What to Consider in a Bike Rack

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It is the season for getting the bicycles tuned up for your first spring ride. Do you bike seriously?  You may with to consider what rack may fit your needs. There are a number of choices that you can choose from depending on what your needs are. As with everything else in life there are pro's and con's to each style of bike rack. So hopefully after learning a few facts you can determine what your needs are a little better.

Are you a weekend rider who is just going around the local areas? If you are planning to stay local a trunk mount bike rack or a hitch mount may work best for you. These are both easy to use and allow easy access for the bikes. If you plan on traveling cross country or long distances, you may wish to consider a top rack.  These are great because your bike is out of the way and very sturdy.

Consider if you need access to your trunk for gear or other things. The racks that are hitch mount bike rack and to your trunk racks ultimately make it harder to access the trunk of your vehicle; this may make these racks undesirable if you are traveling across country on large trips. This is one of the major ways that the top racks are very nice for long distance traveling.  You can easily access your trunk and not have to remove bikes to do so.

You should consider the number of bikes you will need to be transporting also. Trunk and hitch bike racks typically can carry up to three bikes.  This can be a tight fit though. Both the hitch and trunk mounted racks are about the same in this area. As stated before, these two racks really allow ease of use because of where they are located. The rooftop models allow you to carry more bikes over all but it can be a real pain to get them up on your roof.

By carefully considering your needs and then doing some research on specific brands it is very possible to find something to fit your needs. Don’t be too hasty and read a lot of reviews on a specific model before you purchase. You would hate to break either your car or your bike because you purchased the wrong carrier.