One thing I hate about winter is that all the good bike railtrails are pretty much closed when it starts to snow. Come springtime, I'll be back on my road bike pedalling away. But since the HCH can't fold down it's rear seats, I don't think it will fit. With my current Civic, I can remove the front wheel, fold down the rear seats, and still get the bike in the car.

If I remove the front wheel will a road bike frame fit in the rear seating area? My rear wheel also has a quick release. Is it possible to remove both wheels and get it in the trunk (I'd rather not deal with the greasy chain though)?

If this fails, etrailer.com says it will have a no-drill tow bar for the 2k6 Civic sometime in January. I emailed them about the fitment for the Hybrid. They responded that they will have all pertinent information by January 3rd.

Heh. I think I see why people like SUV's so much

 

Yep.

It's called Roof Rack.

 

The worst part is the trunk for the hybrid is even smaller than the trunk for the other models (EX, LX, etc.). That's because the batteries sit right behind, and up against, the rear seat. If memory serves, the cubic feet available on the hybrid is 10.3 (and the EX is 12.something). It's not very big. Roof rack or the other thing from etrailer.com sounds like your best bet.

 

I can't answer the question specifically about a road bike, but I can tell you that I put a mountain bike into the rear seat area. I removed the front wheel, and put the bike into the floor area, rear tire first, with the front of the frame angled up a bit and laying backwards towards the back of the car.

As I recall, the bike frame itself ended up tilted at about a 30 to 45 degree angle, rear to front; and laying back a bit towards the rear of the car, with the back tire of the bike sitting on the floor.

 

Thanks, coyote. I'll wait until I get confirmation from the trailer hitch website, but I'll have to try that first before I buy anything.

 

My 2006 HCH is supposed to come in tomorrow. I cart my bikes around a lot and will check to see if a roadbike fits. It's quite small though - I ride a 52cm.

 

Thank you, kbb. Mine is a 56cm. Not a whole lot bigger.

If anyone cares, I just found out from etrailer.com that the two hitches listed for the 2k6 Civic will fit the Hybrid and they are both in stock. If I have to carry the bikes externally, I'd rather get a hitch. A roof rack with a bike on it really kills your FE. The hitch-mounted rack is almost completely within the car's wake and will lower your FE minimally.

 

Speaking from experience, I have a 2004 HCH with a hitch mounted rack, the impact on FE in town is minimal. When you get on the open road it is a different matter all together. I was hauling a "hybrid" bike, which is a little larger than a road bike, but the FE went down at least 1 MPG over a course where I normally stay the same or improve slightly.

Billy

 

1 MPG isn't bad. On a review I found for the HCH-I on another website, the owner first tried a roof rack for his bike and the FE dropped 5+ MPG. That's significant.

 

My ride was a fairly short ride, less than 30 minutes. Do you know the ride of the other person?

Billy