Subie Bike rack problems
 

Just bought this https://www.subaruonlineparts.com/sku/soa567b060.html for my Salsa Fatbike and Entry level Giant TCR road bike installed on my Subaru XV Crosstrek 2018. No problem until one of our neighbors talked to my wife - brought some heads up.

That some states have laws re on plate visibilty and taillights blocking. - Now my questions are, what's your strat on plate placing and taillights blocking? (Guilty on Plate visibilty bec of my Fatbike hitch mounted)

Any reply will highly appreciated.

there are enough laws on the books in every state at this point that there's really nothing preventing any cop from pulling over anyone that stands out for any reason.

most states have laws about how plates must be fully exposed. many dealership plate frame hinders full plate view, some block registration sticker locations. how many people do you know that have been pulled over for a dealer plate surround? i don't know any.

the trick? just don't stand out.

Also good idea to REMOVE the Bike carrier from the hitch between long periods when not in use...


They have ticketed a few around here just for being installed with no bikes ..

Run it till you get caught.
$5 you'll never get pulled over.

I've been pulled over in CT for having a rack and again for having bikes on a rack. Both times the officer made me remove it, when I had bikes on the rack it meant sending my friend home with my car while I sat on the side of the road with our bikes waiting for him to come back with his pickup truck. That was a fun 3 hours :mad0260: MA just tickets you but it's a good sized ticket, at least they give you a couple of written warnings first. Here in NY I've had a couple of officers suggest I get a different car to transport my bikes but it hasn't gone any further than that.

I will make a strong suggestion that you wire up a trailer light plug and get some to hang off the bike so your brake and turn signals can be seen. I've had a few close calls when they were blocked.

Here in NY you can not use a license plate relocating thing because you will get a ticket for not having the plate in the factory designated location. It goes to red light, toll and speed cameras not being able to find the plate. On the upside if your bike really does block the plate you can remove your ez-pass from the windshield and drive through all the tolls without stopping because they have no way to figure out who you are, you can also ignore red light cameras if your plate is blocked. I wouldn't suggest doing this but I know the toll readers and cameras can't get you ;)

Then if you do get ticketed, appeal it.

lol, see? so ticketed if the plate can't be seen, but also ticketed if the plate isn't in the oem location, despite the fact that it would be obscured in the oem location...

if our legal system wasn't the enigma wrapped in a pretzel that it is, maybe we could give a straight answer to this!

50/50, you're going to get a ticket for this. but on the bright side, it's better odds than wasting your money playing the lottery.