For bikers of all shades, bike and sport racks are the most important accessory that enables their adventure journeys that begin where the road ends.
For bikers of all shades, bike and sport racks are the most important accessory that enables their adventure journeys that begin where the road ends.
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If you are looking for a reliable and sturdy bike rack that meets your requirements, we will help you find one. In this article, we have gathered the necessary information on the subject. Read it and choose the bike rack that will go a long way in fulfilling your biking dreams.
This is subjective. Consider the following points before you begin to explore the range.
Next, remember the rule of thumb -- There are no good or poor bike and sport racks, only appropriate ones. In general, it is the one that fits well with your vehicle and also holds your bike or bikes firmly during the car journey.
That said, we explain below the main types of bike and sport racks to explore. There may be variants, but the basic functions and model design remains unchanged.
Below, we have covered the main types.
Roof-top bike racks
These racks are advisable for vehicles of low height since they straight away increase the overall height of your vehicle significantly. This will create certain concerns:
Apart from this, also keep in mind that you will have to carry the bike on your head to place it on the roof-top rack attachment. Is your build and height compatible with this necessity? Consider this type of rack if your answer is yes, and you are ready to go through this rigor repeatedly.
The above points prompt us to make a point -- roof-mounted bike racks are not meant for tall vehicles such as SUVs, mini-trucks, vans, and the likes. They will only increase inconvenience, risks, and hazards.
That said, they are good, versatile options which offer multiple benefits:
However, note that you will have to take off the front wheel of the bike and secure it to the roof-mounted rack with the rear wheel and front axle. So, some amount of knocking-down is required with these bike racks.
Roof-top bike racks are good for you if you have a low-height car, you will be traveling under mixed urban-country conditions, and you want to carry multiple units of bikes with you.*
Hitch-mounted racks
A towing hitch is a must for these racks since they attach to it. Most vehicles provide factory-made hitches, or they can be easily installed as an add-on accessory.
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
There are two models of hitch-mounted racks:
Tray or platform style, which offers the resting space for bikes. Its benefits are:
You can think of buying tray type hitch-mounted bike rack if you need to attach multiple bikes with utmost safety, you don't want to increase vehicle height with the rack, and you want to prevent your bikes from the impact of headwinds and frost.
Projected arm style
This model has a stretched arm to attach bikes instead of a tray or platform. The design has two or three pivots from where you can increase or decrease the length and height of the rack. The uppermost arm has multiple stands on which you can rest one or more bikes.
Since this rack style uses the full bike frame to attach, it can potentially damage the bike. Also, this rack does not support heavy mountain bikes and bikes with unusual shapes. We would advise against the arm style hitch-mounted bike racks unless you want them for their height and length scalability through the multiple pivots.
Trunk or hatch-mounted bike racks
These are the racks that you can easily install at the rear of the vehicle. The fixing is with strong nylon leashes or cables with fastening hooks. Since they expand when in use, these racks increase the vehicle length considerably.
Benefits of trunk-mounted bike racks are their interchangeability between vehicles, their foldable design that can fit into a small corner of the trunk, and its rear-mounting that does not increase vehicle breadth.
The disadvantages of this rack design are their relatively unstable (loose) fixing with straps or cables. It may cause rattling, friction, and damage between bikes. They may also cause difficulty in opening the trunk and accessing boot space.
With the above information, it will be easy for you to choose the type of bike and sport rack most suitable for your bike expeditions.
Good luck!
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