Carrying a bike as additional luggage almost always causes more or less problems. Unless you have a van or estate car, in which you can afford to place a sofa or at least.
Luggage racks on bicycles – comparison of solutions
Carrying a bike as additional luggage almost always causes more or less problems. Unless we have a van or estate car in which we can afford to place a sofa or at least a part of it, we have to find an external solution. With the help of bicycle racks, which are available in different models and ways of mounting on the car. To choose the most suitable one for our car, it is worth to study the advantages and disadvantages of three most popular solutions – roof rack, mounted on a towbar and on the flap of the car rack.
Roof rack
The first solution is a roof rack, which can be bought in Andra’s rack store. From a budget point of view, this is the cheapest and theoretically most obvious solution. The problem arises when our car is a high SUV or the bike has to be mounted by a lower or weaker person – lifting the bike above your head and keeping it in this position requires a bit of solidity. In addition, the bike on the roof changes the aerodynamics of the car to the detriment of the aerodynamics, which may increase combustion, and the raised center of gravity on winding roads certainly will not improve the stability of the ride. While the car already has roof rails and beams, a single bicycle rack is a cost of several dozen to several hundred USD.
Luggage rack on the hook
Another solution is a towbar rack. In this case, the bikes remain in the contour of the car, which does not significantly affect its performance and driving safety, and the vast majority of available models allow you to get into the trunk of the car in one movement lowering the luggage compartment with bicycles. Here, in turn, some models are characterized by a very large weight of the frame and getting into the rear flap requires just as much force as mounting the bikes on the roof. It is also the most expensive solution, and the cost often comes with the need to buy a frame for the overvoltage of the license plate, which the bikes would normally cover.
Luggage compartment for the rear flap
The third and compromise solution is the use of a rack mounted on the tailgate. The advantage of the solution is (after prior adjustment of the frame for our car) rapid installation of the frame and the bikes themselves and not too high price, but the frame is based in many places on the body, so it is very easy to damage or scratch it, and the bikes themselves are practically lying on top of each other and also during the ride may suffer some damage. It is certainly not a method designed for new and expensive cars, as well as bicycles, but the trunk itself is a safe transport – without opening the tailgate there is no possibility that the trunk fell or was removed by an unauthorized person.
Choosing the right rack depends not only on the thickness of your wallet, but also on your car, its accessories and routes, which will be carried by bicycles. A roof rack will not be a good idea for winding mountain roads, while a newly purchased car will rather not want to install a frame that can damage the body. Luggage rack on the hook will not be used either, if the hook itself will not have the standard.
Categories: Automotive
