There are many considerations when choosing the best bike rack. For starters, bike racks, or commonly called bike carriers, come in many varieties. Some hold two bicycles and others four or possibly more. Some bike carriers mount to the top of your vehicle or your vehicle hitch. If you’re like us, you may choose to use an RV bike rack, like the Let’s go Aero bike rack.

Of course, it cannot just be that simple. You may need a bike rack with a four bicycle capacity and you desire to put it behind your truck or RV. However, you may soon learn that it’s just not possible. Why? Continue reading as we explore how the elements of choosing a bike rack are often dependent upon one another.

How Many Bikes?

This may seem like a no-brainer, but your first step is knowing how many bikes you’ll need to haul. Of course, a bike rack capable of hauling four bicycles can haul one just as easily. But why would you want to waste the extra space and weight? Unless of course, you were planning to add more bikes to your rack soon. In the same way, buying a bike rack for two bikes when you have four isn’t going to cut the mustard either. So, albeit a tip from Captain obvious, but an important one… consider how many bikes you need to haul first. Now that you know how many bikes you need to haul, you can decide where you want your bike rack.

Choosing the Best Bike Rack – Know your Limitations

Imagine you’ve chosen the best bike bike rack for your RV, but only to find out that you cannot put it where you wanted. This is why you must know your limitations. This info mostly concerns RV bike racks, but could possibly come into play with vehicles. Many RVs do not come equipped with a frame mounted cargo carrier. For those not in the know, that’s the grated-looking platform carriers on the rear of an RV. These carriers are mounted to the trailer’s frame work, capable of carrying a much heavier load than a bumper. In fact many RV bumpers are not designed to carry much more than the spare tire often attached to them. Therefore, it’s a good idea to consult your owner’s manual and/or your manufacturer before you go all Beverly Hillbillies on your RV bumper.

For standard vehicles you’re likely to not hit a weight limit on a hitch bike rack, but there are other considerations. Your vehicle may not be very wide and bikes on the back may block the view of your tail lights. In such cases maybe a roof mounted system would be the best bike rack for you. Perhaps you have a huge lifted truck and don’t lack much more clearance. In such a case a hitch mount may work better. Of course if your pulling an RV, you won’t have any room on your truck hitch. Therefore, you may want to consider a roof option or an RV bike rack. Knowing your limitations, if any, can certainly help you decide where to place your bike rack.

Where do You Want It?

As mentioned, there are various locations to put a bike rack. After considering your limitations, it should be easier to decide where to put it. For us, as full time RVers, an RV bike rack was our best option. Of course, with an RV, there are still a few locations to choose from. The standard seems to be the rear of the RV. Of course there are several types for this location as well. There are bumper mounted, ladder mounted or hitch mounted.

It was difficult for me to even find out the weight limit of my bumper. Once I did, I was not too confident that the bumper could support two bicycles in addition the spare tire that’s already there. Therefore, I decided to go with an RV tongue bike rack. As it sounds, this type of rack mounts to an RV tongue jack area with the bicycles over the propane tanks. Of course, you still have to consider your tongue weight and ensure that adding bicycles will not put you over your limit. One special consideration is that this type of bike rack will only work with travel trailers.

We chose the Let’s go Aero bike rack. Overall, this is a great, reliable bike rack. However, like with most things, there are pros and cons.

Pros:

You can see your bikes in rearview while towing

Location: Tongue may be more capable of carrying weight than rear of RV

Durable – no issues after four years

Very secure

Head-turner (if that matters to you) – We’ve had countless people ask us about it

Cons:

Difficult to get bikes on and off (especially rear bike closest to RV)

Must remove bikes and top portion of rack to remove propane tanks

Possible to put pressure on bike tires/wheels in real tight turns (mainly when backing into campsites)

Final Thoughts

As we’ve covered, there are many considerations when shopping for the best bike rack. Hopefully we’ve armed you with knowledge that will help you make the best choice. The goal, as is with most things in life, is to make the right decision the first time. Even if that means spending a little more than anticipated, it will likely be beneficial in the end.