Quote from richardr on Mar 14th, 2009, 10:13am: Bud,
Speaking of bike racks. I followed your advise,
installed a hitch on my Mazda5 and bought an X-port rack at Performance when they were on sale. The Rans Stratus just barely fits when the wheel holders are turned up-side-down. So now we can transport both bents easily and Vicky can load the Stratus herself, once I put the bike rack on the car.
Due to the weather these past few days, we haven't taken the bikes anywhere on it. My main concern is the care I will have to take driving because the Stratus sticks out about a foot on either side of the car.
Richard
Glad it worked out for you, Richard. Yes, the long wheelbase bikes get awfully long when you carry them sideways on a hitch rack. The Stratus or Rose's Xstream (which is over 3 inches shorter than a production Xstream) are just about the maximum length bike I want to carry sideways with the wheels on. That's one of the cool things about the new Long Bike Tote. It will let you remove either the front, or both wheels, which shortens things up a lot.
Of course, it's a lot easier with a rack that doesn't make you take the wheels off, and I've gotten spoiled by my quick loading Sportworks rack, but some bikes just get too long for that.