20 Best Bike Racks For Cars (2023 Updated)

Bought this a week before moving across the country. Even when hitting some pretty questionable potholes on backroads, this rack held steady! Paired with a uhaul hitch on my 2011 crv and it’s solid. Very easy to take the bike off and on.

I did use a strap to secure the front tire to keep it from moving around when I was driving- definitely recommend that for longer hauls.

I like this rack, it’s easy to use and fairly well built. However, it’s basically impossible to secure your bike to this rack unless you have a very long cable. I bought the lock and cable Saris sells and it is too short to wrap around my hitch, and there is no place on the rack to secure the cable.

It’s a poor design. There are two openings at the top, but they are narrow and you can not fit a cable through it.

Great bike rack, I actually like the fact that it is somewhat heavy as it needs to be sturdy when loaded with bikes. Assembly was super easy, I greased assembly points to prevent potential rust forming over time, but this is not necessary.

Addition of securing cable for cycles and lockable hitch bolt is nice, since some of those five c-notes racks dont include them. This rack is half the rate and IMHO is worth its cost of admission. There is one small modification I made to the area where hitch mount is attached to the frame of the rack.

This is the main area where rack comes in contact with receiver, and you want this area to be wiggle free as much as possible. Two main arms of the rack are hollow inside (see pictures), if you keep tightening the mounting bolt it can potentially squash the rack arms, therefore I added washers inside the hollowed area of the arms.

This small mod allows me to tighten main holding bolt without worry if rack should become too “wiggly” (especially if you go on trails or badly maintained road). Also, as some other reviewer said, bike holding brackets have hard rubber and will rub paint on your bikes.

To prevent that, I purchased pipe insulating foam tube from Lowe’s, cut into pieces and used over bike frame where tightening hook comes into contact. Works great no scratches.

Extremely well built and we purchased direct from Home Essentials Direct and onsale for 200 bucks. If I was paying close to it’s regular price at almost $400 bucks I’d want the following features; locking hooks and more compact storage.

My buddy has a very similar rack, but his top hook on each post has a lock. Its definitely not “thief proof”, but it would deter them the same way a cable does. These don’t lock with a key, but they include a cable.

The size when storing is huge. And by huge, I mean HUGE. There is no place to stash this thing. It breaks down by folding the vertical posts over to lay flat with the tire holders. It would be much more compact if the tire holders “V’d” up to meet the vertical post.

It would also be nice if it broke down into 2, 2 bike carriers like the more expensive racks. Overall I’m happy and it is WAY more sturdy than the hanging thule rack we just got rid of. It trashed the bikes because there was really no way to keep them apart and they bounced like crazy.

This rack did the trick.

Favorite rack ever owned. Assembley took alittle over 30min. Simple instruction with pictures of where bolts and little screws need to go. Easy to install into the receiver. Thought it would be heavier and difficult.

If you dont have upper strength or just plain weak, this rack isnt for you. Once I figured out the combination on loading our bikes onto the rack its simple. Took me about 5 tries from start. Once you got the puzzle figured out its a easy peasy 5min load.

I owned of a regular rack that the bikes hung of the frame and loading 4 beach cruisers was a pain! Even scratched up my rear doors on the Burban. Definitely worth the money getting this one. I highly recommend this Swagman to anyone, just not the ones who say its too heavy.

I did not get what I thought I was ordering. I get the Labor Day sale text message and place the order for the Sherpa 2. 0 rack at a great price. The only color color choice on the Mikes Bikes website was grey.

In the picture there were two racks, one with a grey stripe and one with orange stripe. I want the one with grey stripe, so I place the order on a price that was only good for 24 hours. All is good. A few days later, the UPS delivery shows up and on the box it says “grey + orange anodize.

That’s not what I expected I ordered, so I put the box in my car and drive straight to my local Pleasanton Mikes Bikes with my rack in hand. I ask them to simply swap it out for the grey instead of orange.

The guys at Pleasanton were very helpful and did what they could but they didn’t have any others in stock, so they get on the phone with some manager at another location. After about a half hour I was told that the sale price was only for “in stock items” and I can return it for a full refund and order the one I want at full price.

Sale price was $499 and full price is $629 That simply doesn’t sit well with me because someone didn’t describe the product accurately according to Kuat. The correct color choice description should have been: grey metallic with orange anodize, black metallic with grey anodize or pearl metallic with silver anodize.

That’s just poor attention to detail and incredibly misleading to the customer. I told the staff that I would even wait a month or more until they get another delivery for one in the right color. They said that I could not do that with the sale price I got.

What? I could be wrong, but the rack I had in my possession most likely cost Mikes Bikes the exact same price as one they would get on another order. Instead of Mike’s Bikes treating the customer the right way and giving me a chance to get what I thought I was getting they leave a sour taste in my mouth.

Let’s not forget that the website had two racks in the image and the only color choice was grey. I’m sure that I’m not the only customer that assumed they were getting the grey anodize. Nowhere in the description did it mention orange.

I have always had positive experiences with Mikes Bikes over the past 10 years but I will think twice about spending a penny with them moving forward.

I debated on a 3 or 4 rating, more about that later. We needed a new rack to accommodate my wife’s new ebike, Giant LaFree E+2. Her new bike is a step though and our old rack can’t handle the weight (51#) and has centered clamp down bars which won’t work for a step through.

I also wasn’t looking to spend a king’s ransom for one, especially since this isn’t used for long distance driving, just an hour or so at most. This rack seemed to fit the bill. Bonus points that it’s made in my home state and was in stock at my bike shop.

Overall it’s solid and well made. I am not thrilled about all the plastic but the flexibility in the frame clamps is well thought out, and the frame cradles work well for the ebike frame and my steel framed hybrid bike.

I’m a little concerned about the ability of the top cradle to hold my bike without breaking, which is lighter but mounts on the outside, so I’m wrapping my wife’s Kryptonite lock around the top bar just in case.

Once mounted the bikes stay firmly in place and seem secure. The issues I’ve had with it are that it’s designed to be more or less long term mounted based on the screw type hitch pin that’s provided.

I had to remove the square nut in the tube insert to use a standard hitch pin for easy removal. It’s also designed for a 1 ¼” receiver with an adaptor sleeve for a 2″. I tow a travel trailer as well as a utility trailer so long term mounting is out of the question.

The notion of being used with a 2″ receiver seems to have been an afterthought by the designers. The fit of the adaptor sleeve in my truck’s receiver is sloppy, and the fit of the sleeve over the rack tube is sloppy.

The single screw to hold the sleeve adaptor on isn’t for sturdiness, just to keep it from coming off. The hitch pin hole is ½” for a 1 ¼” receiver, so between all this slop, with 80# of bikes, it rocks back and forth like crazy.

I had to do 2 things to minimize the rocking to a tolerable level. First I bought a Brophy Stabilizer Bracket, at $63 not cheap, but it’s made specifically to tame hitch mounted bike and cargo racks.

Evidently this is a common issue with bike racks, though we had no real problems with our previous rack. The second thing was to drill out the hitch pin hole to ⅝” to accommodate a proper ⅝” hitch lock.

It still rocks, but is tolerable and rocks no more than our previous rack. I’m also planning on adding screws to the 2” adaptor sleeve to provide more stability. My recommendation to Saris would be to get rid of the cheesy plastic insert in the tube.

Provide two steel inserts, one to fit a ⅝” hitch pin, one to fit a ½” hitch pin. Add two screws to the sunk in channels in the 2” adaptor sleeve to tighten the sleeve on and stabilize the combination.

Extremely disappointed with this bike rack. After only owning one for 3 months, being used only a few times, it nearly destroyed my new enduro bike during our last trip. We bought the Saris Freedom Hitch Mount 2-Bike Rack to better protect our bikes during our road trips.

However, during our last trip the centre frame clamp on the outside bike broke away from the rack. Due to the wobbling (I’m guessing), the front wheel bracket then completely snapped off the rack still attached to the front wheel.

The front wheel and handlebars of the bike were then dragged behind the car for a couple hundred meters whilst the rear wheel was still anchored into the mount. Eventually the rear wheel mount strap snapped off along with the anchoring mechanism.

As I drive a 4×4 ute with a canopy it is hard to see the bikes through the rearview. Luckily we noticed the bike was missing before we got too far down the road. When we retrieved the bike the grip and bar end were shredded, the brake lever was scratched up and the front wheel was warped.

I hadn’t even had my bike for 48 hrs and it was nearly destroyed before I even had a chance to ride it. I’m not sure what the warranty covers but overall, I’d have a hard time trusting this rack again.

It took about 10 minutes to put together. Adjusting left, right, turn the bikes around, adjusting again and again took some time to get them to fit without touching. This is not the fault of the bike rack, it’s the bicycles.

Save some time and put the rear tire of the inner bike to the far left. Then the rear tire of the outer bike to the far right and adjust. One 6 mm lock nut was missing on the underside of the tire restraint.

This is my only reason for the 4 star rating. Believe it or not I found one at Lowes. Saris should check these before shipping! The rack is not super tight but does the job. It holds the bikes in place, no scratches or damage to the bikes.

I set the center restraints on the bottom side of the down tube. This makes for very easy loading. I set the bikes in and they hold the bikes it in place while I set the straps. I really like the design of this rack with the center adjusting restraints.

Very well engineered!!!.

There are tons of good hitch racks out there but after owning this for a whole season one thing has stuck out to me, everyone that sees this says something about how great and durable Kuat racks are; “they’re the best”.

That being said, I chose this over other racks because it still has a traditional locking hitch pin. It was relatively easy to assemble but you might want someone to help hold the pieces while you tighten the bolts.

I’ll summarize most of this by saying everything about this rack just works how it should! It’s extremely stable, there is no rattling or moving, even with 40lb touring bikes. You can grab the rack and move the entire vehicle up and down, there’s no play.

Every part of the rack just feels burly and durable. The powder-coated finish holds up great and looks great. It can fit different types of bikes, and just requires longer rear wheel straps to fit Fat Bikes.

The trays are spaced far apart, and some bikes even stand-upright in the rack by themselves while you get the arm ready. Even with MTB pedals and handlebars I can tilt the rack and open the hatch on my 4runner, and it’s very easy to install and remove from a vehicle if you don’t want to leave it on all the time (pro-tip, make a rolling stand for the rack using a cheap $10 roller dolly, google it).

I have really enjoyed owning and using this rack. Some things to note that keep this rack from being perfect: -The rack sits pretty far off the car, but it’s also raised upward and tilted forward a bit.

Depending on your vehicle you may love this (extra ground clearance), but it’s caused two problems for me: I cannot put the tailgate down on my truck, the rack sits too high. Also, I had this on a friends van and wide MTB handlebars hit the rear window.

Other than that it fits most vehicles extremely well, I primarily use this on a 4runner and have no problems at all. -There could be more adjustability, I’ve had 1 bike combo that required me to let most of the air out of the rear tire of a bike, the rack simply didn’t adjust enough to prevent the handlebar/seat interference.

This would definitely be a problem with MTBs if you don’t have dropper posts. -The dust covers for all the locks on the rack are extremely difficult to remove. It can be frustrating and almost impossible if it’s wet and cold.

Overall it’s been a great rack and I can tell it’s going to last a long time. Hope this review helps you make a decision.

I’ve had this rack for several years and put it through lots of miles. I figured it looked well built and top of the line and I wanted the best rack. Well, that has not been my experience. We started with the 2 bike rack and added the 2 bike extension.

After a few long road trips, the thing started breaking apart at the hinge and eventually, when we were 600 miles from home, the hinge broke completely and we had to hold it together with rope and duct tape to get it home.

Kuat warrantied all the broken parts, but I had to spend about 3 hours totally disassembling the mechanism and rebuilding it, which was difficult with all the bent bolts and corrosion. After the rebuild, it wasn’t long before it started to fall apart again.

The hinge got stiff and hard to actuate, the retractable locks all became corroded and useless. We’ve not been able to get one to reliably lock or unlock for a few years now, despite tons of grease and cleaning.

We ended up removing the 2 bike extension because the main pillar developed a bend in it just bouncing down the highway. We’ve only ever loaded sub 18lb road bikes and sub 24lb mountain bikes. Now the bars won’t fully retract or telescope and only one of the 2 remaining bars will even hold a 29″ wheel.

We have to bungee the bike to keep it from moving. And to add insult to injury, the bars rub the paint off your road bike forks so all our bikes have helicopter tape where they touch the rack. Overpriced, poorly designed eye candy.

Sorry I ever bought this thing. Going to a OneUp or similar design that only touches the tires.

Incredible build quality. You are definitely getting what you pay for. Hold bikes solid. Every part and piece during install feels premium. The only difference between this and the normal NV (not base model) is that one you can get in orange or silver, and has a built in work stand you can use when the rack is up.

But you can buy that separately and add it to this rack as well for nearly the same as the price difference between that model and this base one. The black on black looks great. I wouldn’t want any other rack after getting this one.

Worth the higher price for sure. Built in locks are cool, but could be longer.

I am very happy with Bike Rack except for a few minor things. It would have been nice in the directions if they would have told you what size socket head you need to tighten the hitch pin. Also, the rack does have the ability to put a pad lock on it to secure your bikes but they should have drilled one more additional hole to enable the rack to be secured by two pad locks.

Otherwise, so far so good – comparing the price of this rack to others out there – I think it is a good deal.

I researched bike racks online. Then researched suppliers. I read the specs and price of the Swagman and did not figure I’d find a similar product with the same qualities. Only thing left to do was find a supplier.

I discovered AutoEverything had the best price. I ordered it and it arrived right on schedule. The quality is simply outstanding and AutoEverything does all and more that it says it will do. They are my new GoTo Guys.

Well built with additional adapter to secure it so it doesn’t swing left to right. You’ll need wrench or socket to remove it when you’re done with using it. Bought the 3 bike carrier for 2 bikes so that I’d have more space between bikes.

I like that it’s lightweight compared to the one that I had previously that was well built but weighed a ton.

We have had this for several weeks and have done several bike rides. It took around 90 minutes to assemble. It is very stable and great for our families bikes. We bought the rack that holds 4 bikes and it holds a road bike, 2 hybrids, and a kids 20 inch bike very well! The bikes are very sturdy.

The rack folds down nicely when not in use and folds down with plenty of room to open the track gate.

I love this bike rack especially for the price! It looks great on my suv and feels really sturdy. This is a must buy!

The Thule Double Track Pro XT is a great in-between platform rack for 2″ or 1 1/4″ hitches for two bikes based on cost. Heavy duty enough for bike stability and durability but not too heavy to carry from the storage area to the hitch.

It has well built plastic cups (wheel trays) for both front and rear wheels with straps to hold the wheels extra securely while the user is locking down the frames. The straps ratchet tightly and include a sliding pad to protect the rim finish.

They can be laced into the wheel tray one way to allow for fat tires or laced another way to fit narrow road bike tires. The center mounted mast has ratcheting arms with cushioned hooks to hold down both bike frames and both lock to prevent theft.

There are no locking cables to bother with and the single key works for the 2 bike locks on the ratcheting arms and the lock on the hitch bolt. The hitch bolt is 19mm and secures the rack tightly in the receiver preventing excessive wobble.

The rack comes ready to use for 2″ receiver hitches, but there is a set screw that can be removed to slide off the sturdy shank adapter that fits over the 1 1/4″ core. This makes it usable for both typical hitch receiver sizes.

The wheel trays adjust easily side to side with cam locks to tighten and there is a tray for each wheel for extra stability. The instructions guide the user to install them so the curved opening is facing away from the mast which adds to the secure hold on the tires.

The mast hooks that press down on the bike cross bars can flip either direction. This was helpful when my wife’s step through frame required the hook to be moved farther left of the mast to press down on the lowest and most flat portion of the cross bar.

The wheel trays allowed adjustment so the mast arm came down very close to the seat tube part of the frame. The round center button at the base of the mast is very large and unlocks the mast from the down or up positions.

I found that when I needed one hand to hold the bike and one to pull up the mast, I could hit the mast button with my knee or a foot to release it. The HitchSwitch lever lets you tilt the rack away from the vehicle with bikes loaded to access cargo area.

When bikes are not loaded, the same lever allows the user to fold the platform up and closer to the back of the vehicle. There is plenty of room between the rack and the hitch to access the HitchSwitch or the receiver bolt.

I am grateful that a company like Thule made this intermediate platform rack with sturdy plastic trays for the tires. I did not like what I saw in less expensive platform racks that had simple, slighlty curved wire rectangles to hold the tires.

I would have preferred this rack be availible with a one or two bike add-on system. I could not justify a $900 2-bike rack then have to add-on an additional $500-600 for 2 more bikes. There were some Thule platformn racks like the T2 Classic that were $550 + $400 for the two items.

This is my second Thule rack. The first one gets a 5 rating. My issues here are with the lack of instructions and “cautions. ” First, the instructions are entirely pictorial and difficult to follow, at least for me.

Example, instead of “tighten securely with provided wrench” we get a bulging bicep. After the fact, I found a few comprehensive 10-15 minutes videos on YouTube that were helpful but too late. Start here, not with the provided instructions.

Second, the rack does work with a step-through bike. Would have been a nice cautionary note in the product description. But for $40 more, Thule will sell you a cross bar to make the rack functional. Even with this cross bar, it is difficult to get both vertical supports tight using a step through cross bar bike and a standard bike.

Third, the rack does not have a serial number, which precludes the buyer from registering the warranty. This lack of serial number, supposedly from not being produced in the USA, was also noted on various web postings, but not by Thule, which simply instructs the buyer to enter it to register the rack.

Still unclear how to register. Finally, never start your bike unload process without the vertical bar being tightly in place to secure the bikes. I loosened the vertical bar and left the wheel straps secure.

The bike, being held in place by only the wheel straps tilted and snapped both the “shoes” where the bike sits. Given I cannot register the rack to explore replacement parts, appears my best option us to buy two replacement “shoes” for $40 each on Amazon.

So, my “usable” rack will cost an additional $120 with much aggravation in the middle. I understand the costs saves of universal packaging materials and instructions to avoid multi-language manuals. That said, I would have gladly paid an extra $5 for better instructions and FAQs to avoid these pains.

If you are thinking about buying this rack, do your homework first.

I was going to do a car top bike holder on my Thule roof rack but with an SUV, that just seemed like it would be tough with a large bike. Went with this instead. Fairly simple to put together and holds the bikes really well.

As someone else said in a video, the locking mechanisms for the bikes themselves could be removed (while locked) by someone with an Allen wrench, but it’s a deterrent, not a fail safe. Don’t leave bikes unattended for long.

The locking mechanism for the rack to the hitch, however, is solid. No easy way to get past that so I don’t worry about the rack disappearing overnight, even parked on the street. One negative with Thule, though, is their utterly abysmal customer support.

I lost my keys on the first ride. That meant I couldn’t even remove the rack from the hitch. There was no way for me to be sure what kind of key I needed because the Spare parts page doesn’t list it.

I emailed and waited. And waited. 8 days later, I got an email response. REI had already helped me out, thankfully, with their set of master keys and advice how to order a new set. But if you need help, CALL Thule.

Don’t bother emailing unless you want ti feel ignored for over a week.

This bike rack is built strong and sturdy. I was looking for one that odd shaped bikes would fit, and be easy for my wife to use on the back of our car. This unit is really sturdy, and fits the bill perfectly.

Good quality. Only negative is how far it sticks out from the back of the car, but what do you expect in a 4 bike carrier. I wish it had an accessory number plate holder. I wish it had the option for LED lights/indicators to plug into trailer plug.

(as an accessory if people want/not).

Very good value at this price point. Easy to load and unload the bikes. Looks well made. The draw bar appears to be perhaps a bit long but this makes it easy to load and unload the inside bike. Bikes without cross bars such as femal easy step through frames will require a temporary crossbar in most cases.

Carrier was as advertised and is made of good strong material. Very happy with carrier. Only thing I would say is maybe some straps to strap the wheels down. My top tube angles down so while highly unlikely it could be possible for bike to slide forward and maybe jump out of wheel holders.

If top tube is flat (horizontal) then it would be fine.

Used with a e-bike SCOR 4060 Z ST 29er 50lb bike. Used on a 2000 Acura TL 3. 2. I wanted to use my Acura TL because its good on gas. needed a smaller hitch size to mount and was glad this had both two components to fit hitch sizes 1.

25in and 2in. The 2inch hard plastic adapter come off with a allen type screw. to use with other vehicle if needed. I like that you can expand this unit for other bikes. First. Packaged and delivery exceptional.

Second, instructions and manual to put together was easy to understand. Took me about 20-30 minutes to put together. went on easy. like the locking mechanism as well. Now, my Acura has a class 1 hitch that tucks a bit under my rear bumper- its nice as it doesnt stick out and is hidden.

its not so nice because i need hitch mounts that are longer than normal. With this particular bike mounting system it does stick out enough to be able to fold the unit up when not using as it hits my rear bumper.

kinda of a bummer for me and my particular model. wish it could be adjustable a bit more on hitch but it is what it is. Driving with my heavy ebike is not an issue at all. Taking bike on and off is easy.

and removing from hitch on my car is a breeze, not too heavy. Overall I am happy with this bike carrier and its design and materials.

Well well to my surprise this rack is exceptionally good. But the review that I would like to leave it is the outstanding service from Justin ordered this at 10 am and arrived the next day impressive service by him and all staff highly recommend Roofrackstore and especially this bike rack for E-bike.

Cheers & Beers.

The rack looks great on my ’14 Xterra, but more importantly, it holds my 60+lbs RadRunner eBike safe and secure. The single-bike design keeps the mount inconspicuous, but I do like the option of expanding to two bikes if need be.

This is the first rack that I’ve owned where I don’t find myself turning around every 5 minutes to make sure that the bike is firmly secured. I am that confident in the design and execution of this rack!.

Assembley manual a little confusing, but this rack is a very affordable and soild alternative to Kuaat and Thule