Bike rack for GT mtn. bikes

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I copied this from the general tech forum. I thought those here might have a better idea of what works best for them. I'm leaning towards a trunk rack versus a rooftop. Here it goes, give me your input:

I've got 2 GT mountain bikes. I bought a Bell bike carrier and had no luck with it. On the 1st trip, one of the rubber pieces broke and my $500 bike nearly hit the rode at 70 MPH. Not a lot of cash for a lot of you but with my wife and children that would have taken a chunk of my leisure fund to replace (temporarily until Bell replaced it). Thank goodness one side held on. This is the basic carrier that attaches to the trunk of a car. What are my options? One of the problems I ran into was the GT frame build which didn't allow me to place both bikes on the rack properly. Should I go with a car top rack or what? This was a terrible experience that I don't want to repeat. Thanks, Greg
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Do you have a hitch?

How much money can you spend?

I don't have a hitch. I would prefer to spend less than $150 US dollars if possible.

If money is an issue I can tell you how I handled the problem.

I have a Focus. I didn't want a trunk rack and all the roof racks that would fit were out of my budget.

I made a hitch receiver. Cost $20.00 and a couple of welding rods (2")

I also made a hitch mounted bike rack. Cost $25.00 and a couple more welding rods.
I tend to overbuild everything so I could mount a motorcycle on it if I wanted.
I painted it to match the car. $5.00

$50.00 total and a better rack than you can buy.

You may want to consider the same thing.

Ok Mr. Ingenious, post a pic for us remedial people to look at. Maybe we can copy your rack and get our bikes from place to place. Thanks for the input, Greg

It's starting to get dark but this pretty well shows it:

http://pictureposter.allbrand.nu/pictures/peternap/For%20sale/rack%20001.jpg
http://pictureposter.allbrand.nu/pictures/peternap/For%20sale/rack%20002.jpg

I made my receiver from 2" square stock. You would be better off to go to tractor supply and buy a 2" receiver for $18.00. You won't have to finish off the inside that way.

That looks incredibly sturdy. I never thought of a receiver on my little car but whatever works. How is the receiver attached to the car? That looks awesome.

Attaching it took some thought. There's no frame and not much room.

I ran a piece of angle iron from the towing eye on one side to the other side and bolted it in place.
I cut a notch in the angle iron in the center and welded the receiver in place. (You can do that off the car and you could also bolt instead of welding using U bolts)

I attached a 1/4"X1"X 18" tail to the back of the receiver and drilled the end of it.

I took two pieces of aluminum 1/4"X2"X whatever was long enough to spam the spare tire well and drilled the center of them and the spare tire well also.

I bolted it all together with the tail and one of the aluminum struts on the underside of the well and one inside the well.

This is pretty sturdy. I wouldn't want to tow much with that but it works fine for the bike rack and a small cargo rack.

I have a Jeep for all this but my wife won't ride in it.

You;re gonna need to spend some money if you are not that mechanically inclined. And especially if you cant weld. Most places charge ~$100 for the hitch install *it is not DIY for Joe Average* and then another $100+ for the racks. Might be able to get someone to fabricate a rack for you, but after materials and labor, you'll have spent nearly as much and have something not nearly as functional. Or you could get a GOOD trucnk mount rack like the Saris Bones rack. Bell tends to make crap. They are the walmart brand of bike stuff. Bleck.