d2mini's 2012 Prius Five Progress Thread

Here ya go!
Grabbed a quick pic while we were at the wife's office tonite.
I'll get more when I have time.

 

Thanks! I love'em.

 

Curt Tow Hitch installed!
One of the easiest things yet. It only took 20 minutes start to finish!
I ordered the Yakima Holdup hitch-mount bike rack which arrives this week.

 

I have no idea if the hitch interferes with the prius kit. I'll get a kit once the third party folks redesign them for the 2012 model year, and if there is an issue with the hitch I'll modify the kit to make it work.

As far as the rack goes, when I have bikes on the back that are worth more than $4k a piece, weight of the rack is pretty far down on my list of requirements. It needs to be sturdy/strong/secure. It also needs to be the kind where the wheels sit in trays and nothing clamps to the carbon frame or has the bikes hanging at weird angles. The Yakima is the same weight as the Thule T2. Also, the Yakima is the narrowest when not in use and folded up. Only 46" wide vs 60" for the Thule. And there were some other items in various reviews that put the Yakima out on top.

 

Yup, i sure did!

 

Here's some good reviews of the most popular racks.
» Hitch Mount Tray Style Rack Roundup - Sick Lines – mountain bike reviews, news, videos | Your comprehensive downhill and freeride mountain bike resource

 

Got the hitch rack!
Easy to install and seems to work well.
As you can see, and one of the reasons I chose this rack, it's very compact when not in use.
I only have one of the bike carriers installed at the moment. It comes with two but it's rare that I need to carry more than one bike so I figured I'd save the weight and leave it off.
I'll be using it to carry my mountain bike over lunch so I'll take a pic of that later, but another reason I chose this rack is because it also accepts bikes with wheelbases up to 48" and my recumbent is 47".
Speaking of the recumbent, it's full carbon fiber so this tray style rack is great, as nothing comes in contact with the frame. Everything is secured by the wheels.
And from what I can tell the rack is sturdy as heck! Ya, it's a little heavier but that's okay.
Oh, and I still got over 60 mpgs on the morning commute (no bike, just the rack).
I would have been robbed of at least 1-2 mpg with the roof rack I had on my old car, without the bikes mounted.

 

haha, thanks. That's my weekend road ride.
Here's some pics of the daily trail beater, along with a side pic.
FYI, you do need to utilize the tilt-down function of the rack in order to open the hatch and clear the handlebars of the bike when mounted.