Or would it require a funky adapter? I have an old Yak rack and an old Thule rack and both ride very high so I am going to grab Thule 415 feet off of ebay. I will have my cargo box (adventurer) on the roof and not sure I can fit bikes on there as well. Damn kids grow like weeds (6yr old and 4 yr old) and now they want their bikes on vacation!

Get the 58" bars (Thule) and you can get 2 bike carriers on top with the box.

JAH1 - I recently faced the same decision - I didn't want to roof-rack the bikes, since I use my Thule weekender. As the OEM hitch is rather overkill, I found a light-duty hitch for the Allroad at etrailers.com - it was $225 or so. Easy to install, but I wouldn't recommend it for any sort of towing (nor would I recommend *any* towing with the AR). My hitch-mount bike rack works great.

MG

Never used on allroad but on SUV's, an old 944 and others. I have the kind that slides into a 2" receiver hitch and olds 3 bikes. And no cleaning bugs off the bike frames either. At overnight stops, I run a piece of chain through the bikes and wheels and lock to the safety chain loops on the hitch.

I had the same problem so I had a local hitch shop make me a converter. See my photo's. It works great. You do have to get a small lock for the pin connecting the converter to the hitch as someone could just drop the converter and have all the bikes. The OEM hitch allows for about 330 pounds at the hitch, so four bikes go easily there.

Good luck.

...where are you located? Think your guy would make another? How much was it?

The dealer will install my factory hitch (negotiated with price) Tuesday, and I need the same for a 2" receiver on my Sportworks bike rack. So far I've not found a local fabricator.

I did not want to mount my bikes on the roof of my previous car and bought the Sportworks setup. It works great and very quick to use. I got the factory hitch with the AR and got an adapter made up. I bought an adapter from here
http://hitches4less.com/recad.html, (check that they send you the right one). You need the one that attaches a 2-inch ball mount shank to a 1.25-inch hitch receiver. I took it to a local machine shop. The 1.25-inch shaft was not very long so they supplied a solid bar that they welded at 90 degrees on the top and bottom of the 2-inch tube. They also threaded it so I actually bolt it to the factory hitch. This stops it swaying and also deters someone just walking off with the whole setup. The Sportworks bike rack also bolts on and has a nice cable lock. The adapter is about $40 and my local machine shop charged me the same. Let me know if you want pics or more details.<ul><li><a href="http://www.bicycleracks.com/sttra.asp">Sportworks link</a></li></ul>

these are the silver tube attachments which are essentially replaced by the hitch. thanks.