[mattabaziou]

Hey guys, I checked out the site and I am sure that no one has posted about this yet...
I am a avid mountain biker and I have had my GTI for almost a month now. I go biking at least 4 times a week and I am starting to get annoyed of taking off my back wheel and gently placing my bike in the car in order not to scrath anything (although I do put sheets under the bike to keep it clean). I have an old generic bike rack that fits on most cars, but as you guys must know the GTI isn't no ordinary car!!! ;D and it does not fit on the back of the car.
I dont want to place a bike roof top rack because I really like the look of the car without it so I am looking to buy a new one that I can put on and take off when I please.
I looked briefly at some local stores but they didn't have anything that worked.
Have any of you had this problem?
Do any of you have any solutions??

Thanks

 

[Dragon]

I think there is in optional rack from VW. I only see the kayak rack on the website- try your local dealer.

Yakima may also have a kit (but i think it's for the 4dr): http://www.rackattack.com/yakima-fit-guide/step1.asp

 

[nvroadwarrior]

Try Thuleracks.com or REI.com for a bike rack that mount to a hitch. And you can find a hitch here: http://www.hitchesonline.com/index.htm

 

[mattabaziou]

How do you think that hitch will look on the GTI, I dont know...I am going to have to think about that.

Dragon, yea I check that out too, but I dont really want a roof rack, once its on its on for good.
The problem I found about the generic yakima or thule trunk mounts are that the 2 upper hooks dont fit because of the rear spoiler. Even if they did fit, I dont think I would set it up that way fearing that the weight of the bike would loosen the spoiler from the trunk

 

[Dragon]

Yeah... I don't know how well a hitch would look.

Then again- I looked like an idiot with a Yakima on a Mustang GT

I did see a MkIV GTI with a roof rack- it looked OK.

 

[nvroadwarrior]

How do you think that hitch will look on the GTI, I dont know...I am going to have to think about that.
\[/quote

Maybe someone can photochop it for you so you could see what it looks like. ;D

 

[mattabaziou]

So I kept looking around...found what seemed like the answer, but actually its not.
http://vwdesigns.vw.com/default.cfm...de=1J0071104&user_category=VWACCES&brand=VWDS
So apparently this hatch rack fit on GTI's up to the year 2006. I figured it would fit mine too, since the differences between the 06 and the 07 are minor.
Turns out the rack wont fit and would probably damage (leave a dent) my car. Apparently something on the rear hatch was modified in such a way that this simple little bike rack wont fit!! ???
The parts guy at my VW dealer couldn't tell me what the difference was, but I guess it doesn't matter.

So there you go, if anyone is looking for a bike rack, you are going to have to either get a hitch, and get a hitch rack ($$$) or get VW to intall the roof rack, and then buy the special bike add-on (not expensive, but ugly!!)

I am going to stick to putting my bike in the car

 

[mattabaziou]

sorry to bring up a dead thread, but I wanted to update on the bike rack problem...

I still haven't found any trunk racks for the 07 GTI, so I have been forced to buy a 1 1/4 hitch to fit a Thule hitch bike rack...
I am getting it installed for $245 on thursday at Uhal (weird I know but they ahd the cheapest price).
Hopefully it wont show too much. Does anyone have any ideas, or have you seen any ways to cover up the hitch when its not in use??

It really kills me to install a hitch on a sports car like this so dont give me any poop (its my only choice)

 

[nvroadwarrior]

sorry to bring up a dead thread, but I wanted to update on the bike rack problem...

I still haven't found any trunk racks for the 07 GTI, so I have been forced to buy a 1 1/4 hitch to fit a Thule hitch bike rack...
I am getting it installed for $245 on thursday at Uhal (weird I know but they ahd the cheapest price).
Hopefully it wont show too much. Does anyone have any ideas, or have you seen any ways to cover up the hitch when its not in use??

It really kills me to install a hitch on a sports car like this so dont give me any poop (its my only choice)

HAHAHA! I'm this close to doing the same thing!! I was going to check here one more time to see if any one else has done this yet. I found a "hidden hitch" brand for around $115 + shipping and was going to get a Thule hitch mount rack as well. Best i can tell the hitch itself should be low enough and hard to see, other than that you can buy hitch covers that usually do no more than advertise that you have a hitch. The good news is after you have the hitch installed you will be able to tow that Jet Ski that you always wanted! LOL ;D

 

[kylmos]

man nothing beats a jetski...my favorite was this turbo one...going fast on the water is fun...cost like 12k lol

 

[Dragon]

Hopefully it wont show too much. Does anyone have any ideas, or have you seen any ways to cover up the hitch when its not in use??

http://www.autoattire.com/volkswagen-hitch-covers.html

O0

 

[mattabaziou]

Hopefully it wont show too much. Does anyone have any ideas, or have you seen any ways to cover up the hitch when its not in use??

http://www.autoattire.com/volkswagen-hitch-covers.html

O0

haha, yea I guess thats an option although I would prefer having something that completely hides the hitch...I know the bumper is going to have to be cut, so I am going to see if I can modify the cut-out to fit back onto the hole to hidethe hitch all together

 

[mattabaziou]

I actually just found on another forum that the hitch comes from underneath the bumper, so I will not have to deal with an ugly hole in my bumper
The sad thing is that I am going to have to be carefull when I decide to lower my car, the rear of the car will now be lower to the ground than the rest of the car... ???

 

[mattabaziou]

Ok, I was at the Uhal store for about an hour and a half today
I waited 30 minutes until the installer came out and told me that he couldn't fit the hitch (which was specially ordered)...I then went into the garage and worked with him to get it on, but nothing!! That hitch would not get on
the guy at uhal said that it didn't fit because...get this, "the hitch was made for the 2 door and not the 4 door"!! [fish]

I left and drove over to my VW dealer where they told me that a hitch will fit on a 2 door just like it will on a 4 door.
They mentioned www.tricktrucks.com but they dont have anything that fits GTI's :'(
NVGTI did your hitch fit?

 

[nvroadwarrior]

Ok, I was at the Uhal store for about an hour and a half today
I waited 30 minutes until the installer came out and told me that he couldn't fit the hitch (which was specially ordered)...I then went into the garage and worked with him to get it on, but nothing!! That hitch would not get on
the guy at uhal said that it didn't fit because...get this, "the hitch was made for the 2 door and not the 4 door"!! [fish]

I left and drove over to my VW dealer where they told me that a hitch will fit on a 2 door just like it will on a 4 door.
They mentioned www.tricktrucks.com but they dont have anything that fits GTI's :'(
NVGTI did your hitch fit?

I haven't ordered one yet, sorry. REI is having a sale on Yakima products, so I bought the bike mount first. Okay, I know that sounds a little silly, but it will fit my truck hitch as is and I bought a $11 adapter so it will work on a 1 1/4" hitch as well.
I found that this company has three different makes of hitch that claim will fit our GTI, all models claim a 15 minute install time. http://www.drawtite-hitches.com/

The other reason I haven't ordered one yet is everything I seem to be able to find is way east of here, so shipping costs are crazy expensive, and i wanted to try someplace local that sold those brands so if I had problems I could return it without costing an arm an a leg for return shipping. I'll look around tomorrow, and if I can't find anything local I will order the "hidden hitch" from the web site above.

 

[mattabaziou]

haha, I did the same thing today...I picked up a Yakima 2 bike bike rack because of the sale O0
its funny though, the part number at Uhaul is 24770, just like tha hitch from'Draw-Tite'. The only thing is that it didn't look like the picture at all!!
This is what it should look like:

 

[nvroadwarrior]

haha, I did the same thing today...I picked up a Yakima 2 bike bike rack because of the sale O0
its funny though, the part number at Uhaul is 24770, just like tha hitch from'Draw-Tite'. The only thing is that it didn't look like the picture at all!!
This is what it should look like:

Aside from them being more expensive then the rest, I just have a bad feeling for U-hual products. I dunno, just don't like them. ???

 

[mattabaziou]

haha yea I thought the same when I was refered to go see them...

[/quote]
I found that this company has three different makes of hitch that claim will fit our GTI, all models claim a 15 minute install time. http://www.drawtite-hitches.com/
[/quote]

I am going to a local store tomorrow morning that I got from that website you found, hopefully they will have one in stock...Hell, if its a simple 15 min installation, I'll just do it myself and save the installation cost

 

[nvroadwarrior]

Let me know how that works out, I found another site that has 99 cent shipping on $150 orders, so I figure with a hitch and a couple locks that I wanted anyway I'll be right on.
[gti]

 

[mattabaziou]

Alright I went to Tricktrucks this morning and they told me that same thing as Uhaul... the Hitch will only work with the 2 DOOR! :wtf2:

So having no other choice, I went to my dealer's Parts office and bought a roof rack and a Bike rack to go on top of that... :'( [violin]
This comes out to a little over $400

I see it this way though, since the roof rack is easily removable, I will only put it on when I need it :

NVGTI I hope you have a 2 door... and if you manage to get it on...let me know and maybe take some pics of where it screws onto the car...I really want to determine the difference between the 2 and 4 door models

I get the roof rack on wednesday so I'll snap a shot of my car with it on.