Our summer travels have us camping a bit, so my mountain bike goes on the roof. The hitch is for a cargo tray that carries our cooler and other equipment that would be a major hassle to get in a rooftop carrier.

I did once rip the nose off a saddle because I forgot to drop it before loading and drove it into the parking garage. But in have seen and heard of so many accidents/ incidents with hitch racks, too. I have seen bikes falling off on I70 a couple times.

It's all about height/clearance. I've had/have both types, for different vehicles...

Truck/SUV: hitch rack (I'm also another 1-up fanboy). Way too much hassle to climb up and load/unload off the roof, plus you gotta constantly worry about driving under low overhangs (garages being the most obvious, but even some gas station shelters, random trees, etc).

Passenger car: Roof rack. Not enough ground clearance out back, so every time you drive out a sloped driveway onto a crowned street or the like, it'll scrape bottom (especially if you have more bikes jutting straight back and not staggered upwards like the 1-up does). Not so hard a reach to load/unload overhead, and enough clearance above for most drive-thrus and such (but obviously still gotta watch out for garages, etc). Also depending on the vehicle, it may not even fit a 2" receiver, and the 1-1/4" receivers may not allow a larger 3-4 bike carrier.

Exception: I've occasionally mounted my roof rack on my truck to carry bikes and/or extra shit in the roof box that I didn't want exposed in the bed, and leave the hitch free for towing a boat or whatever else too.

I prefer a hitch rack. It allows me to attach and remove my bike easily. I have a Surco rack that I got from 4wheelonline.

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Cannondale Slice 08
look keo pedals
fizik k3 arione saddle

and one for our canadian friends.

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ΜΟΛΩΝ-ΛΑΒΕ
we're doomed

i had a kuat sherpa for years and loved it. my latest mtb though wouldn't work, too long. i got the sherpa because i had intended on using it primarily on my jeep and didnt want something that stuck out to far beyond the side. ended up giving the rack to my sister.

i then purchased a rocky mounts from REi during one of the buy one item at retail and get some percent off. i haven't actually used it but like the looks and quality of it so far. i wanted something with a swing away because the next vehicle i'm looking at getting will prob have a hatch on the back and i want the bikes completely clear so i can open the back and still have full access.

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ΜΟΛΩΝ-ΛΑΒΕ
we're doomed

I’ve had both and will never (so long as I can help it) have a roof rack on my car again. We use roof trays on my wife’s car the handful of days we take it somewhere I want to transport my bike & my son’s. Even with good trays, it sucks. I’d get a hitch rack. For value and customer service, Saris cannot be beat; for absolute rock star quality, OneUp; for a compromise between both, RockyMounts.

x2 on hitch. Midwest, here, knows his stuff.

If you are talking about in your garage, simple solution...

When you leave the house with the roof rack on put something in your garage blocking you from putting your car in. For instance a lawnmower. Whatever.

I have a roof box. When we go away with the roof box I put a shovel in the middle of the garage. I have yet to run over the shovel and simultaneously destroy my roofbox.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Guess what page it shows as homepage on this guy's profile?

That's pretty smart, a friend of mine destroyed a sweet Bianchi road bike years ago when he forgot it was on the roof as he pulled in. Thankfully my garage is small and used mainly for storage so I don't park in it; I have a Thule roof box for when we go camping and a Yakima hitch rack for our bikes to go on the back.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

That is a good solution. You could also put the garage door opener (if it isn't built into the car) in a bike bag or something so that you can't open the door without being reminded.

That would also work. Really any method to stop you from being an idiot is what you are aiming for.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

I put a post-it on the instrument panel which reads "bikes on top" every time I look at the speedometer I'm reminded of them.

Stuff like that doesn’t work for me. You see it every time you look at the dash and eventually you just start to ignore it. It just becomes part of the dash.

I need to be more direct with myself.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?