Bike Rack in Houston

I have a Curt hitch. It is actually pretty easy to install yourself. Having a second set of hands helps though. I am selling my Thule T2. I will email you about it. I am heading to Houston actually.

 

I installed a DrawTite hitch. I don't have a picture from the rear with it installed but you can see it in the attached picture. I use a swagman bike rack. It's cheap and gets the job done.

I haven't had time to use the bike rack on my new car yet, so I'm not sure how much clearance there is between the bumper and bike. My previous car, I had to remove the pedal closest to the bumper to fit two bikes on the rack.

The hitch is supposed to be a bolt on; no drilling required. You do need to loosen/remove part of the muffler to get the hitch on. I didn't do it myself--I had a shop install the hitch for me. Took them less than 30 mins.

 

Here are a couple of prior threads on the subject:

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...-curt-hitch-released-ordering-2010-prius.html

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...s-modifications/65328-bike-racks-gen-iii.html

The etrailer.com website sells 3 different hitches, including the curt and the drawtite, and includes pictures of each installed on a Prius:

2010 Toyota Prius Trailer Hitch | etrailer.com

I got my curt hitch through amazon. I chose curt because I liked the idea and look of the round tubing they use, over the square tubing of the others I've seen, and also liked some of the other design details. Curt also seemed to be the only one without a co. name painted on it in large garish white lettering. I should have installed it myself, but didn't have the right tools, so just had it done at a nearby firestone, which turned into semi-farce but eventually got done. Should have driven to my trusted mechanic or bought the necessary socket extension. The instructions say to use a torque wrench, but I doubt that really matters, so long as you don't overtighten.

You have to decide whether you want to use the type of rack that hangs the bike on the frame, or one of the platform styles. The hanging type may be cheaper, and will work with a woman's u-frame if you get an accessory bar that ties to the seat post and handle bar post.

You then have to spend some time looking at different models and thinking about what features are important to you. The big names are saris, thule and yakima, with kuat as a relative newcomer. Their platform style racks tend to run in the $240 to $400 range. There are cheaper platform models like 1up, swagman, hollywood, etc. that may work for you.

Look at mfg sites and also at etrailer.com and rackoutfitters.com. They both create youtube videos demonstrating installation and design of various carriers.

I got the Kuat sherpa bike rack, which only weighs about 27 lbs., since it's mostly aluminum. This is a sophisticated platform style rack with a lot of nice ease of use features, such as a tightening knob, so you don't have to use a wrench to put it on or take it off the car, and an included hitch lock and security cable. I wanted light weight and ease of taking it on and off the car, and ease of loading and unloading the bikes. It also has a design that works with my u-frame and sloping diamond frame townie bikes. The drawbacks are price and questions re the durability of the aluminum versus the steel that most of the high end models use. Since I won't be using it that often, that wasn't a big concern for me.

I almost had a dealbreaker issue trying to figure out how to make the clamp down arms work with bikes that have fenders (normally pushes into the tire just in front of the fork and brakes), but eventually figured out that I could push the arms into the frame where it meets the fork. On the Kuat, the rear tire sits in a plastic pocket at the end of the bar, rather than on top of the bar like most of the others. I did not consider that a plus, especially when the front of the bike came loose while I was still experimenting with alternative clamp down points. All in all its a good rack and probably the best one for me.

Another lightweight alternative is the saris thelma, but I don't think it would work with fenders, and it bolts to the hitch, rather than being easy on/off. FYI, Yakima, Thule and Saris tend to cost extra for some of the little things like locking hitch pins.

FYI, rackoutfitters is located in Austin, so you could probably run up there and see several alternatives in person. Of course if you buy from them, you have to pay sales tax.