My GF drives a VW Beetle Convertible. A lovely car, truly, but somewhat lacking in places on which to attach a bike rack. Neither Thule nor Yakima make a rack for the new Beetle convertibles; she discovered the Saris Bones trunk rack and, according to the folks at Saris, it'll work to carry two bikes if you use the "Hatch Hugger" attachments. The Hatch Huggers get put into the trunk over the top of the hatch; the trunk gets closed, and the straps get pulled until the huggers press the underside and hold tight. I was dubius, but the folks at Saris insisted it would work.
We tried it out this past weekend.
With one bike - hers, a light Yo Eddy! - there appeared to be no problem. With both of our bikes - or, even just mine (28 lbs) - the top of the trunk was noticeably pulled away from the body of the car and, frankly, I was very concerned about the trunk being permanently removed and the bikes dropped if we hit a pothole.
My questions are these:
Does anyone use or has anyone used a trunk rack (Bones, Rhode Gear, et al) on a Beetle, or on a trunk as small as the one on a Beetle? If so, then 1) how strong was it, 2) how stable was it, 3) how did you attach it so $5k worth of bikes didn't meet an untimely end?
Thanks in advance for any pertinent information.
T
We tried it out this past weekend.
With one bike - hers, a light Yo Eddy! - there appeared to be no problem. With both of our bikes - or, even just mine (28 lbs) - the top of the trunk was noticeably pulled away from the body of the car and, frankly, I was very concerned about the trunk being permanently removed and the bikes dropped if we hit a pothole.
My questions are these:
Does anyone use or has anyone used a trunk rack (Bones, Rhode Gear, et al) on a Beetle, or on a trunk as small as the one on a Beetle? If so, then 1) how strong was it, 2) how stable was it, 3) how did you attach it so $5k worth of bikes didn't meet an untimely end?
Thanks in advance for any pertinent information.
T
