Bike Rack Follow up
Back in July of 2007, I registered my interest in bike racks for cars. It took almost a year’s worth of months but this quest has come to an end. I got humble. I settled on the Thule Speedway. I picked mine up in person at REI in Santa Monica.
Well, it all started with me finding out that the exhaust pipe of my “girl car”—my Toyota Sienna—blocks a mount point for a trailer hitch. Apart from greed, this would explain why some employee at Longo Toyota told me it would cost $800 to install a trailer hitch undercarriage—they would have to replace my exhaust pipe too. What is worse is that the Toyota Sienna is not really designed for hauling. People do it. But remember it’s a “girl car”—complete with a purse holder.
Not being able to install a trailer hitch means not getting the glamorous Thule 964 Revolver. However, coming off of my grand plan means these:
- A hatch-mounted rack can be used on more than one type of car. This adds more flexibility to the design.
- A hatch-mounted rack might scratch the paint. Hey, my paint is already scratched.
- A hatch-mounted rack is more forgiving than a roof rack when pulling into the multi-level parking structure.
- A hatch-mounted rack demands that the hatch remain closed—or the rack has to un-mounted and remounted. Hey, after watching a few episodes of Survivorman, let’s put this shit in perspective.See the Thule Speedway in action by Rack Outfitters—also check out the Thule 982 Frame Adapter (for children’s bikes) as well…