07-17-2016, 11:02 PM
(07-17-2016, 04:51 PM)Canard Wrote: ...installing a Curt hitch (1-1/4")...
This is a good starting point for bike carrying, IMO. Some people think hitches are klutzy, but they fade into the background when void of attachments, and get the scratchy stuff off your vehicle, which is after all the most expensive piece of equipment.
Check a forum for your particular car and find a thread on hitches to make sure this one mates well. I have had a couple of Curts, and they have a good reputation, but on one of my vehicles, it was minutely out of measurement tolerance and caused a buzz/knock against an exhaust hanger which drove me nuts until I fixed it myself.
The hitch lends itself to other uses which you may not yet envisage. I adapted my bike carrier into a ski carrier (because my roof won't support a load) and also ended up hitching a light trailer for kayaks (for the same reason). The 1-1/4" is perfectly adequate for these uses, so don't worry if your car manual is not recommending a 2" ( a capacity which might tempt people to hook up heavier items than the vehicle is built for).
As for the carrier itself, I went with a cheap hanging-type, and it seems to me to do the job, and has caused no evident harm to bikes. Mind you, I'm not extravagant or fussy with the bikes, as my friends with the celestial models are paranoid about theft and it's not worth the worry to me.
I know you appreciate good technology, but some of those exotic bike carriers cost more than my first student-era car, so I've aimed for utility, and think you can't beat a humble hitch and an elementary carrier.