How to Choose the Best Bike Racks for Cars

Only those with people carriers or camper vans will have enough space to carry their bikes inside their vehicle when going away for a weekend or longer. Traveling by train with a bike is increasingly difficult too, so attaching your bikes to the exterior of your car is important for touring or racing.

Which system is best for you?

There are plenty of types of rack to choose from. Each type has its advantages and disadvantages. You need to think carefully about how you're going to use your rack and your car before deciding on the type to buy. With roof and towbar/towball mount racks it is essential to consider the weight of the rack and your bikes. Your car manufacturer will have a maximum recommended weight for the roof bars and a maximum recommended nose weight for the towbar: neither should be exceeded. With towbars and roofs it is typically around 50kg (110lbs). Although hatchback doors and boots don't have a weight limit, we don't recommend carrying more than three bikes this way and preferably only two. Hatches, doors and boots are not designed to carry loads.

Strap-mounted racks

Strap-mounted racks are simple racks that rest against the back of the vehicle and are attached by a strap. They need care in fitting in order to be really secure. They cannot be used on fiber-glass hatchback doors, and all glass rear doors will need special fittings. Strap-mounted racks are best used just for fairly short trips, as straps easily work loose over longer journeys. Most use two arms to support the bikes - and these are not kind to your bikes. With normal low mount car racks a lighting/number plate board will be essential, so while these are the cheapest racks available you'll need to budget for the cost of having a lighting socket fitted, and the price of a lighting board. High mount racks get around this problem by putting the bikes higher up, but they cause a lot more extra drag (thus increasing fuel consumption) and create higher stresses on the rack, the bikes and the car's hatch or boot.


Towbar and towball mounted racks

Towbar mounted racks will carry two, three or four bikes and are ideal if you already have a towbar (add extra to the cost if you don't). The most common type features two arms to hold the bikes, just like the strap-mounted racks, and is either fitted to a plate behind the towball or on the towball itself. Some models allow you to tow at the same time. The other type of towbar rack carries the bicycles by supporting the wheels, which puts less strain on the bikes.

Towball racks that mount the bikes low down on the back of the car cause less wind resistance, thus reducing fuel consumption compared to putting the bikes on the roof or on a high mount back rack, and they also tend to put less strain on the bikes and require less lifting. They're also very secure and don't require much skill to fit them - though they are typically a more expensive solution than the alternatives. You'll need a towball for a start, and low racks will also often obscure the number plate and lights - so a lighting board together with electrics will be a necessity too.


Roof-mounted racks

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These fit to standard roof bars. Most cars can carry two bikes and some up to four this way. You need to buy a rack for each bike and cost in a set of bars. Most hold the bike via a support arm and clamp that fastens to the bicycle's down tube and with straps holding the wheels to a trough. Generally they're secure and the bike is easily lockable. The pro teams normally use racks that clamp the forks and with a strap to secure the rear wheel in a trough - these are normally very secure, quick and easy to use. But the roof bars must be positioned according to your bike's wheelbase ±10-20cm (25-50in), which is not possible on some cars with built-in rack mounting points.


Top tips

• Do not obscure the rear lights or the number plate with either the rack or the bike. It's an offence, and you can now be fined on the spot for it.

• Depending on the rack, protect your paintwork with a regular household cleaning cloth. Don't use something so soft it makes the grip between bike and rack slippery -that's the best way to lose your bike.

• Although so-called aero bike covers exist for roof-mounted bikes, the increase in frontal area is so great; they actually increase drag, increase fuel consumption and increase the strain on all mounting points.

• Lock your bikes together and if possible also lock them to the rack. It only takes a few seconds for a deft thief to remove them from a rack.

• For hook-on racks that wrap over the edge of a boot or a hatchback, to make sure they are not going to wreck your paintwork, get some helicopter tape (the clear protective tape that is self-healing) and apply it to the car, not the inside of the rack. It's soft enough to offer plenty of grip for a well-installed rack, but tough enough to protect the paintwork from accidental damage.

• If you have a towbar system, stick a post-it note on your bike the night before you leave. On it write 'electrics'. When you put your bike on the rack you'll see it, and remember to plug in the electrics, or at least rip it off safe in the knowledge you already have.