Car top bike carrier?

Is there a bike rack available to carry 2 bikes on top of the 4runner?

I've seen bikes standing upright on tops of cars. Can we use something like that?

 

Why not use the hitch? Seems like a PITA to throw a bike on the top of an SUV that has a perfectly good hitch system.

 

There are lots of options to carry bikes on the roof. You’ll need a pair of cross bars and then the actual bike mounts. Which bike mount you use will depend on the bikes themselves. The wheelbase, wheel width and diameter, and whether or not the bikes have fenders will come into play. I suggest you call or email etrailer.com and ask for a recommendation. Tell them if you have factory crossbars or need some, and describe your bikes. Thule and Yakima are good brands to consider.

Check this page for a typical application, and spend a few minutes watching the video. LINK

I think if you buy your setup at a better bike store or REI you could sweet talk them into installing it for you.

 

You can buy a 2-bike hitch rack for less than the feet, crossbars and bike carriers you would need to put them on the roof. If you go with even the best roof trays on aftermarket crossbars that keep the front wheels on, the bikes will sway a lot, and dangerously so if you use the factory crossbars. I'm 5'10" and even though I have a 24 pound XC bike, getting a bike on the roof using the flat sliders I have would involve some serious gymnastics.

 

Forgot to mention, there will be a camper in my trailer hole
Yeah, sorry. We have a hitch mount that works great, but want to bring bike with us camping.

 

Thule makes a set that goes on top of bars, but you may also need Thule bars. Can you not hang them off your camper instead?

 

What type of trailer? I’ve seen some sweet setups where people mount their bikes on the tear drop style trailers, or attach to the rear.

 

Its a smaller hard sided camper. Jay feather micro 171bh

 

this is just some crazy idea from a guy on the internet, but why not have a receiver welded to your camper frame, buy a kuat 2 bike hitch rack, and store it when you're not using it to haul bikes on your camper?

 

I have a similar situation. I wanted to use the bike rack I already have and the roof mount options were pricey/didn't want to lose cargo space in the rooftop basket.

After some experimentation I am using a Curt front hitch with a 2" drop receiver and a Thule Trailway bike rack. The hitch and drop receiver were less expensive than one Yakima roof mount rack we looked at. I tried a 4" drop receiver but that was too close to the ground for comfort. Without any drop the bikes sit too high and obstruct my vision too much while driving. Left the bikes on the 4R all day yesterday to test run the setup and everything was great. No huge interference with lights at night. The bikes created a couple shadows when using the headlights but they were off to the right and off the road and weren't bad.

Obviously, depending on what rack and bikes you have my setup might not work for you.

My biggest challenge now is remembering to turn off the pre-collision system when the bikes are on the front. I forgot to do that on one drive yesterday and it didn't go off but I don't want to take any chances. My understanding is that if an object is moving at the same speed the PCS system won't activate, but if the bikes shift I'm not sure how sensitive the system is.

The great thing about 4R's is the endless aftermarket items to configure things to work best for you.

 

Front receiver on the 4runner... hmmmm. I love that

 

Ok, etrailer has the front mount.
Any one see problems with bikes on front?

 

The issue I see is that the eTrailer offerings from Curt and Draw Tite hang really low. They would compromise your approach angle and you might scrape on driveway aprons when the bike carrier is attached. No personal experience though. If I were going to get a fron hitch I’d want this one that hides behind the front license plate:


CBI doesn’t list it on their website currently, but they might make you one.

A short write-up .

 

I ended up ordering a pair of roof mount trays from RockyMount. "TieRod" I believe they're called. Fairly basic but exactly what we need.
Now how about a couple wheel holders?