Hi, all.

If all goes well, I'll be picking up my Baja on Monday. (Tomorrow!) I'm looking through their accesories pamphlet, and they show four different bike carriers. One on the trailer hitch, one for the bed that requires removable front wheels, and two for the top, one of which requires removable front wheels. Can anyone share their experience with any of these?

I'm thinking the trailer hitch mounted one, since my wife is relatively short. I don't want it to be too much of a chore for her to get our bikes on and off. Yet I've heard some of those roof mounted ones have easier mounting/dismounting mechanisms that you'd think ...

Welcome.

There are several posts here on making a homemade bike rack -- that doesn't sound great at first glance, but the rack is straightforward, can look reasonably ok if you take a little time with it and will cost under $60. These are bed-mount style. And there are some alts to the rather expensive subie rack, that are less home-made looking. Saris comes to mind. Yamaha Cobraheads can be adopted to the bed mount. Someone also figured out how to get the bikes into the bed with the tailgate closed.

Search "bike" in this sub-forum and you'll be inundated with ideas.

Search "bike" in this sub-forum and you'll be inundated with ideas.

Thanks. I searched, and there are quite a few homemade options that look good for the "in bed" option. I think I'm still partial to the hitch mouted one, though.

So if anyone's inclined to comment, I'd still like to hear about some first-hand experience with Subaru's hitch mounted or roof mounted bike carriers, or other brands.


Thanks in advance!

I have an X-Port flat bed, hitch mounted rack - I'm not familiar with the Subie version. See here:

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/sub_cat.cfm?subcategory_id=4411

- it holds two bikes I chose this over the racks that secure the bikes just from the bike frame. I have mountain bikes with rear shocks, so it would have been difficult to use that type. Anyhow, the one I have keeps the bikes secure - no fear of having them fall off on the highway plus I can use my bike lock to secure them better.

I have an X-Port flat bed, hitch mounted rack - I'm not familiar with the Subie version. See here:

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/sub_cat.cfm?subcategory_id=4411

- it holds two bikes I chose this over the racks that secure the bikes just from the bike frame. I have mountain bikes with rear shocks, so it would have been difficult to use that type. Anyhow, the one I have keeps the bikes secure - no fear of having them fall off on the highway plus I can use my bike lock to secure them better.

Hey, that looks great. I have a question, though. The dealer told me that the hitch mount that they put on a Baja is smaller than other hitch mounts. It might have been 1 1/2 inches instead of 2 inches. I don't know if he was just trying to scare me away from getting a non-Subaru rack or what. Does anyone know anything about this?

The X-port flat bed looks great. And if it fits on your Baja, it's gotta fit on mine, right? Looks like it'll be easy for my wife to use, too.

Thanks!

Baja has a class I hitch, the two bike Export fits, but the 4 bike requires a class II.

Do not buy anything from Subaru, ALL of Subaru items are made and sold by Yakima and can be bought cheeper through them directly.