Quote:
Originally Posted by bwb
The main reason I went with a roof rack was that I only have one bike to move, but needed the cargo capacity for moving and wanted to do it in one trip (just graduated from college... moving up to silicon valley). I currently live in socal, so renting a vehicle would have likely been cheaper (total cost of rack + bag + bike rack from REI is about $700), but I may attend grad. school out-of-state in the future and wanted to avoid needing another vehicle for that move. Plus I can take the roof rack equipment as a relocation tax deduction -- would not be able to do that for graduate school.
Having a roof rack my also help if I need to move a mattress or something - unlike the hitch. To those that have a roof rack: do you need something extra in addition to the crossbars to move long objects (e.g. a basket)? Or attach tie-downs to the front of the vehicle?
I have a friend up there who also has a mtn. bike, but I'll probably just assemble some fork mounts on a 2x4, to move the bikes inside the vehicle. I'm still considering ordering a hidden hitch and the $90 2-bike hitch rack from etrailers, but I wasn't sure of the quality... do you think it would last multiple 2,400 mile trips (e.g. grad school) without a problem?
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The cross bars are pretty close together on the short roof of the Fit. To move a mattress, you will need to fasten a couple of long supports, like 2 X 4's to the outside edges of the cross bars. But that much flat surface (the mattress) will act like a wing and try to fly off the car at anything but surface street speeds.