I just bought a 2004 CRV and am thrilled with it. It was a steep
learning curve to figure out what hitch and bike rack to use. I
spent some time on the internet trying to figure it out and didn't
find much so I thought I'd share what I learned with other CRV
owners.

1) The Hitch. Honda recommends only a Class 1 hitch for the CRV
because structurally the car can handle no more than the weight of 3
bikes. If you already have a bike rack with a 2 inch hitch (class 1
hitches are 1 inch), and you want to use it for your CRV, you can
buy an adapter BUT the CRV can not handle the weight of more than 3
bikes. An experienced hitch installer and a mechanical engineer
both looked at the structure of my car and confirmed the load
limitation.

2) What model bike rack? The rack which was most intrigued me
initially was a "Sportworks" rack. Sportworks says only 2 bikes
should be loaded on their rack with a Class 1 hitch. A bike can be
loaded on a sportswork rack in a phenomenally easy 30 seconds --
even by an averaged sized smallish female like myself. I bought one
to try with a third bike extender because the rack is wonderful (it
is used to load bikes on public buses in the Northwest). The
salesperson said it should work despite Sportworks' disclaimer to
limit a class 1 hitch to two bikes. Three bikes were too heavy for
the CRV. The three bikes bounced like crazy and I was lucky not to
cause structural damage where the hitch attached to the car.

After several days looking at different racks that could accomodate
3 bikes, I chose a Saris and am very happy with it. The Saris 3
bike carrier's design works perfectly for the CRV. The rack easily
clears the spare tire without an extender. I looked closely at
Yakima racks as well but they did not clear the spare tire and
offered no advantages.

Anyway, I hope this summary on bike racks for the CRV is helpful. I
spent many hours coming up the learning curve and hope this saves
you similar leg/brain work. If you must carry a 4th bike, load it
on top of the CRV (not an option for me since I load a Sherpak on
top) or buy a Honda Pilot or another vehicle.