Toyota Prius 2005 bike rack

Suggestions please for a Prius 2005 bike rack. (I've seen one that
connects to a trailer hitch). Please respond to group and by e-mail

Thanks!

Zemaits

I bought a 2" hitch from http://www.coastaletech.com/04hitch.htm and a
hitch-mount rack from somewhere else. It works very well. I can open the
hatchback with the rack mounted (but not with bikes on it). The hitch is
about $150 and the rack about $200.

The hitch was pretty easy to mount on the car. All you need is a socket
wrench. There are already all the holes needed under the car. I posted some
pics on one of the Prius websites.

George


"zemaits" wrote in message
oups.com...
Suggestions please for a Prius 2005 bike rack. (I've seen one that
connects to a trailer hitch). Please respond to group and by e-mail

Thanks!

Zemaits

"George Farnsworth" wrote:

I bought a 2" hitch from http://www.coastaletech.com/04hitch.htm and a
hitch-mount rack from somewhere else. It works very well. I can open the
hatchback with the rack mounted (but not with bikes on it). The hitch is
about $150 and the rack about $200.

The hitch was pretty easy to mount on the car. All you need is a socket
wrench. There are already all the holes needed under the car. I posted some
pics on one of the Prius websites.

Mine's the '02 ("Classic"). In February, I ordered the receiver from
Coastal Electronic Technologies (same place George is recommending).

Part of my story with them can be viewed at:

http://www.nbeener.com/WRONG_RECEIVER_PRIUS_033105.doc

(for some reason, I pasted the e-mails in reverse chronological order)

Weeks went by after the original order without hearing from them.
They didn't answer my e-mails (asking for an update) or return my
calls. When I finally got them on the phone, they blamed that on an
overly zealous spam filter (that works on the phone??)

The rest of the story is: it's now 4/21 and I still don't have a
receiver from them, or any update as to when to expect it. They were
all too happy to charge my credit card for $178 back in February,
though.

They have given me, perhaps, the worst customer service experience of
a four decade life. I know of *no* other source for a receiver for
this car or I'd have dropped this in a heartbeat and asked Visa to
stop the charges.

Here's a business opportunity (Mark Hickey: can you make one in
titanium??) for somebody.

Hope your story turns out better than mine has.

**looks like my server ate this. Forgive me if it's a double-post**

"George Farnsworth" wrote:

I bought a 2" hitch from http://www.coastaletech.com/04hitch.htm and a
hitch-mount rack from somewhere else. It works very well. I can open the
hatchback with the rack mounted (but not with bikes on it). The hitch is
about $150 and the rack about $200.

The hitch was pretty easy to mount on the car. All you need is a socket
wrench. There are already all the holes needed under the car. I posted some
pics on one of the Prius websites.

Mine's the '02 ("Classic"). In February, I ordered the receiver from
Coastal Electronic Technologies (same place George is recommending).

Part of my story with them can be viewed at:

http://www.nbeener.com/WRONG_RECEIVER_PRIUS_033105.doc

(for some reason, I pasted the e-mails in reverse chronological order)

Weeks went by after the original order without hearing from them.
They didn't answer my e-mails (asking for an update) or return my
calls. When I finally got them on the phone, they blamed that on an
overly zealous spam filter (that works on the phone??)

The rest of the story is: it's now 4/21 and I still don't have a
receiver from them, or any update as to when to expect it. They were
all too happy to charge my credit card for $178 back in February,
though.

They have given me, perhaps, the worst customer service experience of
a four decade life. I know of *no* other source for a receiver for
this car or I'd have dropped this in a heartbeat and asked Visa to
stop the charges.

Here's a business opportunity (Mark Hickey: can you make one in
titanium??) for somebody.

Hope your story turns out better than mine has.

On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 14:18:09 GMT, "George Farnsworth"
wrote:

I bought a 2" hitch from http://www.coastaletech.com/04hitch.htm and a
hitch-mount rack from somewhere else. It works very well. I can open the
hatchback with the rack mounted (but not with bikes on it). The hitch is
about $150 and the rack about $200.


Thanks George, for answering the question I had just decided to ask
today.G Looking forward to getting the hitch ASAP and being able to
keep the bike intact for travel. I was not sure if it required any
welding, the thought of which brings a look of terror to Prius owners,
with all the electronics onboard.
RAG

*NOW THIS WILL BE A TRIPLE POST, EVENTUALLY. MY NEWS SERVER'S DOWN.
SORRY. WANTED THE OP TO SEE THIS*

George Farnsworth wrote:
I bought a 2" hitch from http://www.coastaletech.com/04hitch.htm and
a
hitch-mount rack from somewhere else. It works very well. I can open
the
hatchback with the rack mounted (but not with bikes on it). The hitch
is
about $150 and the rack about $200.

The hitch was pretty easy to mount on the car. All you need is a
socket
wrench. There are already all the holes needed under the car. I
posted some
pics on one of the Prius websites.

George


"zemaits" wrote in message
oups.com...
Suggestions please for a Prius 2005 bike rack. (I've seen one that
connects to a trailer hitch). Please respond to group and by e-mail

Thanks!

Zemaits


Mine's the '02 ("Classic"). In February, I ordered the receiver from
Coastal Electronic Technologies (same place George is recommending).

Part of my story with them can be viewed at:

http://www.nbeener.com/WRONG_RECEIVER_PRIUS_033105.doc

(for some reason, I pasted the e-mails in reverse chronological order)

Weeks went by after the original order without hearing from them. They
didn't answer my e-mails (asking for an update) or return my calls.
When I finally got them on the phone, they blamed that on an overly
zealous spam filter (that works on the phone??)

The rest of the story is: it's now 4/21 and I still don't have a
receiver from them, or any update as to when to expect it. They were
all too happy to charge my credit card for $178 back in February,
though.

They have given me, perhaps, the worst customer service experience of a
four decade life. I know of *no* other source for a receiver for this
car or I'd have dropped this in a heartbeat and asked Visa to stop the
charges.

Here's a business opportunity (Mark Hickey: can you make one in
titanium??) for somebody.

Hope your story turns out better than mine has.

Its not cheap, but what you want is a hitch rack like the ones made by
Saris. On last year Sequoia Century, I lost a contact and decided to
SAG it down the hill (instead of descending Page Mill with only one
eye). The driver had a 2004 Prius. Wow, fantastic car. He had been
cruising up and down the hills all day and was averaging a "low" of
46mpg!

His car had a Saris hitch rack that attached under the rear bumper held
either 2-3 bikes. Excellent rack for the car!

Thanks, BFD

Do you remember the model number of the Saris rack?

Thanks!

Zemaits

Thanks, George! Do you have a recommendation for a rack to go with this
hitch? And what is the URL where I can find the picture you have
posted?

Zemaits

Go to www.saris.com, it list the type of hitch racks and accessories
that are available. There is also a guy who made his own hitch rack
with photos for older priuses:

http://john1701a.com/prius/prius-hitch.htm

http://john1701a.com/prius/prius-album14.htm