Do anyone know of a good hatchback styled bike rack for the xB?
...cant afford the Yakima roof system right now...

 

Then save up until you can. I'm not sure you could find one that would mount properly and securely to our hatch.

 

Didn't some owners claim that the hatch was prone to denting from these type of racks?

 

there are used Yakima racks on eBay, affordably

 

P.S.
I should say base racks.. rack upgrades, such as for the bike could be purchased later.. I am piecing my Yakima together this way
Just a thought

 

The hatch is not a good place to mount anything.. the outer sheet metal is tin can like.. there is a inner plate that is strong, but for impact use only.. the body itself wil easily dent/bend.. I wouldnt put anything near it..

the other alternative.. get a trailer hitch with a universal bike adapter..

 

These are the LEAST helpful comments I've ever seen on ScionLife.

I have a hatch-mounted bike rack that I use all the time. It's made by Bell, and it didn't require extensive retrofitting nor did it cost more than the bike.



It works perfectly. The majority of the weight hangs off the top two hooks, and the lowest piece fits perfectly where the tailgate meets the bumper. I wouldn't stand on the place where it contacts the bumper cover, but for the little amount of resistance needed to stabilize the bikes it's just fine.

I have used this rack for years without incident, including MOVING with it, so I don't see what the fuss is about. Frankly, I don't even see HOW you could get dents from this sort of thing, unless you have no concept of weight distribution and put it on all stupid, or backed into a telephone pole while it was on the car.

Here's the amazon link, but I got mine at SportMart (you should get it somewhere it's easy to return, in case you don't like it). Target carries them too, but they're really crappy on their stock. Good luck, happy biking!

http://www.amazon.com/Bell-Triple-Lo...8291712&sr=1-7

 

...thanks for the link. That's what I'm talkin about...a proven and tested product at an affordable price. I may still get a yak later down the line but this puts me in the game.

 

glad to hear u say it works, but it scares the poo outta me

 

^^ for real..

 

Well, I'll let you know if my back door falls off. In the meantime, rest easy; you'll get at LEAST two years out of it ;)

LOL, I know what you mean - it was definitely a Starter Rack for a Starter Bike. I think the bike itself cost me $53 at Wal-Mart? Geez, I guess the rack DID cost more!

Frankly, I'm keeping the rack - I am incredibly lazy - er, I mean EFFICIENT - and there is no way I'm taking my damn wheel off every time I rack the bike. And drilling into the roof of a precious endangered xB is just something CRAZY PEOPLE do.

I'll take pictures of the Bell rack tomorrow, when it's less...um...
...dark.

 

Exactly right. Anything that touches the paint is a Bad thing! Stick with the Yakima (sure it touches the paint but some clear 3M down first will cure that) or go with a hitch set up. Those hatch mounted jobs are just asking for trouble.

 

My thoughts exactly... I'm sure it works, but there's no way in hell I'd ever run one.

 

I've got a very similar one, guys (although I'm not feeling quite as militant about it as ZOMGXB ).
I've used it dozens of times with my mt. bike, with no problems at all. It's very padded at any point it touches the car, and as mentioned, most of the weight is placed on the upper mounting point anyway. If you saw it in place, you'd see there really isn't any reason for concern. I really like it over the Yak Rack because it's so easy to swap from one car to the next.
Trust me, as **** as I am about cars, I wouldn't dream of putting anything on any of them that I thought would do any harm!

 

It'd prolly be alright onTCM but on BCP just looking at the paint wrong leaves a mark. If I gotta carry a bike somewhere I'll use my full sized van.

 

Ah. Gotcha. Hadn't thought about the darker colour paint concern...
Always better to be safe than sorry.

 

YOU MUST BUY ZE BIKE RACK! NOWW! MACH SCHNELL! ::starts screaming incoherently in German::

 

NEIN NEIN NEIN!

 

Ya know what .. i was driving on the LIE this morning and thought of this thread. There was a 1st gen with a nice looking bike rack on the back. It anchored with 4 feet, top 2 were on the glass and the bottom 2 were just outside the lisence plate. 4 mounting straps, 2 on top and 2 on bottom.

From what i remember and could see, the maker was Sipe or Stipe .. i know it started with an S and had an orange looking swoosh in it.

 

Just FYI, I dug out a pic of my rack mounted:
The top pads are against the window (almost no weight there), and the bottom one is resting on the somewhat-reinforced hatch handle, though most of the weight seems to be on the top straps attached to the top of the hatch itself.
This has worked for me and my mt. bike (sometimes more than one) dozens of times.