kvkumar

Hi,
Does anybody have any good recommendations for carrying a bicycle on my 2013 Rx 450H?

I have read the vendors (Thule, Yakima etc.) websites and there seems to be two options:
A trunk mount 2 bike rack on the back, and a roof crossbar mounted either one or two carrier..

The question is has anybody tried these on the 2013 Rx450H?

The reviews on the trunk mount seem to indicate that the ones that mount against the spoiler could yank the spoiler off (!!).. or even scratch it.. is this true?

If anybody has bought a roof mounted one, is there a model that you would recommend?

Thanks.

sleepysurf

The best option is to install a hitch, and use a hitch-mounted rack. Lots of previous threads on this.

kvkumar

Thanks.. that is the consensus I gathered. One follow up question. Do you know what the weight of a 60 lb hitch does to the MPG on the car?

As it stands, I get no more than 26 on an average tank of gas For an occasional carry of a bike (about 4 times a year) if I had 60 lbs to the weight of the car, I am thinking I am going to not like the mileage too much.

Thanks.

sleepysurf

Not sure about the hitch itself, but I've noticed a drop of ~1 MPG when I add my Saris rack and 2 bikes. You need to decide if the benefit outweighs the lost MPG's. For me, it does.

vlad_a

The hitch weights 43 lbs. The vehicle weights 4600 lbs. Adding 0.093% to the weight of the vehicle will have no noticeable mpg decline. There is no additional air drag, as the hitch is covered by the undercarriage OEM shield.
A few years ago, I had a hitch added to the Prius, which had no impact that I noticed. And Prius is very sensitive to everything.

robartin

I just added a Curt hitch to a 2012 450h this weekend. The only gotcha I can see is that if someone pushes the liftgate open button with a bike rack on, it's gonna do some damage to the liftgate. But then again, if you go with a roof mount rack and you drop your bikes while installing, that's not gonna be pretty either.

I got an Allen bike rack, which are way less expensive than the brands you listed but as I found out there is a gotcha. I think the lower price is due to the fact that it's built out of solid steel, and thus *very* heavy. It can hold 140 pounds worth of bikes but the rack itself weighs 25 pounds.

vlad_a

I was thinking of zip-tying a layer of foam around the bike carrier, where the lift gate would hit, just to prevent such a problem.

robartin

Will the liftgate detect an obstacle and automatically close? Is there no way to disable the electronic liftgate while a bike rack is attached?

VVRX

There is a power gate override button located in the glove box indicated on page 72 of the Owner's Manual.

robartin

Great! Thanks!

GCTJ

My 2011 RXh didn't come with roof crossbars, and with the height of the SUV to deal with, I decided I would go for the hitch mounted options for easier loading. I considered a number of different hitch mount options but I would recommend taking a look at the Yakima Holdup for a hitch mounted rack, which is what I ended up with.

Benefits are
- rack itself is easy to put on and take off, and can be done in a few minutes
- bikes can go on and off without removing any tires
- rack can be adjusted so you can still open the liftgate with the rack (and bikes) on

I haven't had a chance to upload pics but will try to do so later so you can see what it looks like.

chw6586

Probably too late to answer but a trailer hitch gets the bike at a convenient height and doesnt scratch your paint,