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Taking your bike on the go is one of the best ways to ride. Sure, a casual bike ride through your neighborhood park or a cycling excursion at the closest trail is a ton of fun, but there’s something so exciting about taking your bike to a new, unexplored location. The best bike racks make taking your wheels on the go almost effortless. Simply throw your bicycle on top or near the trunk of your car with help from the best bike racks, hop in the driver’s seat and you’re off. Badabing, badaboom.
Spending a weekend in your favorite beach town? Headed camping near a slew of biking trails? Moving across the country with nothing but a suitcase and your extra set of wheels? You’re going to need the best bike rack. If you’ve ever tried squeezing a bike in the trunk of your car, you’ll already know that it’s quite literally impossible. Keeping your bike on the exterior of your vehicle makes for a much more effective, safer way of traveling.
When searching for the best bike racks, it’s important to remember the kinds of bike racks that exist. The most popular bike racks are as follows:
- Roof racks — a great rack that sits on top of your roof to keep your bike completely out of sight while on the road
- Hitch racks — an uber convenient rack that fits in your cars receiving tube to hold your bike behind your car
- Trunk racks — an affordable rack that uses straps and hooks to attach your bikes to the trunk of your car
Where it is you’re going, how much money you’re willing to spend and the number of bikes you’re bringing with you will determine which of the best bike racks you need. Whether you’re taking your best cruiser bike or your best mountain bike, we’ve gathered our top three best bike racks from each type for your convenience. Read on and see which makes the most sense for you.
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Best Roof Racks
As mentioned, roof racks keep your bikes out of sight on top of your vehicle. As you’d imagine, this is excellent for visibility purposes and ideal for those of you extra worried about getting rear-ended on the parkway. Roof racks are tremendously stable and lock to the roof, ensuring everything gets there in one piece. Just be sure you don’t find yourself zooming through any low-to-the-ground underpasses.
1. Swagman UPRIGHT Roof Mount Bike Rack
This is, by far, the best-rated roof rack you can find on Amazon. It’s affordable, easy to assemble and can fit square, round and oval bars on top of your vehicle. The bike rack has a sleek design and sturdily keeps bicycles up to 35-lbs safely standing tall. If you have two bikes, you can even purchase a second and place these side by side to bring a second bike on the road with you.
2. SearSucker Komodo Bike Rack
The beauty about the SearSucker Komodo Bike Rack? It can attach to the roof of any car, with or without a top rack. How does it work? Suction. Yeah, you read that right. Suction. You might be thinking, “but suction isn’t that powerful”. That’s where you’re wrong. This aluminum rack features four powerful 210lb pull strength-rated vacuum cups to hold your bike in place no matter what. It works perfect for sports cars and convertibles and comes in a range of cool colors. Yeah, it might be one of the most expensive bike racks on the planet, but if you consider yourself a serious biker it’s 100% worth it.
3. Thule UpRide Upright Bike Mount
Worried about damaging the roof of your car? Nobody wants to get a brand new paint job just because they wanted to take their bike to the beach. Meet Thule’s UpRide Upright Bike Mount, the roof rack you need for getting your bicycle from point A to point B without any frame contact. It holds bikes with 20 to 29-inch wheels and works great with a ride with an unconventional design.
Best Hitch Racks
When it comes to the best bike racks, hitch racks are easy, peasy, lemon squeezy. For real, once they’re on, they’re on. They stick right into your car’s receiver tube for a snug, easy fit. Shove it in and that’s it, nothing else needs to be done. Hitch racks essentially jut out from the back of your car to keep your bike secure and wobble-free on the road. The best part about hitch racks? Typically, hitch racks can hold more than one bike safely.
4. Swagman XC2 Hitch Mount Bike Rack
Take two bikes on the go with this easy-to-assemble hitch bike rack from Swagman. This adjustable option can fit a number of frame sizes for convenience and never wobbles on the ride to and fro. When you’re not using the bike rack, it folds in on itself to save space when storing. The weight capacity per bike is 35-lbs with 20 to 29-inch tires. Time to get on your bikes and ride.
5. Thule T2 Pro XTR 2-Bike Hitch Rack
Fit two bikes side to side with this bike hitch rack that can hold up to 60-lbs. This no-frame contact rack from Thule keeps your bikes safe and sound with a generous amount of space so they won’t bump into one another as you’re driving. The bike rack refuses to wobble on the road so you can be sure your bicycles get to where they need to be in one piece.
6. Thule Trailway 4-Bike Hitch Vehicle Rack
Alright, so you’re going on a trip with the entire family, aren’t you? Lucky for you, Thule makes a stellar bike rack that can fit up to four whole bikes. As you can imagine, this is an anti-wobble contraction to keep your bikes locked and secure when traveling. Installation is almost effortless and folds down in on itself when you’re not using it.
Best Trunk Racks
Trunk racks are some of the most affordable bike rack options money can buy. They use a number of hooks and straps to easily place the rack on the back of your car. Unlike hitch racks and roof racks, trunk racks don’t hook onto your car, making them relatively easy to steal. We suggest stowing them in your vehicle when not using. Additionally, because they’re not as secure, they might wobble ever so slightly. Nonetheless, they make a great option especially if you have a small car.
7. Allen Sports Deluxe 2-Bike Trunk Mount Rack
The Allen Sports Deluxe 2-Bike Trunk Mount Rack is the highest-rated bike rack on Amazon due to how affordable and securely it gets two bikes from point A to point B. It’s beyond easy to set up and can fit a range of differently sized bikes. The rack uses a patented tie-down system that is backed by Allen’s lifetime warranty, so whether you’re taking the bikes over the border or down the street, we’re sure they’ll get there safely.
8. Saris Bones Car Trunk Bike Rack
The Saris Bones Car Trunk Bike Rack keeps two bikes at two different levels to safely apart from one another in transit. The rack uses injection-molded arms and legs that claim to be the strongest on the market. No paint chipping here, the rack comes with rubber feet to cause less friction when driving over bumps. The rack is also fully adjustable to fit on most cars.
9. Thule 910XT Passage Two-Bike Carrier
Clearly, we can’t get enough of Thule. They make some of the greatest bike racks of all time, so we had to top this puppy off with one of their most iconic bike racks to date — the Thule 910XT Passage Two-Bike Carrier. This six-strapper installs in just a few minutes and makes for one of the most stable rides you can get with a trunk rack. Fit up to two bikes total at 70-lbs.