I shifted homes within a few months of buying my road bike, and was wondering how to transport it to my new place. I considered riding it all the way there, as I was quite convinced I wouldn’t be able to fit it inside my car. Thankfully, though, it wasn’t tough. So, can a bike fit inside a car?
As a general rule, most bicycles- whether a mountain bike, road bike or any other type of bike, will fit quite easily inside a car. The average length of a bicycle is 69″ which can even fit inside smaller cars such as hatchbacks. You may, however, have to disassemble the wheels in some cases.
In the rest of this post, I’ll write about the various ways to fit a bicycle inside different types of vehicles, as well as share a couple of practical tips for you so that you don’t damage your bicycle or your vehicle in the process.
Quick side note: unless this is just a one off thing- you will likely need a more convenient method to transport your bike(s) than fitting it inside your car time and again. I’m talking about getting bike racks- read all about them in this post, along with my recommendations.
Alright- back to the main topic. If you’ll allow me 30 seconds of your read time, let me answer the question that comes to everyone’s mind first when they read about this topic:
Can you fit a bike in a car without taking it apart?
In most cases, you can fit a bike without taking it apart if you own a sedan or a larger car. For hatchbacks or city cars though, the space constraints will require you to take apart, either one, or both of the wheels in order to make enough room.
To know this, I googled the average sizes of various types of cars, and calculated the storage space, each type of car would generally afford, if you were to put the rear seats down. For sedans and cars larger than it, you can most likely transport your bicycle standing up in the rear seat area, however, since it might be a tight fit, I assumed that anyone transporting a bicycle would want to know the area if they put the rear seats down.
I also went and verified this by measuring the interior areas of a couple of vehicles in my neighbourhood and finally came up with the following table:
| Type of Vehicle | Interior Length For Storage- Trunk and Rear Seat Area (Inches) | Interior width (Inches) | Can It Fit A Bike Without Having To Take It Apart? |
| Hatchback | 72 | 63 | No |
| Minivan/Station Wagon | 136 | 67 | Yes |
| Sedan | 139 | 65 | Yes |
| Mid Size SUV | 142 | 67 | Yes |
| Large SUV | 150 | 72 | Yes |
You’ll realize from this table that while all the cars offer enough area to carry a bicycle, smaller vehicles are bound to give you a bit of trouble in this matter.
How To Fit a Bike Inside a Car
1. Place The Bike In The Rear Footwell Area (If you have a large SUV).
This one is pretty self explanatory. You can simply rest the wheels on the mats in the rear footwell area and fit the bike inside. You may need to turn the handlebars in slightly to fit the bike completely, but that’s about it.
You should also lay down a sheet or a blanket on the rear seat and mats before putting in your bike, so as to not get get them dirty. Even if you cleaned your bike recently, there are always unexpected areas where they let off dirt from. For instance- my road bike’s chain rubbed against my car seat’s leather and left a grease mark, which meant I had to wipe down the car seats later.
2. Fit The Bike In The Rear Seat Area (For all cars).
You’ll need to first put the rear seats down, and then fit the bike inside the rear seat area. For most cars, you won’t need to take the bike apart, however, if you have some extra luggage or have a smaller car, you’ll need to remove one or both of the bike wheels.
Removing the front wheel is the easiest, so you should try that first. Here’s a quick video description of how to remove the front wheel of a bicycle. I have embedded the video to start at the part that the presenter starts talking about removing the front wheel. You should watch it till the timestamp reads 5.19.
Once you’ve removed the front wheel, in most cases you’ll be able to fit your bike in your car. You should place a blanket or thick sheet underneath the frame of the bike before placing it inside the car. Place the disassembled wheel on top of the bike frame.
Also remember to keep the bicycle ‘gear side up’, if your bike has gears. Otherwise, you might damage the gear sprocket.
Now, if the bike still doesn’t fit for some reason or you have some extra luggage that you want to carry, removing the rear wheel is your next option. Removing rear wheels is a tad more work as the chain is also mounted on the gear sprocket on the rear wheel. Some rear wheels even require you to loosen a couple bolts to remove them. I suggest you watch the video below to understand how to remove the rear wheel. I have, again linked the video to start at the exact portion where the presenter talks about rear wheel removal
Final Tips For Transporting A Bike Inside a Car
If you foresee having to transport your bike in your car frequently, then I suggest you invest a few $$ or ££, to save yourself repeated work cleaning you car in the long run. This goes especially for those who have mountain bikes, and need to travel to the trails in their cars
1. Buy a Boot Liner. Having a sturdy rip-stop type cloth that you can lay down in your car before putting the bike in will save your car from much of the dirt and grime from the bike. You should ideally look for something large enough to cover the entire boot and rear seat area (once the seats are put down). I really liked this one on Amazon. It’s a typical boot liner for carrying dogs in cars- but it works great for carrying bicycles. It’s even got some cushioning which protects the bike frame and wheels en route.
2. Buy a Pressure Washer. This is mainly for mountain bikers that frequently need to load up their muddy bikes inside the car. You could carry a portable pressure washer in the car with you, to hose down the bike before loading it up. Trust me, it’ll make your life easier. I liked this battery operated pressure washer on Amazon. It’ll last you nicely even on an extended cycling trip. Just ensure you’ll have access to water wherever you decide to use it. Else, you can carry around two litres of water for cleaning the bike.
Can You Fit Two Bikes In A Car?
If you have a hatchback or a city car, you may not be able to carry two bikes in your car together. However, for larger cars, you will be able to fit two bikes by removing one or both of the wheels, in each bike. You will likely need to put the rear seats down for this though.
When Should You Buy a Bike Rack?
If you frequently need to transport one or multiple bikes, and also cannot spare the space inside the car, then you should consider buying a bike rack. There are many types of racks, that are available on Amazon around 100-150$. If you want a long lasting one (although it’ll be expensive), I recommend this one.
If you’d like more details I wrote a whole post on whether bike racks are worth it, that you might want to check out!