Hello,

Need to take my bike in the back of a rental car. I have a soft sided bike bag, which will hopefully fit the bike in easily enough (only used it with my old hard tail, so this will be the first bagging of the full susser).

Thing is, I need to leave it in the back of the car (public accessible car park, next to industrial unit, relatively large amounts of traffic).

Is there any really clever way to conceal a bike and bag in the car? I used to simply leave the parcel shelf in place (with the seats folded flat), which I think used to help it look less noticeable from afar.

Rental motor will probably be a Kia C’eed, Ford Focus, Astra type size set of wheels. Used to do this in a Nissan Juke a lot, but it had blacked out back windows which helped keep out prying eyes.

why not lock it to the rear seat rails rather than conceal it. Make the lock VERY obvious. Kryptonite yellow U lock, for example. With another cable through the wheels.

Thanks TiRed, not a bad idea. I have a D lock and cable that should do the job.

i got a xl sized road bike in a boot without having to put the seats down, to be fair it was a Corrolla and the boot was a fair size, but it might be doable in something smaller, obviously without the bag.

take both wheels off and try to get it just in the boot without the seats down?

Thanks, if they gave me a Mondeo or something with a chunky boot, would be no problem. I think their standard Group C cars will be smaller unfortunately, but I know some hatch backs are very space efficient inside and often not that much smaller than some small estate cars (like our BMW 3 series, which isn’t that much more practical than a golf).

wheels and seat post off
surely that should do the trick??

iamsporticus – hopefully. My wife’s specialized hybrid (17 inch frame) came apart and went in the back of my brother’s old Saab 93 no problem. But it probably would have fitted in the glove box.

My bike is L frame full susser, so not sure.

Wheels and seat post out, most bikes will hide in most car boots. At worst leave the seat backs up even if they’re not fully latched and cover the bike with something dark so it’s not visible through the small gap.

hate to say it but lets be honest – stick some real effort in here.

Take the forks out, it realistically takes 5 minutes to take forks out and reassemble.

Then you’ll get it in the boot with seats and shelf up no issues!

Astra and focus will easily fit a large bike in the boot with the seats up. Done it many times with rental cars.
You have to take the wheels off and maybe drop the saddle.

I carry a U-lock and wire rope, wrap around front seat rails and U-lock through frame/forks etc. But I’d still cover it up.

Cool, reassured by your confidence in being able to get a bike in the boot. have not had much experience with many different hatch backs, so thanks for the input.

Don’t mind squeezing the greasy bike in the back of a rental, not my boot! Just kidding, I have ultimate respect for rental cars.

you could put some of those cheap kids’ window blinds on the rear side windows along with your idea of putting the parcel shelf in place – might obscure the view a bit.