I聮m inclined to agree on the swing-away hitch-mount rack recommendation. Your Jeep can take a rooftop rack as well, but that will end up costing you at least $300 when all is said and done. Plus you have to deal with the task of getting a moderately heavy mountain bike up and down from the roof of a tall car such as a Cherokee.
Yakima FullSwing 4
Yakima FullSwing 4
Not that swing-away hitch-mount racks are cheap. Yakima聮s FullSwing 4聴a very nice hitch-mount rack with easy swing access to the trunk聴goes for $440 (www.yakima.com). You can get a pretty decent bike for that. This is assuming that your wife and child go along with you, and I wouldn聮t necessarily make that assumption. If taking merely two bikes, on the other hand, check out the nifty XPORT Flatbed 2-Bike Hitch Rack that聮s a relatively benign $179 on Performance.com.
The cheapest solution of all is to put the bikes inside the rig. That will work for two bikes, but probably not for three and the passengers. Here聮s how it works: Buy a piece of two-by-six lumber and cut it to the width of the luggage space. Then buy two or three pairs of front-fork mounts (the XPORT Universal Bike Mount is only $20 on Performance.com). Screw those in the board, and voila, a bike holder! I could easily fit two bikes that way into the back of a Mitsubishi Montero SUV I used to have, but, of course, you have to fold down the rear seat.
All in all, I applaud your decision to bike. Just be careful. I love mountain biking, and to confirm it I currently have a bruise on my right hip the size of a dinner plate (low-speed fall, hit rock on way down) and a six-inch red gash across my neck where a branch tried to strangle me. Which is to say, it can get a little hazardous. So pick your early trails and roads carefully. Or, work into better 聯shape” on the road, then hit the trail.
Good luck!
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