Find the Right Bike Rack: How to Choose a Bicycle Rack to Meet Your Needs

A good bike rack is easy to find if you know how and when you want to use the bicycle rack and understand your options and the available price ranges.

Need a good bike rack for a mountain bike, dirt bike, trick bike or other type of bicycle? Think about your needs before you shop online or go to a sporting goods store, or bike shop.

For $50.00-$100.00, you can get a two-bike rack to store your bicycles in your garage or shed. By mounting your bikes on the wall, you clear floor space and avoid damage to your bikes when they are not in use.

Bike hooks are less expensive (they are priced between $15.00 and $30.00) and some allow you to lock the bike in place to protect against theft if you are storing your bike in a common apartment store room or an open storage building. Ceiling mount bike lifts are priced between $25.00 and $50.00.

These lifts will get your bike well out of the way, and keep it safe until you want to use it again! So, instead of running over or damaging that expensive mountain bike, get yourself a good wall rack or bike hook, and use your garage floor space or storage space for other things.

You can choose from folding wall mounts, double folding wall mounts, ceiling or wall bike lifts, freestanding bike ‘trees', floor to ceiling bike racks, vertical bicycle racks and many other options.

If you prefer to take your bike on the road, you have many options for car and bus racks. You can choose a tandem bike racks, or a short or long tray bicycle carrier for the roof of your car.

These are priced between $100 and $200. Bicycle racks that fasten onto the back of your vehicle and are priced from $60 to $150, depending on the number of bikes you want to carry and the quality of the rear bike carrier you select.

Hitch bike racks are priced between $120 and $225 depending on the number of bikes you want to carry. If you want to put your bike in the back of a pick-up truck, you can choose from trap or full racks that are priced from $20 to $200.

Need a bike rack for an RV or a bus? ‘Tires only' bike racks are made from steel and come in standard and narrow profiles, for one, two or three bicycles. Some of these racks are sturdy enough to be used on city transit buses where the latches may be opened and closed many times and the racks may be subject to impact from other vehicles on city streets.

C-bracket bike racks fasten to the front bumper of a bus using existing holes on the bumper, though you will have to drill some holes to add stability, whereas the ‘stand-off' fastener uses brackets to fasten to the bumper and is easy to install. There are some specialty models for certain makes of trucks like Ford, and for certain types of buses that use Class III hitches.

Prices on these ‘industrial strength' models vary widely, so you'll need to check with the manufacturer and distributor to find one that fits your budget and your needs!