Bike Racks for Cars

[Artkansas]

I don't have a useable car, but am contemplating getting a detachable trunk-mounted rack to carry my Bacchetta on rental cars. Has anyone had any experience with detachable trunk-mounted racks? Any recommendations?

[Recumbomatic]

A friend of mine uses a $30 trunk-mounted rack to transport his $1700 DF bike, and I've taken a few trips with him (+ my DF). The first time was scary. The rack works ok, but its very disconcerting to watch your bike bounce and sway on the back of the car. His rack has two straps with hooks that attach to the trunk lid, at the front by the rear window, and its hard to make those straps tight enough. At least get some bungee cords to keep your bike from swinging in the wind.

[melman222]

I use a Saris trunk mount to carry my LWB Burley all the time. Though I would not really concider it a cheapy rack as it runs around $130-140 . It is very stable and the bike doesn't move at all ,even at highway speeds.You do however, have to bungee the back wheel to the bottom of the bumper to keep the bike from rotating, as bent bikes as more top heavy on this kind of rack than a DF bike.

[Artkansas]

This weekend I got a Saris Bones 2. It worked pretty well.

I found that you have to cinch all the straps tight, then load on the bike and then cinch all the straps again to account for the loading of the bike.

The bad part was that I have to take off the seat to avoid it acting as a sail and putting more stress on the system. And the seat is right where one of the straps goes.

Both those done, then the bike rides pretty solid on the rack.

The Saris straps around the bike frame seemed solid, but I backed it up with a bungee cord. I also folded the handlebars down onto the front derailleur tube of the frame and bungeed it down attaching both ends of the bungee to one of the cranks. I kept the wheels from spinning by running a cable lock between the two. It's not a curly cable so I was able to snug it tightly.