Bicycle racks are important! Yes, indeed…. Why you would say. Because the bicycle racks can allow you to have a successful set of bike rides in a place away from home, or NOT. Speaking of places for bike rides — I have been adding more to this site's database of bike trails. Added more in Texas and Florida – check them out here.
And now, back to the bike racks — and more specifically, the strap-on / trunk bike racks. I have had many of those over the years — used them on Hatchback cars (my old trusty 1987 Ford Escort ) on sedans (Dodge Neon, Subaru) and Station Wagos (Renault Sports Wagon, Subaru Outback….. BMW). Well, those racks used to work just fine with the straight frames of the mountain bikes of the 1990s and early 2000s but now the new models are getting tougher to get on these racks.
The most recent rack I have owned is SARIS which I wanted to use with three mountains bikes when I go biking with my family. Well, that is what I wanted to do, but in my particular case with the bikes I have — the intent turned out to be unachievable!
Why? Because of the frame shapes of the current bikes my family has – two 29ers Specialized and one 26-inch Giant bikes. No matter what I have tried it is IMPOSSIBLE to mount all three bikes on the rack.
Long story short, I need a roof top bike rack.
So that will be my next purchase — expect to read about my exploits in figuring out the best options for my station wagon roof rack.
In the mean time — if you have more than two bikes — please check carefully before you buy a strapon trunk mounted bike rack. Chances are, you won't be able to use it properly.