A bike rack or bicycle carrier is a construction, which allows transporting bicycles on your car. Not all vehicles allow loading a bicycle inside, moreover, it is dangerous to have bicycles in the cabin in case of a road accident and your vehicle interior upholstery can spoiled, so a bike rack can be very useful. Many online-shops offer bike racks of various capacity and mounting type. Depending on the vehicle these accessories can be installed on the roof, the boot or tow hitch.
- Roof-mounted bicycle racks. These racks allow transporting of 1–4 bikes on the roof. Installation of this type bike carrier will be preferable if your car has roof rails. Advantages: free space in the luggage compartment, possibility to carry many bikes at once. Disadvantages: increase of drag coefficient, difficulties during bicycles loading/unloading on the roof. Such accessories allow carrying bikes securely fastened not worsening observability for the driver.
- Boot-mounted bicycle racks. This type of racks is convenient for bikes loading, suitable for many body types of cars, but can worsen visibility of tail lights, hinder loading cargo into the luggage compartment. Usually, bicycle racks for boots are less expensive, require no additional equipment and easy to install.
- Bicycle racks for installation on the tow hitch. These ones are suitable for installation only on vehicles with already mounted tow hitch. Some models even allow opening the boot lid while installed. Also, for safety reasons, they have auxiliary lights on their base.
While carrying a bicycle on the top of your car roof you should always remember about increased height, especially driving into parking lots or tunnels, going under bridges or through drive-in car wash.
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