Story, plus need a recommendation: Best Bike rack for Many Bikes – MTBs, Road Bikes, E-Bikes, Bikes with Fenders

I’ve been on a quest to get a good bike rack. I figured documenting where I’m at and what I’ve tried would be useful for someone in the future. Also, I need a recommendation.

My journey:
I had a crappy trunk rack for years. It worked well for road bikes, clamping onto the top tube. It has a weight limit, and additionally my MTB fell off one time. I tried a top tube cross barr installation for my MTB, and that kind of worked, but I didn’t trust it.

Then my partner and I both bought E-Bikes, and the trunk rack is officially not good enough to hold that weight. From everything I’ve read, it seemed like a hitch rack is the way to go. I installed a hitch on my sedan from U-haul, which is fine, except it’s pretty low (more on this in a moment). After reading a ton of reviews, I bought a 1up rack. It seems super strong, and worked great for my MTB.

My problem: I tried putting my e-bike on the 1up, and with the fenders it just seemed like it was either barely attaching to the tire, or, when put over the fender, was crushing the fender. Fenders aren’t structural. I have seen the fender cushion attachment, but that seems like it will crush my fender, so I’m not excited about going that route.

After some deliberation, I returned the 1up, and bought a [Kuat Sherpa NV 2.0](https://www.rei.com/product/109807/kuat-nv-20-2-bike-hitch-rack?redirect-pup=false). It seems pretty good (not quite as sturdy as the 1up, but it attaches to a bike with a fender better). The problem is because I have a sedan, and with the low hitch, the actual rack scrapes the ground when I leave my driveway.

After doing some more research, I realized that 1up sells the [Wheel Stop](https://1up-usa.com/product/wheel-stop) attachment. I’ve seen almost no reviews of them.

At this point, I feel stuck. Does anyone have thoughts? Should I buy the 1up with the Wheel stop? Should I look into roof racks? Should I deal with the Kuat scraping the ground? I can’t imagine the answer is to buy a new car.

Looking for some constructive suggestions.

by Boom_Room