Ease of Daily Use
Using a product on a daily basis you start to notice the small details as much as the large obvious features. We spent a lot of time with these racks and found our opinions continued to form for months. We installed these racks on pickup trucks, wagons, crossovers, RVs, and camper vans. Sometimes it was kids bikes, other times it was enduro bikes; we used these racks with bikes of every shape and size in order to find their limitations. We discovered small but critical intricacies in each bike rack that may not be apparent right out of the box.
Ease of Removal and Storage
Ease of removal and storage was a relatively straightforward metric to test. Why? Well, since these bike racks were used on multiple vehicles, we had to remove them frequently to swap them between vehicles. Since we had to go through the removal process frequently, we quickly identified the ones which were complicated and clunky versus the ones that had a slick and straightforward process.
The storage aspect was even easier. As we mentioned, we tested dozens of bike racks for this review. That means that most of these racks spent a lot of time sitting around in the garage or shed in-between uses. It quickly became obvious which ones could pack down nice and small and which ones occupied a ton of space.
Versatility
We concentrated on several areas with this test, including the ability to hold a variety of bike types, weight restrictions, functionality on various vehicles, and bike-to-bike contact for hitch and trunk racks. We had to test the versatility of each rack not only with road bikes, electric bikes, and mountain bikes, but also with different combinations of bikes on our hitch and trunk racks. We looked for bike-to-bike contact that couldn't be avoided with tray adjustments or bike positioning.
During the process, we found some racks' shortcomings in terms of versatility and compatibility. As a result, we measured the hitch racks extensively during the test to evaluate tray spacing and clearance from the back of the vehicle. We also examined the lateral tray adjustment range to determine how much clearance we could generate to prevent bike-to-bike contact. Finally, the highest-scoring products provided adjustability, allowing them to operate with the widest variety of vehicles and handle the most diverse combinations of bike styles.
Ease of Assembly
Because we don't have any bike rack elves at the workplace, the test team assembled each competitor before use. To make this as close to the consumer experience as possible, each rack was assembled by a lone tester using only the tools supplied by the manufacturer. (unless tools were not supplied). Along the way, we snapped photos and made notes. The ones that made us furious and frustrated received low marks, while those that were simple and intuitive received high marks. We also paid careful attention to the included instructions and evaluated them for accuracy and readability. Our testers have built more racks than the typical Joe, and if we were perplexed, you will most likely be as well.
Security
Well, we should start by saying that none of our bikes were stolen off the racks during testing. This is likely more a testament to luck than a measure of security. None of our testers have experience stealing bikes, but we knew the tools of the trade and did our best to put ourselves in the mind of a thief to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each rack and its security features.
The reality is that a determined thief could defeat any of the lock systems that come with the racks in our test. There are not many locks or cables that can't be breached with bolt cutters and a battery-powered angle grinder. Beyond assessing the security of locks, we looked at the ability or lack thereof to secure not only the bike frame but also the wheels and even the rack itself. Quality and length of cables and locks were assessed and led us to our final scores, with the caveat being that even the best security systems are likely only a deterrent to the opportunistic thief looking for an easy score.
Durability
Over several months we used and abused all of the racks in this test. Frequent use is the best test of long-term durability, and our goal was to load up a year's worth of use for the average person during our testing period. These racks were tested in conjunction with ongoing OutdoorGearLab mountain bike trials, so they saw lots of use, sometimes in the form of 10 shuttle runs in a day on rough roads. When it snowed, we left them on the vehicle, and when they got covered in mud, we just kept on using them. We did the exact opposite of how we would treat a $600 rack if it were our own and we wanted it to last. We piled on the abuse and made a note of the results, and ranked the products according to their ability to shrug it off. You can rest assured that we are probably harder on our test gear than you will be on your own.
