If you’ve got a car, a bike rack is an essential accessory for widening your biking horizons. It can help you get out of the city and onto quiet country roads that you couldn’t otherwise get to, or make that biking holiday a reality. Many bike racks can carry more than one bike, making them ideal for families or groups of friends.
However, because a bike rack can run into the hundreds of euro, you need to find the right piece of kit for your car, whether hatchback, saloon or estate, and with or without a hitch. There are also some bike rack types that can be adjusted to suit almost any car make and model, which could be important if you intend changing your car in the near future.
Roof racks and rear-mounted racks both have their advantages and disadvantages, so let’s check them out.
The roof-mounted bike rack
Roof rack designs vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, but essentially they consist of a couple of bars fitted across the width of your car. Another bar or frame is fitted to these and runs from front to back, and your bike is then fixed to it. Some manufacturers make these elements as individual components—if they are all made in one block, it’s extremely difficult for one person to fit the bike rack onto their car on their own, and even trying to can result in nasty scratches to the paintwork on your car roof.
Another big issue with roof-mounted bike racks is the drag and resulting dip in fuel efficiency. Because roof racks are out of the way and don’t affect access to the car boot, many drivers tend to leave them on the car over longer periods, especially if they’re planning another biking trip. Bigger cars and jeeps with powerful diesel engines are built for pulling loads, so the extra drag is not so significant—maybe 5 to 10 per cent extra fuel consumption. Strap a roof rack and a couple of bikes on top of your Fiat 500, however, and you'll feel like Christopher Columbus nosing into a gale. On a smaller car, a roof rack can add up to 40 per cent to your fuel bill.
Many drivers also complain of wind noise when driving on the motorway with bikes on the roof—a hum or whine, which gets louder at speed. They can also affect stability somewhat in side winds.
A roof-mounted bike rack with bikes also impairs your access to a range of facilities, from garages to multi-storey car parks and even drive-thru restaurants. And if you forget what you’ve got on the roof when you’re pulling in for those Happy Meals and McNuggets, you can cause serious damage to or completely destroy your bikes—and ruin the roof of your car.
It’s not all bad news for roof racks, however, as many observers say a roof-mounted rack looks better, and helps keep your bike cleaner (though bugs and flies will surely still get caked on). Choosing ‘aerofoil’ bars instead of square-section segments can cut down on drag. You can also purchase other fittings for your roof rack, including roof boxes and cargo bags, as well as using it to get your kayak down to the river for a paddle.
Rear-mounted racks include hitch racks (for cars fitted with a ball hitch) and rear door mounted models for cars without hitches.
Hitch-mounted bike racks are generally more robust and stable than boot-mounted models. The car’s hitch bears the weight of the bikes, and the rigid hitch frame under the car means that the bikes shouldn’t waggle about too much.
For cars without a hitch, there are models that clamp onto the rear door of your car, sitting on foam rubber pads and secured by straps. The bike is then clamped onto the frame. Boot-mounted racks are generally somewhat flimsier than hitch-mounted models, so make sure you check their sturdiness before you buy.
Rear-mounted bike racks impair both your vision to the rear as well as your access to the boot, which can be annoying. However, you never have to worry about passing under height barriers, and drag should be reduced substantially too. Some drivers do find that, in the same way that the boot of a car is generally dirtier than the rest, the turbulence behind the car can cause more dirt to deposit on their bikes in transit. Boot-mounted models can also lead to scratched paintwork if any of the fittings (or the bike) should chafe on the car while on the go.
Be aware that if the rear-mounted bike rack obscures the license plate, you‘ll need to get another plate to fit to it. Attach the bike rack to your car before you buy it, if possible—this will help to check that you can still see the taillights and indicators. If not, you’ll need a bike rack with integrated light board. You'll also need to take extra care when reversing due to the extra length.
Typical hitch-mounted bike racks can accommodate up to 4 bikes.
The right Solution for you
If buying a rear-mounted rack, go for a hitch-mounted model if your car has a hitch, and make sure it has a ‘fold-down’ function to allow you some degree of access to the boot. Some drivers will even have a hitch fitted to their car just to allow them to use a hitch-mounted bike rack, but this sounds like an expensive solution. If your car is small and doesn’t have a hitch fitted, or if you don’t transport bikes very often, the boot-mounted version is a good compromise.
A good-quality roof rack looks well and is quite solid, but you still have to heft the bikes onto the roof. A hitch-mounted bike rack allows you to load and unload bikes quickly, while still allowing access to the boot. For convenience, value for money, and fuel economy, it’s hard to beat the hitch-mounted bike rack.
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