. Spend some time visualizing things before you start the job. Things would go faster with a helper, but I managed with my jack and a jackstand. Took maybe an hour and a half. Some claim to have done it in a half hour.

Todd H. wrote:

Hitch mount is not bad. I prefer roof mount myself. The only short coming I can see with a hitch mount, is inaccessible hatch, unless you get the hitch mount that folds down and away from the rear of the car. You should also check with your local bylaws regarding blocking your license plate on the back. Hitch mounts and some trunk mount bike racks block the rear license plate.

Etienne

-- Todd H.

2001 Legacy Outback Wagon, 2.5L H-4 Chicago, Illinois USA

Hitch mounts appear to be okay in IL if their ubiquity is any indication.

Roof mounts are okay, but boy do they leave the car looking ugly when you're not using them, and unless I'm istaken, you need tools to remove em. Hitch mounts you just pull a pin and pull em out (again, unless I'm mistaken), and your car is quite clean and windnoise free.

The killer reason I'd like to go hitch is that I have the subie car top carrier, and for camping trips, the combo of it and a hitch rack would let me bring myself and 3 friends there with bikes and camping gear, which would be quite sweet.

Best Regards,

-- Todd H.

2001 Legacy Outback Wagon, 2.5L H-4 Chicago, Illinois USA

I bought Drawtite for my Forester, Hidden Hitch for my Maxima from them. The HH seems better for the Mazima (more solid, used wider mounting points, no drilling). OTOH installation is nearly impossible without welding: the procedure involves inserting a carriage-bolt into a frame rail, and trying to get the threaded part to come out a hole elsewhere in the rail, which should (but doesn't really) line up with a hole in the hitch, so you can put a nut one it. Also it ended up aimed *slightly* up from horizontal, and is of course set back (being Hidden), so the trunk just manages to *not* clear the bike rack (unless I lower the rack).

Not sure why I chose Drawtite over Hidden for the Forester, but I'm plenty happy with it. Also, I'm really happy with switching from roof to hitch- mount bike carrying.

The wind noise is my main complaint against roof mount (especially with the huge Forester sunroof open). Other complaints are power loss (especially with 3 bikes up there). Ease of damaging your bikes or car (by running into something). And the fact that the primary driver of one of the cars can't seem to lift a bike onto the roof.

Hidden Hitch installed on my Forester with no welding and no drilling, just a little bit of persuading a sheet metal bracket associated with the left side tie-down. It's not a structural member.

I should have noted in my original post that my hitch did end up tilted a bit sideways--it's a half inch or so lower on the right than the left. I'm going to try loosening things on that side and applying some pressure from the jack to see if I can raise it a bit without warping anything else, as there is room for play in the holes.

David wrote:

Yes you do need tools to install and remove roof mounts. But I rarely ever take mine off the roof.

Looks, well.... Personal taste.

Wind noise. You can add a wind fareing on the front of both Thule and Yakima roof racks to minimize wind noise.

I have been looking into a roof item from Thule called the Playpen. This is a roof basket that attaches to the existing roof rack on the Subie. This allows me to camping gear etc... in the basket, and it contains to short bars on either side of the basket to attach two roof mount bike carriers there as well. And it also includes a wind fareing as well.

Etienne

I was very tempted by the Playpen when I bought my box. I really liked the flexibility of just tossing whatever shaped and sized stuff I wanted in there. Then I realized that my first trips were going to be through rain and snow to ski hills. I went with a box. I hate tarps. ;)

For those who are interested, you can fit a much larger box on an Impreza sedan by buying Yakima racks and a Thule box than you can by sticking to a single brand. Yakima racks support a longer distance front to back (on an '02 RS, at least) and the Thule boxes are more tolerant of narrower differences.

Followup to yesterday's post:

The hitch wasn't really tilted much at all. It just looked that way because of the way it's made. Exposure below the bumper at the far left is a bit less than elsewhere; then it curves down a little and continues straight across. I did loosen the bolts on the right side, apply a bit of pressure with a hand-tightened jack, and got 1/8" of play out of it.

I have to admit to not having checked ahead of time for clearance between the bumper and the bike rack (it's not a specification one sees on the box), particularly given the recessed nature of the Hidden Hitch. But all worked out OK. Here are a few measurements from my combination of 2003 Forester, Hidden Hitch, Allen 3-bike 1.25" rack, in case they might be meaningful:

Rack: 5.5" from the center of the hole that secures it in the receiver tube to the start of the triangular brace that connects the horizontal tube to the vertical one.

Rack mounted in the hitch: 3.25" from the face of the receiver tube to the triangular brace.

Smallest clearance from bumper to rack: 3.75" at the pin that secures the tilt-down feature.

Smallest clearance from bumper to vertical tube: 5.5"

BBB wrote: