wont he have to get a hitch though to use the hitch mount one? thats more $$$ right there.

I'd rather get a hitch and not have to worry about the paint getting wrecked. Those trunk and roof racks, even with the pads, have the possibility to scratch paint.

good point, and after thinkin about it a little bit more, having a hitch also gives you the ability to tow if needed. as long as you dont mind spending the money

Those Thule type roof racks somehow torque into the weatherstrips on the top of the 00+ H-bodies...but it'* true that a roof-mounted (or trunk-mounted) anything will muff up your paint. I know, as I use a clamshell cargo carrier on the '98 for family vacations, and it shows

Agreed the hitch is the way to go. I've got a hitch-mounted 4-bike carrier for the '98, and it works very well. I also use the '98 to tow a small popup, so that is a bonus use for the hitch.

thanks for all the replies. A hitch sounds like excellent advice. I'll take a look at some.

-Me

I totally use one of the trunk mounted ones. I find it to be no problem at all.

Pros:
*You can remove it.
*It folds up, then you can stash it in the trunk when you're not hauling a bicycle around.
*You can loop a cable bike lock through it (and a bike) through your trunk so people don't just remove it and make off with it if you have to park somewhere for a short time. (If anyone *really* wants to steal your stuff, they will still do it.)
*You can stick 2 or maybe even 3 bikes on it.
*Rubber pads keep it from scratching paint. You use an elastic pull strap at the bottom to tighten it so things don't move around.
*Use a bungee cord to keep the handlebars and wheels from moving.
*You can drive into a parking garage without knocking the bikes off the top of your car.
*You don't need to install a hitch.
*They're probably the least expensive bike carrier of all the kinds you could get.
*On my Bonneville, I can mount it such that if I undo the bottom strap, I can actually open the trunk with my bike mounted on the carrier. (If I *have* to.)
*They'll fit pretty much any car, so using one carrier among your multiple cars is no problem.

Cons:
*If you haul 2 or 3 bikes on it, the bikes WILL rub around the forks and scrape paint off your bike. If you do this, get some pipe insulation to slide around the forks where they touch.
*They *can* scratch your paint a bit *if* they move.
*Some models are more/less adjustable than others. A model that works well on a horizontal-style trunk might not work on say, the back of a minivan. A very adjustable one might work on both.


All things considered, They're inexpensive and very easy to use.
That being said, if I had a hitch, I'd use a hitch-mount bike carrier.

One more con to the trunk-mounts, they all use a design the uses the fron of the deck-lid for a support point, and that means he decklid has stress put on it that it wasn't designed for. That could cause it to warp.

This is the one we have.
http://www.allenracks.com/subpages/p...trunk/103d.php

Have not had scratching or warping issues, but you do have to be very careful installing rack and loading bikes.

The “being very careful” part gets to be a PITA after a while. It does the job though since we use it only 5 ~10 times a year and don’t go very far with it.

If you plan on using it a lot I would spend the extra $ and do the trailer hitch.

Roof racks do clamp on, you need to find a set of clamps or the proper mounting kit, depending on the rack. Check www.nashbar.com to see.