Best bike racks

By Stuart Johnston

The mountain bike – and road bicycle – movement has been one of the biggest fitness trends in the last decade.

Just as there have been vast technological strides in the design and execution of bicycles over the past decade, there have been similar tech breakthroughs in the field of transporting these machines. 

The undoubted market leader in this field is Thule, the Swedish company that manufactures all sorts of travelling and outdoor adventure orientated gear. Incidentally, Thule tow bars are also rated as among the best in the business.

Prices range widely

Other bike rack manufacturers with strong global reputations,  and good presence on the South African market include Holdfast, Yakima and Menabo. Best visit a specialist cycle shop near you to get an idea of the full range of racks available out there. Prices range widely, from about R2 000 for a simple boot rack to over R12 000 for the best tow bar-mounted platform racks

There are four basic types of bike racks :

Boot-mounted racks

These are the cheapest type of racks available. They consist of a frame with adjustable legs and  four rubber-coated pads designed to fit snugly against the window or boot panel of your car. This frame is then tensioned against the boot and/or hatchback glass via straps with clips  that are designed to fit into the shut lines between the car body and the boot lid. Tensioning these straps secures the whole shooting match.

The bikes are then hung on  extension bars  extending rearwards from the frame legs. The bikes are secured with  clamping devices at two points for the frame cross bar, and straps.

This is one of the cheapest forms of bike racks, and the advantage is that you don’t need to have a tow  bar fitted to your car.  The downside is that these racks  rely on the dexterity and diligence of the person fitting the rack to too great a degree.  The potential for damage  to your car is also higher with these racks. They  also rely for stability  on straps that will, over time, show signs of wear, as will the tensioning clips. So, all this makes them potentially   far less secure, particularly over rough roads traversing bumps and ruts en route to your ride spot.

Roof-mounted bike racks

 These rigs offer what is probably the most secure way of transporting your bicycles. Fitted to solid roof bars, the bicycles are out of the way, enabling you to get at the boot lid easily. The down-side is that you will probably need at least one extra pair of hands to help you get the bike up  and off  the roof of your car, and unless you are very  tall, some sort of platform to enable you to load and unload your bike from the roof!

The devices on offer vary in design, but normally consist of a horizontal channel to securely seat the wheels and an upright hoop to secure the frame. Clamping devices enable you to quickly secure your bike or bikes. Some roof rack models are designed for you to fork-mount the bike, after the front wheel has been removed and stowed. This is much more secure for high speed transporting over long distances.

Tow bar-mounted hanging racks

This is a cost-effective method of transporting one to three bicycles on a device that consists of an inverted  triangulated upright structure that clips onto the tow bar ball with a locking device that prevents any sideways movement. At the upper end of the two legs of this triangle, a cross-brace supports a rack that can hold from one to three cycles depending on the design. The cross bars of the bikes are securely clamped into this rack extending rearwards from the car, so that your bikes hang out behind the car.

Tow bar-mounted  wheel support platform racks

These are  probably our favourite transportation method.  The wheel-support platform racks provide a very solid base on which to stack one to four bicycles. The more sophisticated designs incorporate a tilting mechanism that enables you to angle the platform – with the bikes still attached – away and downwards, so that you can still open the boot of the car with the bikes attached.

The best bike rack

The best bike rack out there? We like the very sophisticated Thule  921 , one of its range-topping models. This comes with a plug-in rear light and number plate board, enabling your tail lights, brake lights and indicators to enjoy full visibility with the bikes loaded. It also has a great tilt mechanism to enable you to get at the boot lid with the bikes still mounted on the rack.

This tilt mechanism is foot operated, so you can steady the bikes with one hand while you operated the tilt mechanism with your foot, the ease them out of the way. Thule products are certainly not cheap, but in our experience they always offer absolutely top notch quality.