Ground Clearance Question

[djpanish]

I just installed a 1 1/4" hitch on my 2007 Audi A4 Wagon. My current Thule hitch mount bike system is a 2" hitch. UHual gave me a converter from 1 1/4" to 2" but when i tried to use my current rack, the rack and the bike tires hit the ground during travel, especially when going over "speed bumps."

The clearance on the 2" hitch when i use it on my wife's Explorer is 11". The clearance on the current config. on my Audi is only 6".

I just tried a new 1 1/4" thule at the bike dealer and the clearance is still about 6" but the bottom of the rack is closer to the bumper without the 1 1/4" to 2" converter installed.

sorry to ramble, but do any of you have any experience on this issue? Do you think this hitch and the 914 Roadway will work without bottoming out on the road if the clearance if only 6"? Look forward to hearing your comments. Thanks.

[Racky Rackoon]

Aside from jacking up your vehicle with a sweet lifter kit, or limiting your driving exclusively to salt flats, it sounds like a roof rack system may be your only solution. Your vehicle doesn't have a lot of ground clearance as it is, and the hitch extension isn't helping. I'd say try a trunk rack, but unfortunately, that is not an option for your vehicle.

You could mess around with different configurations when mounting the bikes to the rack. Put the tallest bikes closest to the bumper for example. With certain bikes, there are a several places that you can rest the bike on the support arms that would change how high off the ground the bike is--between the fork crown and headtube on the front, under the seatstays and behind the seat tube in the back, for example--so maybe give that a shot.

Whatever you do, keep on rackin in the free world.

Yours,
Racky Rackoon