I just registered at the EOC site. Duh, I have an Element, '04 EX. My family (me, wife and 18 yo son) will be making our annual 1 week trip to Santa Cruz for a family reunion and haul a bunch of stuff with us: boogie boards for water, wet suits, clothes, and bikes. I am contemplating a trailer for hauling the bikes for us and others but haven't quite decided yet. Questions:

1. ever haul 4 bikes on the roof rack? We ditched an old Mercury (66) that easily held 5 bikes on the roof, using a Yakima rack. I'm concerned about weight and wind resistance on the freeway.

2. Is the Honda trailer hitch better than any other, or just more expensive than others? There seems to be a good amount of discussion about U-haul trailer hitches, but the Honda hitch (from instructions I have seen) looks great, mounting perfectly into the provided holes.

thanks, John

i havent had any experience with your bike issue but i have the Uhaul class II hitch and it works fine when i tow my jetski. I did get the wiring done at my local honda dealer so i knew it would be done right and was covered with a warranty for a year. It was $135 for the wiring harness and they charged me $100 to install it. They told me if i wanted the honda hitch it was another $200. I saved around $70 going with the U haul hitch.

I got the 2" U-haul hitch, installed, for $140. It holds perfectly my very highly-rated Sportworks Transport bike rack (which I use for scooters). Love it.

I sure wouldn't bother with the Honda hitch or with hefting bikes on top of the E.
Lived in Brookdale out on Highway 9 for awhile when I was a kid -- what a beautiful area!

If i was hauling bikes i'd much rather them be on a hitch mount. I hate the roof mounting idea all the way.

I'll join the chorus here.

IMO the E is too tall a vehicle to conveniently get bikes on and off the roof. One maybe, 4 would be too much of a hassle for me.

I went with a hitch rack (UHaul hitch with Yakima Fullswing) for this reason. This way you will have lots of room on the roof for your other stuff.

Same here. Vehicle is already tall enough to begin with. After copious experience with additional stuff on the roof with various tall vehicles I've come to the sad conclusion that's it's invitation for all sorts of disasters. You tend to forget it's there, and if road-trip munchies take over and you mindlessly pull through a fast-food drive-thru... :shock:

It's harder to forget a trailer.

...also note that the Honda hitch is 1.25 inch as opposed to the U-Hall which is 2 inches and much easier to find goodies to attach to it. The Honda one would most likely require an adapter. I will be going with the U-Hall hitch and bike rack real soon.

Being a mountain biker myself, I am also having this problem. I have a Yakima roof rack from my old Jeep and could get new towers, but the Element is about 8" taller than the Jeep. The Honda hitch is $300 and whatever you do don't get a Draw-tite hitch. They want you to drill holes in the spare tire compartment. I ended up buying a Hidden Hitch. Bolts to the frame. No drilling. $119.00. It's a 1.25", but most bike racks come in both sizes.

http://www.tandrtrailer.com/

Try the link above or do a Google search for "YuppieWagon". They make a trailer using the molding process for PortaPottys, color all the way through the material, almost indestructable and weigh 640 lb. I called the company and they will outfit it with electirc brakes for an extra $100. I plan to order one next week. Also installing a Thule Rack with their Pioneer hardshell box. With more than two passengers in the E cargo space disappears fast and the load limit requires light weight external storage.