nuke

Does anyone have experience with roof or hitch mounted bike racks for their X-Trail?
We do a lot of mountain biking and had a convenient rack mounted on the spare tire of our old CRV. I don't know it I would want to lift the bikes up to the roof all the time. The other option would be to install a trailer hitch and have a swing away hitch mount. It appears that the bumper must be cut away somewhat for the hitch to be installed.

asc

We had the factory hitch installed on our vehicle. The only other hitch option we found was from hidden hitch. One important note, the hitches on the X-Trail are 1-1/4" CLASS 1 and can only support 200 lbs. You might be able to get someone to custom build something stronger. The swing-away hitches typically require 300 lbs, so you will be very limited. We bought the Saris T-RAX rack. Its a fold-down rack and can hold two bikes (a third if the bikes aren't heavy). We haven't road tested it yet, but it seems pretty sturdy. Nissan has a factory rack as well, but I don't know what the quality is. The bumper is just trimmed slightly, nothing major.

nuke

Thanks for the info. My biggest concern was that the bumper would be all cut up with the factory hitch install. I think this is the best route for a bike rack.

notaire

I've got the factory hitch (11/4) . Very satisfied for bikes.

xtrailer

notaire & asc, could you share...what did you guys paid to have this installed? I am in the same dilema. I am not sure I want to put one of those fold-down rack b/c it has to rest in the back window and that would be asking for trouble.

You mentioned you installed the 1-1/4" CLASS 1, how much was it for the hardware and installation? Thanks in advance for any of your replies.

Xtrailer / Ontario