So after months and hundreds of miles of cycling, having to take both wheels off of my bikes to get them inside my GS-R (could only carry one at a time) I was finally able to get a bike rack with Christmas money. I decided I wanted something that would never touch the paint, so I opted for the hitch-style rack. Of course that meant I had to get a hitch bar with square receiver in addition to the rack itself.

I went with Draw-Tite hitch bar from etrailer.com: http://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Hitc...eid=1994201568

Installation was a snap. On 2-door Integras there are already large holes in the frame rails behind the bumper for bolting the bar in place. It also secures to the rear tow hook. The holes in the frame have a sort of "flange" around the edge, so the tow bar hardware comes with spacers to keep the bar and bolts/nuts from crushing that flange.

In order to get a nut up inside the frame rails, the bar includes nuts with a long "handle" piece welded on, so you can stick it up inside the frame rail. The only problem I had was that these handles were rather thin and flimsy. When I tried to torque the bolts to the specified 75 lb-ft the nut tried to turn inside the frame rail, and actually started to bend and pull the handle up inside as well. Oh well, I think the bolts with locking washers got tight enough.

For the rack I went with a Thule Doubletrack platform style rack. http://www.etrailer.com/Hitch-Bike-R...e/TH990XT.html I don't like racks where the bikes hang from the top tube, especially since most bikes nowadays have sloping top tubes. It comes with locking hardware and keys - the bolt securing the rack to the hitch has a lock, and each bike top tube securing hook has a lock. It also folds up out of the way when not in use, only adding maybe 12" to the length of the car. The whole thing seems very well built, but that also means it's VERY heavy, at nearly 50 lbs. With the tow bar (almost 20 lbs), the rack, and both of my bikes on it, it adds over 115 lbs. to the back end of my car.

The only other minor issue is the placement of the hitch bar is a little farther out from under the bumper than I like, which means the rack sticks WAYY out. But it's no big deal. It actually allows good access to the rear hatch with bikes on the rack.

I carried my road bike to the office yesterday, and of course I was a little nervous about it at first with the whole thing swaying and moving as the car went over rough roads, but it worked great and didn't have any problems. I have to say, that is MUCH easier than flipping my bike upside down, removing both wheels, and trying to stuff everything into the back of the car with half the rear seat folded down (other half containing child seat).

On with the pics

Hmm looks like I need to reapply some undercoating




With the bar installed you can barely see the thing.






The rack, gotta figure out some kind of garage storage solution.


On the car, folded up:


One bike installed:






Two bikes:


At work yesterday:


You can see how far it hangs out off the back of the car:

 

I had kind of the same problem, I autocross so putting 4 Yokohama O32Rs and a toolbox in the hatch was a pain and dirty.

I did not want a receiver hanging under the rear bumper, so we removed the clip, unbolted the rear bumper beam, cut out the center part, [between the mounts] welded in square tube stock and welded a receiver to it, centered behind the licence plate.

Now for both my trailer and bike rack all I do is pop the plate off and both the bike rack and the trailer hitch have a spot for the plate,

I did have the plate on a hinge, flip it up, plug in the rack or trailer hitch, I liked that, but the police did not, they could not read it unless they were right next to me, so I had to change that.

I should have added the receiver long before I did, probably would not have half as many, [or less] scratches to the trim paneling in the back of the car if I had. 94

 

Yeah my rear interior trim is trashed.

I don't mind the receiver bar at all. Unless you're within 10 feet of the car you really don't notice it. Looking out the front door of our office, maybe 30-40 feet away from my car, people are like "huh? where's the bar again?"

Actually the way the rack's post is made that goes into the receiver, I could chop it off shorter and make another hole for the through-bolt, to move the whole rack closer to the car. But I'm not sure just yet if I want to hack up a $280 brand new bike rack. The threads themselves that the through-bolt secures to are contained within this special assembly that's part of the plastic end plug that fits in the end of the tube.

 

Wow, a bike rack on a honda that is actually used for transporting bikes

That's unusual now a days.

 

Thought about a roof rack, and actually could have bought one with the money I had, but I actually like to be able to see the bikes while I'm driving. Not that it would be any different if they came off the rack while driving, but at least it might be less likely to damage the car. Also no chance of driving into the garage and forgetting the bikes are on the roof... course my car is low enough it still might not damage the door.

 

I know right I see alot of people sporting these bike racks just for looks.

 

Got it all reflector'd up!