If you race bikes, you probably have nicer bikes and don’t want the factory crap marring up your frames. Or maybe you have some thru axle bikes and don’t want to deal with taking wheels on and off or getting the inside of the car muddy after a sloppy mountain bike or cyclocross race. Anyway, I’ve found a great combination that works really well, generally speaking. Currently, I can carry five bikes on my Countryman with ease (see footnote for why on earth you would carry so many bikes). I thought I’d share my setup for anyone looking at options for their Countryman.

I’m using the factory roof rack with two fork mount Rocky Mounts trays mounted forward and a Thule Velo fork mount tray mounted in reverse. (For anyone’s consideration, while I like the Rocky Mounts trays, the Kuat Trio is much more versatile, and I plan to switch to those trays in fall 2019.) On the back I have my favorite rack to use: a Kuat NV 2.0. The Kuat Sherpa 2.0 is another good option, but I’m a cyclocross guy and the integrated work stand on the NV has been pretty invaluable for fixing stuff between CX races. I mounted the Kuat onto the M7 2” trailer hitch. It was a little pricey at $300, but eTrailers had a good deal and it’s ridiculously easy to install/remove. I was unable to find a different 2” hitch for the Countryman. There were some variants of the M7 hitch, though the price was pretty comparable. I trust M7 so I went that route. (The 2” hitch was important because the expansion options for the Kuat NV are apparently only applicable to the 2” model. Kuat does, however make an NV in a 1 1/4” model.)

Another reason I decided to splurge on the Kuat NV (aside from the integrated workstand) is that you can buy an expansion kit to carry two more bikes. HOWEVER, I do not recommend this if you use the M7 hitch. The max lateral load capacity is 150 pounds, the rack, at that point, will weigh around 90 or more. So unless you’re carrying all climbing bikes at 15lbs a pop, I think you’re asking for trouble. I liked this feature because I could expand it if I put the rack on a different car.

Footnote: Why in God’s name would you want to carry five bikes??? Well, I primarily race cyclocross, and some courses can pretty brutal on your bike, and you might need to make a stop in the pits. So it’s nice to have a pit bike. If you're as fortunate as I am, you have an A-bike and a B-bike. So that’s two bikes. I also race single speed, so I usually carry that bike, too. So what about the other two? I also have teammates that race cyclocross and they oftentimes would like to carpool to races, with a couple of bikes of their own. So they add up quickly!

i hope this is helpful to someone.

I wouldn’t use the Saris at all, to be honest. We had one. It’s okay. But it’s pretty cheaply made.

But to answer your question, I would not put the straps over the spoiler. They need to be ratcheted pretty tight, and I think when you add the weight of a bike you’re asking for trouble.

I bet that’s a pretty great setup. I really like 1UP. They make a really great product. Probably the toughest one out there. Ultimately, the Kuat offered more utility for me. So that’s why I chose that rack over the 1UP. But I would consider the 1UP over the Sherpa for sure.