Bicycle Hitch Racks

Bicycle hitch racks work well for pickups just as they do for cars and SUV's. A truck bed bike rack is more often thought of when it comes to hauling bikes with a pickup. But a hitch mount rack frees up the space in the bed for hauling other things. That's the main reason to consider bicycle hitch racks - to free the space in the bed.

What hitch racks are the best choice? The options are so many it's puzzling. It might help to look at some of the major types.

Some of the racks are what we could call over arm racks. The rack mounts in the receiver of the hitch and a vertical bar extends up and holds an arm up high. The arm extends out from the vehicle. The top tube of each bike is clamped in position at the arm. Then, there is either a bottom arm to secure the bikes to prevent swaying. Or in some cases a strap serves the function of securing the bike and preventing swaying. These racks mount up to 5 bikes securely, depending on the model.

The arm racks support the bikes from the top bike tube. The other major type supports the bicycle from the wheels.

The wheel support racks consist of trays that the bike wheels ride in. The trays support the bike. Then, depending on the design, there is a top clamp bar to hold the bike in position. The top bar doesn't really support the bike. It just clamps it in place and keeps the bike upright. The wheel support tray must allow for the size bike you carry. That's because different wheel sizes and bike lengths might not fit the wheel support tube.

Either of these designs mounts simply by just slipping the rack base into the receiver hitch.

Either of these types of racks will work equally well. There are very high quality models in either style manufactured by many different companies. Leading suppliers of bicycle hitch racks include Saris, Hollywood, Allen, Swagman, and Thule as well as many others.