These Expert Recommended Racks Will Help You Safely Transport Your Bike (2024)

Setting up a bike rack on your car dramatically expands your cycling horizons. With the ability to transport your bike, you can cycle far beyond the reaches of your neighborhood to backcountry trails in the mountains, or extended road trips in new cities, parks, and exciting destinations.

There are many kinds of bike racks, which all offer different benefits and drawbacks. Hitch mount racks can carry the heaviest loads, but require a trailer hitch and may interfere with your ability to access your trunk or cargo area. Trunk racks are easy to install and remove, but carry less weight. Roof racks are great, too, but you have to lift the bike to the roof of your vehicle and be mindful of clearance issues in garages and tunnels.

So figuring out the right rack for you and your bikes takes a little research. You need one that’s compatible with both your bike and your vehicle: Picking wrong can be a big pain at best, and leave you with damaged gear at worst. Luckily, we’re here to give you a head start with a primer on everything you need to know about picking a bike rack, including nine recommendations with options for every kind of cyclist.

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Best Bike Racks

• Best Overall: Saris Freedom
• Best Value: Saris Bones 2-Bike Trunk Rack
• Best Roof Rack: Thule ProRide XT
• Best Hitch Rack: Thule T2 Pro XTR Hitch Rack
• Best Trunk Rack: Allen Premier Trunk Rack

The Expert: Having spent decades riding just about everything on two wheels, I’ve hauled more than my fair share of bikes on weekend getaways and multi-thousand-mile road trips to destinations all over, from Mexico City through the American West, then all the way up to Banff, and back again. Accordingly, I’ve tried and tested bike racks of all shapes and sizes on a wide array of vehicles, including SUVs, vans, RVs, and trucks. I’ve poured all that experience into my work reviewing bikes, bike racks, and other cycling gear for publications like Bicycling, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, the Manual, and more.

What to Consider When Buying a Bike Rack

How We Selected the Best Bike Racks

Our bike-crazed editors have driven hundreds and, in some cases, thousands of miles with their bikes entrusted to these racks. We researched the market, surveyed user reviews, spoke with product managers and engineers, and leveraged our own experience to determine the best options for you.

We hauled road bikes, mountain bikes, ebikes, and commuter bikes, as well as bikes with disc brakes, big wheels, fat tires, and more. We kept these racks and pads on our vehicles for months, using and abusing them until we could confidently say which ones worked and which ones didn’t. If we weren’t satisfied with a particular rack, we didn’t include it.

To update this list, we drew on nearly 40 years of firsthand experience hauling bikes on racks and vehicles of every type. We’ve tested the best and the worst, and have seen them at their finest and when they’ve failed disastrously. The recommendations below represent the latest and greatest to suit a variety of intentions, vehicle formats, and budgets.

With its stellar carrying capabilities and shockingly low price for a heavy-duty hitch rack, this is an outstanding bike rack for just about any type of rider. The Saris Freedom supports two 60 pound bikes, which is strong enough to handle almost anything besides especially heavy ebikes. Its drop-in design allows for easy loading and lets you tilt the rack to access the trunk on a pitstop.

The straps and ratchets require a bit of effort to get everything cinched down, but your bikes will stay in place with little to no wobbling or rattling once they’re set. It does have some limitations–it cannot support fat tire bikes–but beyond that it’s a hitch rack at an outstanding price point that performs as well as many far more expensive options. That’s a combination that’s hard to beat.

The Saris Bones trunk rack is easy to install and load, with sturdy arms and legs that make it an easy choice for standard road bikes. It’s lightweight, versatile enough to use with a variety of vehicles, and tends to move and rattle less than most other trunk racks thanks to a ratcheting strap system that holds everything securely in place.

While it doesn’t have a particularly high weight capacity, or support some full-suspension bikes, it’s an outstanding rack for casual riders and expert cyclists alike, whether you make regular treks or only need it a few times a year.

In addition to the standard 2-bike format we recommend, the Saris Bones comes in 3-bike and hitch-based 4-bike variations, all of which offer relatively affordable options for a superior bike rack.

Thule is one of the most trustworthy names in the bike rack game, and the ProRide XT will show you why. Using a downtube clamp system, it attaches to your pre-installed roof rails, and works with just about any bike within its weight limit. (You will need an additional adapter to secure a fat tire bike, though.)

The ProRide XT maintains a steady grip on your bike as you drive, resulting in little to no motion, and if you add in Thule’s locking mechanism accessory, it keeps your bike secure from theft.

It’s also convenient, allowing you to secure your bike without removing the front wheel, which isn't always the case with roof-mount systems. With the front wheel on, though, you can expect to add a lot of height to your car with a bike installed, which will impact your driving more than your average roof rack. All in all, however, the Thule ProRide XT is easy to use and keeps your bike secure.

The Thule T2 Pro XTR is a superior hitch rack by pretty much every metric. We have hauled the T2 for thousands of miles and it didn’t wobble on anything but the bounciest of dirt roads, even when loaded with heavy ebikes. Installation and loading feel comparatively effortless, making every bike trip easy.

It’s compatible with bikes of pretty much any format, including fat tires and step-throughs. You’ll probably want to avoid using it with bikes that have front fenders or baskets, though, as the front-hook design is intended to grip flush against the front wheel. Beyond that, the Thule T2 Pro XTR almost guarantees a smooth ride to your bike ride.

The Allen Premier Trunk Rack is a solid, versatile option that offers straightforward, dependable operation. It affixes to your trunk stably without much effort, and is easy to load and unload. It’s also compatible with most types of vehicles, including sedans, hatchbacks, minivans, and SUVs, which is abnormal for a trunk rack. Given its relatively low weight limit, the rack is made primarily for standard road bikes, but can accommodate step-throughs via a third-party crossbar adapter.

While we’ve specifically tested and recommended the two-bike version, the Allen Premier is also available in three- and four-bike editions as well. Versatile, easy to use, and affordable, it delivers everything you need from a quality trunk rack.

The Dakine Pickup Pad protects your truck and your bikes with its thick dual-density foam padding and micro-fleece lining. It keeps a fleet of bikes secure–up to five for the “small” rack, and up to seven with the large one–using simple Velcro straps. The straps are also removable between uses, making the whole setup easy to disassemble when you need your truck bed free.

One small caveat: this tailgate cover has been known to block the rearview camera in newer trucks. If you have a camera, we’d recommend trading up to the Pickup Pad DLX Curve, which is designed to avoid the obstruction.

Yakima’s burly OnRamp hitch rack is one of our favorites for a number of reasons. Its frame-mounting design accommodates just about any kind of bike, holding them securely with little to no movement, even on a bumpy ride. It includes locks for security and tilts for easy trunk access.

But it stands out among other hitch racks because of its outstanding weight capacity: It can carry two 66 pound bikes–more than enough to carry most heavy mountain bikes or ebikes. It also features an integrated ramp, making it easy and safe to load and unload the heavy bikes you’re hauling. It’s a pricey rack, but it’s a game-changer if you think you’ll have trouble getting your bikes on and off your rack.

The Destination E can carry even more weight than the Yakima OnRamp, but it gets a special place on our list because Hollywood Racks claims the design is made specifically for ebikes.

With its 70-pound-per-bike capacity, it should be able to carry most standard ebikes–just make sure to remove the battery when you load it up. It also has an integrated ramp for easy loading. What’s more, its seat-post gripping design means that it can safely carry bikes of any format, which is essential as more and more ebikes embrace the step-through frame.

There are few bikes or ebikes on the market that exceed its weight capacity, and it’s easier to load than just about any rack out there. Since it works with pretty much any kind of bike, this a foolproof option for any cyclist with a 2-inch trailer hitch on their vehicle.

The Yakima RidgeBack is relatively lightweight for a hitch rack, featuring a dual-arm setup that makes it generally easy to load up. (Though some reviewers on REI report trouble loading the fourth bike when they had a full rack, claiming that there simply isn’t space for a fourth–others, however, didn’t seem to have this issue).

With its tool-free SpeedKnob mechanism, installing and removing the rack from your trailer hitch is also a breeze. Most importantly, the rack barely wobbles or vibrates in transit, so can rest assured that your bikes are secure. You’ll need a crossbar adapter if you ride step-through, but straightforward zip-tie style attachments ensure that your bikes stay put in any case.

Bike Rack Q+A with Expert Reviewer Nick Hilden