I’m looking to get a bike rack for my car. Currently my car doesn’t have a tow bar so if I were to go the tow bar route I would have to pay to put one in which adds to the cost.
Is there a big advantage to the tow bar option?
Would anyone advise against the boot rack I’ve posted?
Any advice would be appreciated
by HotCover4343
5 Comments
Safer. It puts the bikes behind your car. The first image those bikes are in the wind, and strap not tightened and those bikes are gone.
I think that the strap-on style are fine for infrequent use with lightweight bikes – if you’re only taking bikes on the road a few times per year and don’t find the extra time mounting and removing the carrier, go for it. I didn’t love having everything held in place by just a few nylon straps, but it works if you’re methodical about it. Just make sure that you buy a model that is specifically compatible with your car model – there are different designs for SUVs, hatchbacks or wagons, sedans. I also wouldn’t get the one you’ve shown here – there’s very little upside to having to lift your bikes so high unless you have full-suspension MTBs that can’t easily be hung from the top tubes.
I prefer the tow hitch mounts and think it’s worth having the hardware installed to your car. It’s more secure, much easier to get bikes on and off, you can more easily see the bikes out the rear window for peace of mind. Many of them also come with built-in cable locks, allowing you to secure your bikes to the rack for short stops during road trips,
Different threat exposures:
The high-mount strap on rack is at risk of installation error leading to the rack falling, and this model mounts the bikes high and puts them at risk of low clearance (e.g. garage door) impacts.
A hitch mount puts you at a higher risk of vehicle accident damage from being rear-ended on the road (happened to me and my rack, but luckily when the bikes were off), and if you drive on dusty dirt/gravel roads it puts the bike deeper into the low-pressure filth pocket. The high mount rear racks aren’t *great* about keeping the bikes cleaner on gravel roads, but they’re *better*.
Tow Bar = Hitch.
Get a hitch installed. They are superior.
I can get my hitch mounted rack on and off my car in less than a minute.
You can buy a hitch for about $200 online. You can pay any mechanic at all about an hours worth of work to put it on. They are super easy to install (hitches) you may be able to do it.
So, for $300-$400 you have a hitch.
Hitch mounted racks are the way to go. They are secure and can be taken on and off in under a minute. Some offer locking mechanisms that lock the rack to the hitch.