The Finest Roof Bike Racks of 2024

The most effective roof bike racks permit bikes to be transported safely and securely up and out of the way in which of your car’s trunk or rear hatch. Whereas the rooftop fashion of motorcycle rack might not be fairly as standard because it was, the obtainable choices are higher than ever.

When you don’t wish to set up a tow hitch in your car, roof racks are an amazing various to hitch racks. They work nice on their very own or will be a simple method so as to add carrying capability to your car’s hitch rack setup. Additionally, the crossbars that maintain your bike roof rack can assist racks for different varieties of outside actions in an effort to customise your journey rig.

To search out one of the best roof bike racks of 2024, we rounded up a choice of 7 completely different fashions to check and evaluate facet by facet. We tasked biking professional Bennett Shane with placing every mannequin by means of its paces to determine their strengths and weaknesses and to see how they carry out in the actual world.

From the top-rated Yakima HighRoad to the high-end Kuat Piston SR, we’ve obtained suggestions to fit your rooftop bike-carrying wants. To see all the fashions we examined and their specs at a fast look, try our Comparability Chart. When you need assistance deciding which roof bike rack is greatest for you, we’ve included useful info in our detailed Shopping for Recommendation and Worth & Worth part so you may study extra.

Editor’s Notice: This information was up to date on October 25, 2024, with the addition of a brand new Worth & Worth part.

The Finest Roof Bike Racks of 2024

Roof Bike Rack Comparability Chart

How We Examined Roof Bike Racks

At GearJunkie, we love driving from the home at any time when potential, however such as you, we regularly drive with our bikes earlier than beginning our rides. Having a high quality rack to soundly and securely transport our treasured bikes is an extremely essential a part of our transportation state of affairs.

Not solely do we would like our bikes to keep away from injury to our bikes in transit, however we additionally prefer it when the rack is straightforward to make use of, steady, and appears good too. To that finish, we’ve examined one of the best roof bike racks in the marketplace to seek out one of the best in 2024.

Our Knowledgeable Tester

For our roof bike racks purchaser’s information, we recruited biking professional Bennett Shane to check and evaluate seven of the most recent and best fashions we might discover. Bennett is an obsessive bicycle owner and biking gear aficionado who takes nice satisfaction in his small fleet of high-end street bikes.

Not solely is he meticulous concerning the situation of his gear, however he’s additionally been biking severely for over 2 many years and has seen the evolution of motorcycle racks in that point. Bennett additionally spent a few years working for a number of outstanding manufacturers within the biking trade and has developed an uncanny depth of information about all issues biking, together with bike racks.

Our Testing Course of

After rounding up a various choice of seven roof bike rack fashions, Bennet spent months testing them side-by-side. With a set of Thule Wing Bar Evo crossbars mounted to his Subaru Forester, he put every of those racks by means of our rigorous testing course of.

Every was put in and eliminated quite a few instances, and bikes had been loaded and unloaded repeatedly. From stop-and-go driving on metropolis streets to freeway speeds on the freeway, we examined every rack’s stability and bike safety, together with essential components like bike compatibility, ease of use, safety features, and sturdiness.

Shopping for Recommendation: Find out how to Select a Roof Bike Rack

With quite a few roof bike rack choices in the marketplace to select from, discovering the right one is usually a problem. With completely different bike mounting types, wheel and tire measurement compatibility, and weight limits, there are lots of components to contemplate. If a hitch bike rack isn’t for you, our useful information will help you discover the fitting roof bike rack.

Bike Mount Model

Historically, bikes had been mechanically clamped into roof racks on the fork dropout, and the entrance wheel was saved contained in the car. Fork mount racks are nonetheless an choice, however each main model has developed an alternate fashion of roof bike rack that enables the entrance wheel to stay on by grabbing the entrance tire with a clamping system.

This design saves time getting the bike mounted onto the rack and area contained in the car. Total, wheel-on racks have change into the preferred fashion of roof racks as they’re barely extra user-friendly.

Wheel On

Inside the wheel-on class, the bulk use a clamping arm to safe the entrance wheel whereas a ratcheting belt cinches down on the rear rim, which sits near the tray of the rack. Because the rear wheel is locked in its vertical place by the rear triangle of the body, this a part of the bike doesn’t require as a lot enclosure because the entrance wheel.

Usually talking, these kinds of racks keep away from body and fork contact, however the strap by means of the rear wheel will all the time make contact along with your rear rim. The one potential draw back is that there isn’t a mechanical attachment between the rack and the bike.

Some manufacturers, like 1Up USA and Kuat, design their racks with clamping arms at each ends. This design means that you can orient the bike in whichever path you need within the tray and regulate them fore and aft if wanted. The twin clamping arm system additionally solely makes contact with the bike’s tires, so there isn’t a body, fork, and even rim contact to scuff up your fancy bike.

Fork Mount

Fork-mount racks are precisely what they sound like. They safe the bike by the fork’s axle and seize the rear wheel on the tray with a strap. Mounting the bike requires eradicating its entrance wheel, but it surely offers a steady and safe mechanical connection between the bike and the rack.

In addition to stability, the opposite primary advantage of fork mount racks is that you just don’t must raise the bike fairly as excessive to load it. Since fashionable bikes include quite a lot of completely different diameter and width axles, most high quality fork mount racks include just a few choices, or the fitting measurement is out there as an extra buy.

Wheel Measurement, Tire Measurement, and Wheelbase Size

When you plan to mount a motorbike with an extended or brief wheelbase, super-wide tires, or smaller wheels, examine the rack’s specs to make sure that it may well accommodate your wants. For street and gravel bikes, this gained’t be a problem, however for Fats, Downhill, and BMX bikes, it’s essential to know the bounds of any rack’s compatibility before you purchase.

Most wheel-on roof racks have a fairly wide selection of match that may have the ability to deal with the wheel and tire sizes of most traditional, adult-sized bicycles. When you’re largely carrying the identical bike or kind of motorcycle, you normally don’t must make any adjustments. When switching between wheel sizes, nonetheless, you’ll normally have to regulate the wheel clamps barely to suit. That is sometimes fairly fast and simple and will be accomplished with out instruments on most fashions.

For fork mount racks, wheel and tire measurement is way much less of a problem, because the bikes mount by the entrance axle of the fork. Axle compatibility is an even bigger concern right here, so it is advisable to make certain that you may have the proper measurement adapters for all the bikes you plan to hold.

Once more, examine the specs of the rack to see what axle adapters a mannequin comes with. Most manufacturers promote further axle adapters if the rack doesn’t mechanically include the one you want.

Bike Weight

Along with dimensions, examine to make sure that the rack’s weight restrict exceeds the load of your bike. Usually talking, the load limits of roof bike racks are decrease than these of hitch bike racks. That mentioned, you additionally must raise your bike to roof degree to load it onto the rack, in order that’s one other limiting issue to contemplate. It may be exhausting sufficient to raise and steadiness a 30-pound bike, so most of us don’t wish to hoist a 50-pound eMTB up there anyway.

Many of the roof bike racks we examined have weight limits within the 40 to 45-pound vary, which is greater than enough for almost all of street, gravel, CX, and XC/path mountain bikes. Some long-travel mountain bikes and e-road bikes will creep near the load restrict in some circumstances.

Two outliers are the Kuat Piston SR and the 1Up USA Roof Rack, with 67- and 75-pound weight limits, respectively. Whereas it will be exhausting to raise bikes that heavy to roof degree and would doubtless be greater than many crossbars can deal with these weight limits mirror the truth that these racks can each be transformed to hitch racks with equipment.

Safety

Many racks have cable locks constructed into them for the aim of securing your bike to the rack and deterring theft. You’ll nonetheless wish to be sure you can lock the rack to your car crossbars to stop theft of the rack and presumably the bikes which are mounted to it.

So, examine to see if lock cores are included within the worth or if they’re bought individually. As a rule, the racks are made to simply accept lock cores, however they don’t mechanically include them. Usually, a set of lock cores will add about $75 {dollars} to the price of a rack if they aren’t included.

Crossbar Compatibility

It’s essential to make it possible for the roof rack you’re selecting is suitable along with your car’s crossbars. Many automobiles have manufacturing facility crossbars of various shapes, and whereas the mounting {hardware} included with most racks is adaptable to most manufacturing facility crossbars, it’s not a given.

In case you are buying crossbars concurrently your roof rack, you may guarantee easy compatibility by going with the identical model for each rack and crossbars. Happily, most racks now have virtually common crossbar compatibility, so you may relaxation assured that with Yakima and Thule crossbars, you’ll have the ability to mount just about any roof rack simply. Most producers additionally listing a rack’s crossbar compatibility on their web sites so that you don’t must guess.

In order for you a clear look with a mechanical connection between the rack and crossbar, then T-track crossbars are the way in which to go. T-track cross bars have a channel that holds the mounting {hardware} that the rack then threads into, making a super-secure maintain for driving on tough surfaces and in addition deterring theft of the whole rack system. The one small draw back to that is that it takes a bit longer to take away and set up the rack between journeys, and also you’ll have some small components to maintain observe of in storage.

Alternatively, many racks connect with the cross bars with 4 heavy-duty coated straps that make set up and elimination a snap. Many racks are designed to be put in tool-free, assuming they aren’t going into T-type crossbars. Others would require a typical hex device to clamp the {hardware} onto the crossbars.

Some racks can even require a little bit of meeting previous to set up, however most can be absolutely assembled out of the field. Plan forward and allocate about half-hour to put in and familiarize your self with the rack’s operate earlier than hitting the street.

Loading Top

One of many largest challenges with roof bike racks is that it’s a must to raise your bike as much as the peak of your car’s roof to load it. Because of this, roof racks are greatest fitted to use on shorter automobiles like sedans, station wagons, and compact SUVs. That is additionally a operate of your peak in addition to your energy and skill to raise and steadiness a motorbike whereas loading it.

Relying on the roof peak of your car, some racks can be simpler to function than others. If in case you have a compact SUV, for instance, contemplate whether or not a wheel-on rack will assist you to attain and apply downward power to the entrance arm comfortably. On this case, a fork mount rack with a fork clamp situated near the tray is perhaps a more sensible choice.

Some racks require the applying of downforce from a comparatively excessive place, that means that some customers may want to face on the trim of an open door to realize adequate leverage to clamp the bike into the rack. Given that you just’ll be lifting your bike above shoulder peak, this will require a measure of coordination and follow. 

Versatility

Unsure if you’d like a roof rack or hitch rack? A number of manufacturers produce racks that may work as both fashion, offered you buy the hitch-mounted add-on attachment. Each the 1Up USA Roof Rack and Kuat Piston SR we examined are designed this manner, permitting of us who buy these racks to adapt the rack if their storage wants or selection of auto adjustments sooner or later.

Within the case of the Piston SR, Kuat sells a 2-inch hitch adapter ($159) that turns it right into a single bike hitch rack. For the 1Up, you should buy a 1.25-inch ($232) or 2-inch ($255) Single Hitch Meeting, or they promote a 2-inch Double ($355) that may convert 2 roof racks right into a double hitch rack.

Moreover, each the 1Up USA and the Kuat Piston will be mounted horizontally to the again of campervans. This permits for customized rack setups above different cargo packing containers, and so forth. We’ve even seen some individuals mount the 1Up vertically on the again of vans, though Kuat particularly doesn’t advocate that for the Piston SR.

Sturdiness

Whereas many racks use plastic {hardware} that may degrade and fail after years of publicity to harsh situations, extra firms are starting to supply absolutely metallic designs with harder finishes that may most likely outlast most vehicles. We applaud this as a result of it retains racks the place they belong — on the street and out of landfills — and saves a ton of cash in the long term.

Realistically, any of the racks on our listing will final fairly a very long time, however the 1UP-USA Roof Rack will outlast all of them. With a totally metallic building, replaceable {hardware}, and a full suite of substitute components obtainable, 1UP needs you to get your cash’s value. These racks will severely outlast the automobiles you utilize them on.

Kuat can be bringing some severe sturdiness to the desk with the Piston SR. Sure, this rack is dear, but it surely additionally has an virtually utterly metallic building and strong construct that may deal with extra weight and abuse than different roof racks. It additionally has a great-looking and super-durable end that could be very proof against street spray and corrosion.

Worth & Worth

In comparison with hitch-mounted choices, roof bike racks are typically fairly a bit inexpensive, however there’s nonetheless a fairly wide selection in worth. Contemplating the truth that every roof rack can solely carry one bike at a time, chances are you’ll must buy multiple if it is advisable to haul two or extra bikes. Moreover, if it is advisable to buy crossbars and lock cores, the price can add up fairly shortly. It’s value including up the full value and evaluating your entire bike rack choices to see what works greatest in your finances.

Price range

Relating to transporting bikes, we don’t suppose that purchasing the most affordable rack potential is one of the best thought. Positive, yow will discover very cheap roof racks that value round $100, however they’re poorly made, aren’t very steady or safe, and can doubtless maintain your bike by the body and injury your paint over time. Because of this the least costly fashions we advocate are within the $200 to $250 vary.

Simply because these racks value lower than the others we examined doesn’t imply they don’t work properly. Kuat’s Trio ($198) fork-mount rack has a glossy look, holds the bike very securely, and even comes with an built-in cable lock. For contemporary street and gravel bikes, you’ll must buy a 12 mm thru-axle adapter individually, but it surely nonetheless prices lower than the competitors. Within the wheel-on class, the RockyMounts BrassKnuckles ($250) is comparatively simple to make use of, steady, and sturdy, too. It’s not profitable any style reveals, but it surely does its job properly.

Mid-Tier

Many of the roof racks in the marketplace fall into the center of the value spectrum at round $300. Generally, we see enhancements in aesthetics, supplies, or user-friendliness. Yakima’s HighRoad ($299) will get our nod for one of the best general roof rack as a result of it’s so simple to make use of. That is significantly essential with roof racks, given how awkward it’s to raise your bike to roof peak and safe it in a rack. The front-wheel clamping system and TorqueRight knob present a hassle-free expertise. The identical is true of the Yakima HighSpeed ($289) fork-mount rack. The fork attachment system and TorqueRight knob make loading bikes just a bit simpler.

Whereas it isn’t fairly as user-friendly, the 1Up USA Roof Rack ($270 to $290) has a sturdy, all-metal building that may doubtless outlast the car you mount it on. It’s additionally extremely adaptable and might convert to a hitch-mount rack and even be mounted to a campervan or overlanding rack in case your wants change.

Premium

Whereas it’s arguably the highest-quality and best-performing roof rack in the marketplace, the Kuat Piston SR ($498) is probably going priced out of attain for a lot of. That mentioned, the premium worth buys you a rack with a end high quality and ease of use which are by means of the roof (on the roof?).

With hydraulically actuated, ratcheting entrance and rear wheel clamps, it’s extremely simple to load and safe your bike, plus its tire-hold design avoids contact along with your fancy body and rims. Like Fox’s top-tier suspension parts, the gold Kashima coating on the pistons absolutely provides to the value, however the remainder of the construct is simply as spectacular. The powder coat end is as handsome as it’s sturdy, and the automotive-grade {hardware} goals to make sure you get your cash’s value. Just like the 1Up Roof rack, the Piston SR can be transformed to a hitch rack with the acquisition of an adapter.

Often Requested Questions