Bicycle Racks – Why Do I Have Five Types In My Garage?

I’m finding out that there are no perfect bicycle racks. Thus, I have a trunk mount rack, spare tire mount rack, bike roof-mounted rack, cargo carrier rack, and of course a hitch-mount rack. Guess which one I chose if I have the chance?

I prefer to put my bike inside the Toyota 4runner with the back seat down.

What’s with that?

I guess it all comes down to the pros and cons of each style. Let’s go over those pros, those cons, and whatever else comes to mind about bicycle racks.

Trunk Mount

I have a trunk mount for my Acura RL. It’s a sturdy rascal and well made by Bell. I’ve been under that Acura rear bumper quite a few times. It doesn’t look to me that putting a hitch on that car is all that easy to do, so a trunk mount bicycle rack seems like a good option.

But the trunk mount rack has made me nervous with my carbon road bike attached. The rack’s contact points on the trunk aren’t extremely wide and the nylon webbing doesn’t attach to the trunk very wide either. Stablility is in question.

Bottom line- While I was driving down the highway, I kept looking back to make sure that there wasn’t any twisting of the rack going on. I tried it with two additional straps extending from the sides of the rack to the sides of the trunk, but ran into another problem.

During a night-time drive I kept hearing a strong humming sound. Well, the side straps were catching the wind just right and were attempting to hum out a rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. All that vibration couldn’t have been good for either the trunk edges on the car or the rack. So I had to pull off at the nearest ramp for ‘stability strap’ removal.

When you get into the carbon frame world there is a reluctance to hang the hallowed carbon top bar from the arms of any rack. This precludes the use of the trunk mount or a hitch mount cycling rack.

I’d also have a hesitation to subject the edges of my trunk to the web straps if I had a new Mercedes or Jaguar.

But to be fair, there are some trunk mount bicycle racks on the market that are a lot more stable than my Bell model.

Spare Tire Mount

There’s no problem worrying about a bike rack mount damaging a spare tire and the spare tire mount bike rack I’ve got is reasonably stable. There is still the problem of hanging a carbon frame from this style, but it may a good option for recreational bikes.

A problem may arise if you don’t have a spare tire on the back of your car. It’s hard for me to envision an after market spare tire on a Mercedes sedan, but with hose clamps and Duct Tape it could be done.

And if you’ve got a spare tire bicycle rack in the garage gathering dust, hose clamping a spare tire from the wrecking yard onto the rear bumper may be prudent. In an absurd kind of way.

Bicycle Roof Racks

These are pretty popular. I’ve got a factory installed luggage rack on my 4runner, so attaching a Thule system was pretty easy. I bought the type that holds the bike upright with both wheels attached.

I chose that type instead of the ‘remove the front wheel and clamp the front fork’ type because it was cheaper. That’s right, strictly a cheapskate driven decision.

Now I don’t like my bicycle roof rack because there’s a padded clamp that grabs my precious carbon down tube. I can’t help but think it’s crushing carbon fibers.

I don’t think it is, but in the interest of full disclosure, I’m pouring out my heart, my fears, to you.

I think it’s important in the eyes of some bike snobs to have their very expensive carbon bikes up real high so that everyone can see them. I’ve never seen a Huffy on a cycling roof rack.

Somewhere in the list of deadly sins is the occasional instance of forgetting about the high flying bike on the bike roof rack when the car is pulled into the garage. I consider this to be potential problem with roof racks.

Cargo Carrier Bicycle Racks

I’ve had a cargo carrier kicking around the place for a quite few years. In the olden days, before I was insane about cycling, I used it to carry two bikes to Whistler Mountain and back. I used the attachments that were like the slots you would pull your front wheel into at the schoolyard. It worked reasonably well.

We did get a little thrill at White Rock , BC when we returned to our car. Some people in the neighborhood called out to tell us that they’d run off some punks who were trying to steal the bikes off the rack. I had the bikes cable locked.

I don’t know if the thieves had a plan to cut the cable, or if they were merely acting on animal instinct and would have encountered the cable obstacle later in the bike snatching snafu.

My latest innovation is to have bought a front fork clamping device from Saris Group. I’ve mounted it to the cargo carrier, but I haven’t taken the whole contraption out on it’s maiden voyage yet.

The cargo carrier is still rather heavy and awkward to handle, even after all these years. It hasn’t aged gracefully.

I can get twice as much because I keep my eyes
open for deep discounts at Bike Nashbar.

Hitch Mount Cycling Rack

A couple of years ago at a sports equipment swap meet, I experienced a lowered sense of buyer’s resistance and came home with a hitch mount bicycle rack. It a good option, especially for SUV’s, since they often have a hitch receiver already installed.

You don’t see them being used at the cycling road races because few racers have the balls to break the ‘let nothing touch your carbon frame’ rule.

I see them a lot on the highways and byways. Many SUV’s seem to be participating in the ‘how many kid’s bikes can I get on this rack’ contest.

The hitch racks that swing to the side for easy access to the rear SUV door are pretty slick. They cost more than racks purchased at swap meets. But considering the marginal quality of what I got at the swap meet, the ’swinger style’ may be worth it.

Saris has done a good job of offering hitch mounted cycling racks that grip the bike at the wheels, so the frame isn’t contacted. One model is called the Thelma and another is the CycleOn Pro. Sounds like one should be really speedy and the other should be baking cherry pies for the 4th of July.

And Another Option

More often than not I either take both tires off my racing bike and put it in the trunk of the Acura or keep them on and put it in the back of the 4 runner. That way it’s not hanging from the carbon frame… no hoodlums are tempted by its startling good looks… and I won’t scrape it off the top of the car while pulling into the garage, when I suffer from a brainfart.