Permanent roof rack and rear bike rack

Install a permanent roof rack on the resin panoramic roof of the Prius v Five? Can that be done? At the bottom of the following page you can see the temporary roof rack and the hitch bike rack available for the Prius+/v in Europe: Toyota Prius+ - The cleanest family car.

 

And permanently ruin the aerodynamics?

 

As far as the question related to whether you can install a permanent roof rack on the Five with the Advanced Tech Package, I was told by a very helpful guy at Rack Attack Portland that you cannot install a permanent version, but can definitely install a normal, Thule bars and feet rack. I plan to get a the Thule aeroblade on the Rapid Traverse Foot Pack installed this weekend on my Five with the tech package. If you browse Thule.com for awhile, you will start to learn the options, including their fit guide. The idea with the Feet and Bar, 'temporary' rack, is that the feet only sit ontop of the doors, above the door connection point. No weight is ever on the panoramic roof.

Rack Attack Portland - Oregon Location

 

I think the limit of the hitch will be the tongue capacity, which is 200lbs for a Class 1 hitch. So just total all the bikes up along with the rack. I think personally I would not get that close to the limit on the Prius. I've only carried 2 bikes on mine which total just over 100lbs.

 

I doubt if each of your bicycles is close to 50 pounds. My fat tire large frame mountain bike weights 28 pounds and my road bike is way under 20 pounds.

 

I didn't say you can't. It's gross which mean you have to add hitch rack. Hitch rack average between 40-50lbs. Average bike can easily be 30 lbs. to 35 lbs. Downhill rigs now a days, even more! So can get close to the 200lb mark.

Reason I think 200 lbs limit shouldn't be tested with bike rack is because certain 4 bike racks extend out quite far. The Yakima Hold up for instance, extend out over 3 feet with 4 bike option! This acts as a cantilever and forces are multiplied due to that. Yes, there are safety margins calculated in. What can be done as a safety measure is load the heaviest bike closest to the car.

 

Ok, I think this answers my question. I was told only to load 2 bikes on a 4 Bike Vertex Thule because of Torque with a class I hitch. I have 2 adult bikes (a little heavier because hybrids not road bikes) and 2 kids 24". I think if I add this with weight of bike rack probably close to the 200 lb mark. My problem is I can not find a class II hitch for the Prius V and I think if I installed a class III hitch it would be hard to prove I was only carrying bikes and potentially void warranty.

 

I don't see how anyone will even make a class ii hitch for prius. That's just too much load for this car