Best way to carry 4 bikes
 

I have read a bunch of bike threads but its been hard to find information about carrying 4 bikes outside the fit.

Has anyone carried 4 bikes outside their fit for trips of less than 100 miles? If so how did you do it and how well does it work?

I can not carry bikes inside as I would have 4 people (2 kids so I'd be under the overall weight limit).

Thanks,
David

roof rack.

You can find one of those that hangs from the hatch, and its better than a roof rack and holds more bikes.

i ordered a hitch adn rack for the hitch. ive read that you aren't supposed to carry more than 2 bikes with the class hitch the fit has.

A 4 bike hitch rack, nuff said. Check out THULE's racks, but yeah check the classification of your hitch and how much weight it can hold. It also matters what type of bikes you're carrying. I mean if you're carry 4 sub 30lb bikes, i'd say maybe, but if you're carrying some gnarly Downhill bikes, I would do 2 roof 2 hitch. Seems that you have 2 kids bikes and so probably not going DHing so I think you'd be alright with straight hitch.

yeah it DEFINATELY matters about the weight.

Yeah, I have two adult bikes (Trek Navigator 100s) and two kid bikes with my 1.25" Thule hitch rack on my van. I believe that it weights more than 150 and less than 200 lbs.

Has anyone used a hitch mount with 4 bikes on a Fit? How was it and how did the car handle?

Thanks,
David

Most of the hatch racks I've seen are only 2-3 bikes. Have you used one that handled 4?

David

The best way to haul 4 bicycles (not motorcycles) with a Fit is with a Fit equipped with Monroe MA811 rear shocks and proper trailer hitch towing a small trailer such as the Tractor Supply $300 one and loaded with the 4 bikes strapped in place.

I'd suggest 2 bikes on a roof rack and 2 on a rear rack. I used a 2 bike rack that attaches with two hooks over the hatch and one to the tow hook. - Works great. Mounting it might be a problem if you have a sport model with the trim wing trim at the top of the hatch.

Clayton is right!
Put adult bikes on a roof rack and smaller bikes on a hitch.
Problem with 2 adult bikes on a hitch carrier, bikes will stick out on both sides of a car by a mile! Fit is a narrow car and it will look ridiculous not to mention it will be just a mater of time before you forget bout the extra width and clips something with them.

Line up your bikes along the rear bumper and you will see how much longer the bike is contrast to Fit's width!

i have a 3 bike hitch and have used it on 180 mile each way trip with no problem and thats going through Bqe roadway and manhattan back through nj to cape may .like they all said are they heavy bikes?? kids bike what size ???

Is that a 3 bike rack a strap or hitch mount? I have only seen 2 or 4 bike racks. Are you using a 4-bike rack with only 3? I could then store 3 on the back and the 4th either on the roof or behind the second seat.

Right now we have been putting 2 adult Trek Navigator 100s and a Trek Jet 20" on the rack and storing a Schwinn in the back of the van. The kids are going to need larger bikes soon so the kid bikes will get bigger.

Hopefully we can solve this so we can trade in the van and become a Prius + Fit household.

David

same here looking to get rid of my Mpv and yes i have a 3 bike rack that goes to the hitch i think i got everything from trailer hitch.com or something to that nature the hitch is three bolts takes maybe 5 min if some holds its while you bolt it in or 10 min by yourself what i did no need to jack it up.

My rack extends to hold 4 bikes but it's not the width that would be the issue. It's how far out back it would extend from the car. ( I'n my case the rack is a 2" so I even had to add the 1-1/4 to 2" converter which would really push out 4 bikes!) This works fine w/2 bikes but a touch wobbly. Bonus though is I can open the hatch with them on it.
I'd to 2 on the hitch and 2 on the roof if possible.
Or 4 on the back with a big "Stay back!" flag ha-ha!:D
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Thanks for the pictures. My current rack is a 1.25" so I don't need an adapter. In terms of distance I could put 3-4 bikes less than that far out so the question would be weight.

My thought right now is to get a single bike carrier for my Prius roof rack to get a feel for how hard it would be for us. Then I can decide how many to put on the roof (if any).

The advantage of 4 on the roof is that I can relatively easily switch between the Fit and Prius. One worry about using a roof rack is set up time. How much effort does it take to set up a rack with bike mounts? When you take the rack off do you keep the rack one large piece or split it into sections?

David

Roof rack set-up is easy but they are not cheap.
With the relatively low height of the Fit getting bikes on and off should be easy too.
Plus that leaves you to get a hitch mounted cargo carrier tray which you may need considering the lack of inside storage if you had 4 people.

Trailer Hitch Cargo Rack and Carrier by Draw-Tite, Reese and Hidden Hitch

Actually I am not as concerned about the cargo space because of our usage pattern. Over the last 2-3 years we have mainly used the bike rack to go on relatively short family rides - a 5-40 mile car ride to an interesting bike trail. The main cargo we will have on these are bike helmets and snacks.

More rarely we have used the rack to transport bikes to a vacation destination within 150-200 miles. This generally has been with my sister in-law so we have had an additional person, bike, and stuff. My plan is to take both the Fit and Prius on these trips - it is more efficient than the minivan and gives us more vehicle options there.

I was more worried about the bikes when I first looked into this but I think the bigger test is going to be whether we can travel longer distances with 5 in the Prius (cause the Fit would be too small).

Thank you all for the help,
David