Roof Rack on Civic Hybrid?
Has anyone put a bike rack on the roof of a Civic Hybrid? I know that there will be some mileage impact, but without the fold down rear seat, I have no easy way to get my bike around.
Any advice on the most aerodynamic and/or best looking rack? Anyone done it and have mileage impact data? Terry |
Re: Roof Rack on Civic Hybrid?
I've seen quite a few HCH's with various items on roof racks (kayaks spelling?, bikes, luggage) I know someone has the answer as I remember it being mentioned.
I think Thule was mentioned before as well as being most people's top choice. This is just going off memory - I could be wrong. |
Re: Roof Rack on Civic Hybrid?
Although we'll be using our 03 Honda Element for camping and biking, I use to have a Yakima roof rack/bike rack on our 93 Accord. http://www.yakima.com/home.html As I remember, mileage impact was neglibile. With it loaded we got 30 mpg on the highway. Without it we got 31 - 32 mpg.
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Re: Roof Rack on Civic Hybrid?
Originally Posted by tdunc92
Has anyone put a bike rack on the roof of a Civic Hybrid? I know that there will be some mileage impact, but without the fold down rear seat, I have no easy way to get my bike around.
Any advice on the most aerodynamic and/or best looking rack? Anyone done it and have mileage impact data? Terry on edit, unless i am thinking of my 85 accord, which at the time was about the size of the present civic. guess i shouldn't speculate before coffee. |
Re: Roof Rack on Civic Hybrid?
Seems like it would cause too much strain on a car which already has a bare minimum power configuration.
Originally Posted by tdunc92
Has anyone put a bike rack on the roof of a Civic Hybrid? I know that there will be some mileage impact, but without the fold down rear seat, I have no easy way to get my bike around.
Any advice on the most aerodynamic and/or best looking rack? Anyone done it and have mileage impact data? Terry |
Re: Roof basket killled mpg on Pilot.
We used to use a roof basket-Yakima Loadwarrier-to carry stuff with the Honda Pilot.We made 2 trips-3000 miles roundtrip-from New Orleans to Flagstaff with it.With the basket loaded it was about 4-5 sq ft in frontal area(39" wids and about 1-1.5 ft tall).The pilot is about 30 sq ft in frontal area(roughly).We got 16.1 average mpg on those trips.I finally got smart and built a carrier I could suspend from my swing out bicycle carrier(I needed the swing out feature because the dogswent in and out from the rear).The mpg on the next 2 trips was 22.2 and 22.4-a huge improvement.
I'm guessing the Pilot has about a .33 drag coe-the roof basket 1 coe or maybe more than 1. The Pilot would have ~10 sq ft of effective frontal area without the basket-with the basket ~15 sq ft.We went about 37% farther on each gallon without the basket. The lesson I got from this was to tuck things behind the vehicle and as close to the vehicle as possible-keep stuff off the roof,if possible.I would try to find a rear mount for the bike-a hitch mount maybe?Thanks.Charlie |
Re: Roof Rack on Civic Hybrid?
Originally Posted by tdunc92
I know that there will be some mileage impact, but without the fold down rear seat, I have no easy way to get my bike around.
Hopefully that makes some sense... |
Re: Roof Rack on Civic Hybrid?
Originally Posted by blueskies
Seems like it would cause too much strain on a car which already has a bare minimum power configuration.
BTW, I find the HCH to have ample power. |
Re: Roof Rack on Civic Hybrid?
Hi Terry,
I'm new to posting to the forums, although I've been reading them for some time. You question struck a chord with me. I have a 2003 HCH. I also have a Yakima rack that I adapted to mount on my HCH roof. I have rails for 3 bikes, but I usually only haul 2, my wife's and mine. I used it to haul bikes exactly _once_. I drove from Dallas down to Austin for a 2-day ride in the Texas hill country near Fredericksburg and Kerrville. That's about a 4.5 hour drive. Here in Texas in the spring we have strong south winds. The HCH simply could not handle the added resistance of the bikes, and it was _significant_ at 70 mph. The battery indicator went to zero and pretty much stayed there when I was going 70. On the trip I ended up getting about 25 mpg overall and the car really, really struggled to maintain speed. (Without the bikes on top I get about 45 mpg overall.) Now I'm looking for a Hybrid minivan where I can put the bikes inside. I keep waiting on Honda or Toyota to introduce it... -Stewart |
Re: Roof Rack on Civic Hybrid?
I will give what experience I have hauling bikes around with my '04 HCH. I have a hitch rack on my car. I normally just haul 1 bike around town, it does not seem to impact the mileage as far as I can tell. I took a 30 freeway drive with my 1 bike. When I got above 60 there seemed to be a significant hit to mileage. I saw it drop at least 1 MPG on the trip, where normally I see it climb 1 on the same trip. On the way home I took back roads and the impact wasn't as great.
FYI. I installed the hitch receiver myself, it wasn't that difficult. This just seemed like the best option to me since I could move the rack between the Ody and the HCH. Billy |
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