I've seen cars with bike racks that connect to the trailer hitch and secure the bike by the wheels (rather than the tube frames which scratch the paint off). Anyone done this with their Vibe?
Well - I've got one of the Voyager models that clamps onto the tube frame. Mine does not scratch the paint at all. Both sides of the tube clamps are coated in a very thick layer of soft rubber. So the only way it would scratch is if there were dirt of debris in there when you mounted the bikes.Me - I just keep the channels clean, and haven't had any problems with paint scratches on my bikes at all.
2003 Shadow Vibe -- Alloys, Auto, and Allota fun!Vibe #4,873Sadly, traded-in for a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan
Check out the racks made by Sportworks (www.sportworks.com) They are the same manufacturer of many found on the front of city buses. I have a 2 rack system and it works great! BobMono Shadow GT
I have a Yakima ROC 2 bike rack that attaches to the hitch. It holds the bikes by the top tube. The cradle the bike sits in is rubber coated, it does not scratch the paint.
ive been looking scoping out bike racks lately and im prolly going to get what the orginal poster is talking about usually called hitch mounted tray bike racks or hitch mounted cradle bike racks ............was out with my gf and stopped at a bike shop and two cars over when i was leaving was a couple securing two bikes to a trunk mounted bike carrier on their vibe which looked nice...stopped for a second to make short chitchat by asking what carrier is that and they said one from dicks sporting goods wernt sure which one...mentioned to them about GENVIBE.com and my sticker on rear hatch window but unsure if they heard me.....think I heard her say something like thats a nice color to her husband or something as I drove away this one seen here is $144.95they go all the way up in price to near $500.00 just like the other bike racks