Hi everyone. I joined your group last week and have been enjoying all the topics of discussion on the site. I just bought a 2012 pro 4x last week and I love it more already then the subaru outback I traded in for the X. So from the title of this post, this is my question and dilemma. On my outback , i had a yakima roof rack that I had no problem throwing my mountain bike onto the roof of, but the X is SOOO much higher, I just dont think that even with a 2 step stepstool, I'd even be able to get it up there, and much less fit the X in my garage with the bike rack attached which would be a huge pain to take it on and off everytime I wanted to bring the bike someplace.
I'm towing a small A-liner camper that does have a 2 inch receiver on the rear bumper but from what i've been told from the Aliner camper forum, there have been many people that the welds broke on the receiver hitch that is welded onto the rear bumper of the camper and have destroyed bikes and camper bumpers from bouncing down the highway.
So, a couple options i've come up with is a front receiver hitch on the X and mount a bike rack on that. I am concerned with losing clearance on the front though with that plan. Secondly, I thought i saw a picture on here of someone that had their bike inside the X with the seats folded down and the front tire off. I have not tried this yet to see if it would fit that way, but I really dont want to take up my trunk area with a bike on a long trip if i can help it.
And then lastly, my final option would be to get an over the back hatch bike rack, but the drawback with that one is, I cant open the back hatch without removing the bike.
So, i'm not really happy with any of my choices as to carry my bike while towing the camper.
What would you guys do and do you have any photos of bikes actually IN the cargo area of the truck itself?
Thanks for a great site and i'll be checking in quite often,
A VERY happy X owner,
Erik
:wahrsager-big:
I'm towing a small A-liner camper that does have a 2 inch receiver on the rear bumper but from what i've been told from the Aliner camper forum, there have been many people that the welds broke on the receiver hitch that is welded onto the rear bumper of the camper and have destroyed bikes and camper bumpers from bouncing down the highway.
So, a couple options i've come up with is a front receiver hitch on the X and mount a bike rack on that. I am concerned with losing clearance on the front though with that plan. Secondly, I thought i saw a picture on here of someone that had their bike inside the X with the seats folded down and the front tire off. I have not tried this yet to see if it would fit that way, but I really dont want to take up my trunk area with a bike on a long trip if i can help it.
And then lastly, my final option would be to get an over the back hatch bike rack, but the drawback with that one is, I cant open the back hatch without removing the bike.
So, i'm not really happy with any of my choices as to carry my bike while towing the camper.
What would you guys do and do you have any photos of bikes actually IN the cargo area of the truck itself?
Thanks for a great site and i'll be checking in quite often,
A VERY happy X owner,
Erik
:wahrsager-big: