Best mileage when traveling with a bike

June 25, 2008 4:43 AM

Driving from Pennsylvania to South Carolina with a bike and a kid cart for the bike. Which will create less drag, putting them on top of our Ford Focus wagon, or on a bike rack on the back?
posted by Toekneesan to Travel & Transportation (3 answers total)

putting them on roof will create MAXIMUM drag. Go with a rear mount rack for sure
posted by Mr_Chips at 4:50 AM on June 25, 2008

Yup, rear mount produces a lot less drag. The main disadvantage of rear mount is when you are driving in wet winter weather and the bikes get covered with road salt. Some people also worry about getting rear ended or the bikes being more easily stolen, but I've always preferred it (although the bikes go in the back of my pickup now).

Endless discussion of this and all bike-rack related questions at the Car & Biker forum over at MTBR.
posted by unSane at 4:58 AM on June 25, 2008

Response by poster: As a follow-up, I'm not sure how bad my mileage might have been had I put them on top, but behind the car cut about ten miles per gallon off my typical highway mileage. (Average 30 mpg got 20 mpg) I was a bit shocked at that big a drop.
posted by Toekneesan at 11:48 AM on July 21, 2008