If you can’t fit everything inside your car, the finest bike racks for vehicles make moving your bike easier and are a must.
This guide contains all the information you need to know when choosing the bike-rack style that best matches your needs among the several bike-rack designs that are offered at various price points.
Read on for a thorough description of roof racks, racks put on the boot or trunk, and racks attached on the hitch or towbar, as well as reviews of the top-rated models as determined by our team of knowledgeable testers.
Contents
- List of Top 10 Best Car Bike Racks on Amazon.com
- #1 Allen Sports Deluxe 2-Bike Trunk Mount Rack
- #2 Allen Sports Ultra Compact Trunk Mounted Bike Rack
- #3 Allen Sports Three-Bike Hitch Rack Deluxe
- #4 Allen Sports Deluxe Four-Bike Trunk-Mount Rack
- #5 BV Bicycle Hitch Mount Rack Carrier
- #6 Allen Sports Deluxe 2-Bike Spare Tire Bike Rack
- #7 Swagman Upright Roof Mount Bike Rack
- #8 Delta Cycle & Home Bike Hitch Pro Truck Bed Bike Mount
- #9 Thule T2 Pro XT 2 Bike Rack
List of Top 10 Best Car Bike Racks on Amazon.com
#1 Allen Sports Deluxe 2-Bike Trunk Mount Rack
Plenty of reviewers love Allen Sports’ car bike racks — and the brand appears quite a few times throughout this post — but among all of its well-reviewed products, this two-bike trunk mount rack gets the most praise, with over 17,000 five-star reviews. “You cannot do better! There is no bike rack out there that is of this quality for this price,” writes one reviewer who appreciates that it’s “well built, easy to install, and I feel confident that it’s going to keep my bike secure.” Another reviewer also appreciates the convenience of being able to fold the rack up and “keep it in my trunk for whenever I need it. No need to install anything permanent on the car.” And this bike rack can go long distances with no issues. One cyclist drove “11 states, 3,000 miles, and 7 days” with their bike strapped to the back and calls it “the best bike rack I have ever owned! I was a bit skeptical at first because of the cheap price, but it is worth every penny.”
#2 Allen Sports Ultra Compact Trunk Mounted Bike Rack
The majority of reviewers give this bike rack five stars for two reasons: It’s easy to use, and it’s very compact. One reviewer who bought this for a trip to Reno, Nevada, where they planned to rent bikes with a friend, was happy to find that “the rack unfolds from a super-compact form that makes it easy to travel with (I put it in my luggage that I checked on the plane).” It’s so small and easy to install, in fact, that one reviewer says, “It’s going to be hard for you to believe that your bike will be safe LOL.” But despite their skepticism, “it worked like a charm” on their cross-country road trip. And even though it’s not that big, it’s designed to fit two bikes — and according to one reviewer, this is “by far the easiest and simplest model to secure onto the back of an SUV. We recently drove over 700 miles on highways, potholes, and dirt roads in New England. The bikes stayed completely secure.”
#3 Allen Sports Three-Bike Hitch Rack Deluxe
Like the best-rated Allen Sports car bike rack, this three-bike rack affixes to a car’s hitch, making it a favorite among SUV-driving families. One parent of a self-described “weekend-biking-outings-for-fun family” says this rack is easy to assemble and all three bikes “stay secure and don’t bang into the car. I was also a little skeptical about the ‘lift-gate access,’ but my hatch had plenty of clearance when I had the rack tilted out.” Because of the rack’s hitch pins, many customers agree that it easily folds outward in order to open a car’s back hatch. “It also folds up so nicely that I can easily store it in my SUV when traveling and in my garage when not,” says one customer, who formerly had a more expensive name-brand car-hitch bike carrier but calls this one easier to use. The “no wobble” bolt is another favorite feature among reviewers, including one parent who mounted two adult bikes and one child’s bike to the rack for a 2,200-mile trip and “had no issues at all. Bike rack and the bikes were secure, no movement, no rattles.”
#4 Allen Sports Deluxe Four-Bike Trunk-Mount Rack
Like the best-rated, less expensive car bike rack from Allen Sports, this bike rack mounts to a car’s trunk, and many reviewers say it has withstood long trips and bumpy dirt roads — all with four bikes locked on. “I’ve driven 30 miles on freeways at 65 mph and up winding mountain roads, no issues,” says one customer who uses this rack to transport their heavier mountain bikes everywhere. Another drove “over rough dirt roads, and all the bikes stayed right in place. It is quick and easy to load and unload,” they add, describing the bike as “sturdy.” In fact, more than a few reviewers say this rack is “solid” and “sturdy,” including one who drove cross-country “over winding mountain passes [and] bumpy dirt roads” with their bikes and says this rack “never failed us” despite tons of loading and unloading. One customer was even in a car accident (thankfully, “everyone is okay”) while driving with four bikes affixed to this rack: “They didn’t move” at all.
#5 BV Bicycle Hitch Mount Rack Carrier
Reviewers appreciate that this hitch-mounted car bike rack is easily foldable and tiltable, allowing them to access their trunks even while the bikes are loaded up. One customer, who drove across the Midwest with their two small kids and often had to “dig in the trunk of the car for forgotten items in their suitcases,” says, “We were constantly tilting it with two bikes mounted on it. It was easy to do, and we had no problems accessing everything we needed without disturbing the bikes.” Plus, since hitch racks are heavy by design — this one is 70 pounds — in order to withstand the bike’s weight, this rack’s foldability enables customers to manage it more easily once it’s affixed. One 65-year-old user says she was grateful not to “wrestle it off every time I needed to get into my SUV. I assembled it by myself after studying the instructions for a bit. It was pretty simple, really.” Over 150 other five-star reviewers note this rack’s ease of assembly and use, including one whose 7-year-old put it together “in about 30 minutes.” They say it has since withstood 6,000 miles of driving with four bikes attached.
#6 Allen Sports Deluxe 2-Bike Spare Tire Bike Rack
Although a hitch-mounted car bike rack often leaves room for a spare tire, some do not, and — as reviewers note — some SUVs with an exterior spare tire don’t have a trailer hitch, which is where this spare-tire bike rack comes in handy. One customer says their 2004 Honda CRV has a configuration that excludes most bike-rack options, but not this one: “I am especially impressed with its robust construction, simple operation, and stable performance. It clamps nicely over the spare tire — even with the tire cover left on — so on and off is not a struggle,” they say, adding that after many rides on bumpy country roads it still “rides steady without issue.” Another, who drove their Jeep 700 miles from Tennessee to Florida, says that other bike racks bounce on their car’s hitch mount but that this model “doesn’t move an inch.” “This rack is one of the best bike-related purchases I’ve made besides my bike,” they add. Many other customers say this bike rack is a sturdy, worthy investment, including an initially skeptical customer who had doubts about its stability, given the low price point, but says it “did not budge an inch on highways and bumpy roads from Colorado to Washington State and back!”
#7 Swagman Upright Roof Mount Bike Rack
Plenty of five-star reviewers have put this Swagman car-roof bike rack to the test by using it on long drives and road trips, including one cyclist who “drove from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles with no problems at all.” And another reviewer, who bought two for a cross-country camping trip, “Can’t believe how well they did. 6,344 miles — and many of them on very bumpy roads — and the bikes always stayed put. I never worried about them coming loose. Checked them periodically if I hadn’t removed the bikes for a while, and everything was always tight.” And since this bike rack is just under $50, many reviewers comment on how great of a value this is. Summed up by one reviewer who uses these for their kids’ bikes: “Why spend hundreds on other roof racks? Have had this for a few months, and it’s been great. Bikes are secure and feel very sturdy on the rack.”
#8 Delta Cycle & Home Bike Hitch Pro Truck Bed Bike Mount
Reviewers looking to secure their bikes to the flatbed of their truck say this Delta Cycle & Home bike mount offers good quality at a decent price. One reviewer uses it to drive their bikes consistently “up through the winding mountain roads of Appalachia without them ever loosening or appearing unstable” and says they’re happy to place their trust in the Delta brand to “hold $2,500 worth of bikes securely in the bed of my truck.” Another reviewer who bought this rack says it “makes a world of difference,” explaining that their bike doesn’t move an inch even though their truck “isn’t the smoothest-riding truck in the world.” And a third reviewer calls it “the easiest, cheapest, safest solution for transporting bikes in the bed of my truck” — they drilled the mount into their truck bed and secured two bikes safely “all in 30 minutes” and “for under $40!!”
#9 Thule T2 Pro XT 2 Bike Rack
Reviewers of this rack kept saying “you get what you pay for,” referring to the steeper price point. Many of them went on to describe the multiple functions that put this rack over others in their minds. One reviewer, who started his review by saying that he decided to buy it based on video reviews, had this to say. “Integrated bike locks and attachment method is a vast improvement to other bike racks. Holds equipment firm. Our bikes aren’t cheap and it’s better to hold carbon frame bikes by wheels than frame. The fact that it folds not only up but slightly down to obtain gear from truck bed/trunk makes it highly convenient. If you want to purchase something that’s lasts and only once go this route, you won’t be disappointed.” And a woman who would otherwise worry about leaving her bikes on the rack while parked said this. “A+ worth the price for this quality. I drove 3,000 miles across the country and my bikes didn’t move! Got my trailer hitch from U-Haul. I love that it comes with a pull out cable lock. It’s not very long but it works and gave me piece of mind when parking at random towns and hotels. It’s super fast to put bikes on and off!”