[rabbitguts]

Planning to put a towbar on the Jimny in the hope to use it to carry a few bikes, i think the spare tyre will make it hard to get a bike rack on, anyone figured this out? thanks

[Jones]

Couple of options here

1. Get a tow Hitch mounted one not a tow Ball mounted one i.e. the ones with the square hitch insert built into the holder, not ones with the hole that bolt under the tow ball. On this style just get the insert fabricated longer thus giving you the clearance.

2. You can buy dog legged swing away ones specially designed to clear rear door mounted spares.

3. Can get spare wheel mounted ones (never seen one here, but used to see them a lot in the UK)

4. Get a holder fabricated up yourself that bolts onto the spare wheel carrier behind the spare wheel

5. Get thule roof rack carrier and stow the bikes on the roof.

[Jones]

Some ideas for you

http://www.bikecarrier.org.uk/4x4-spare ... e-carrier/

http://www.bigjimny.com/index.php/forum ... -bike-rack

http://www.suzuki4u.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9975

http://tsikot.com/forums/suzuki-cars-ta ... dex75.html

http://www.suzuki-forums.com/2g-2006-gr ... -rack.html

[got_bar_work]

Adding any weight to the spare on any thing with suzuki on it is a bad idea

[tim80z]

Spare tyre mounted may seem like a good idea at first but don't do it.

When I first got my Jimny I bought a Thule 963XT spare tyre mounted rack (http://thulestorebotany.com.au/thule-96 ... 00153.html).


It mounts easily and fits 2 bikes (wheels hang outside the car a bit) but even with the weight of one bike (about 11.5kg) my rear door began to pop in and out when ever I hit a bump.

I sold the 963XT and started looking for a better solution. Tow bar mounted was out for me as I couldn't see how it wouldn't interfere with the spare tyre and rear door access is then blocked. So I went back to looking at roof rack mounted carriers and setled on the Thule 591 (http://thulestorebotany.com.au/thule-pr ... 30003.html). I don't think I have any pics of the bike on the roof of the Jimny.


The 591 is a good solid bike carrier although getting the bike up on the roof of a 3" lifted Jimny is a little difficult but I'm tall so that helps a lot. My options were a bit limited for roof rack mounted carriers as I needed a rack that kept the front wheel on since my bike has a lefty fork and I'm too lazy to bother removing the wheel and installing the fork adapter every time I needed to put the bike on the car.

- Tim.

[brindog]

My opinion I wouldn't bother with a roof or spare tyre stlye carrier.
The roof sucks for getting on and off even when you are on flat ground, so when in the bush its even worse, and thats on a subaru. So I would hate to lift it off from the Jimny. Plus keeping a eye out for low hung branches and vines etc is a bitch.

Spare tyre, I wouldn't like to have 1000 of dollars worth of bikes hanging off it. Not my cuppa tea, plus the extra weight of a oversized tyre is already to much weight on the door.

You can get tow hitch style carries that are ok. Grip sports makes the best ones. They are pretty heavy duty and they don't brake and bend when hitting water bars. If you have carbon cranks, stay a way from his gen 1 version. The new ones are way better. http://www.gripsport.com.au/

I find the best way is to have a small trailer. easy to put your bikes in, dirty gear ect. And you can use it for everything.
You can also do tracks you wouldn't attempt with a hitch style carrier.


And me giving it some stick with the bikes in tow. I love thrashing bikes in a trailer with XO group sets and Fox Kashima goodness....