Choosing the Right Platform Bike Rack

Choosing the Right Platform Bike Rack

You're interested in bike racks but specifically platform all bike racks. If you look to your left on the screen, we give you a bunch of filters on our website to help narrow it down to what you want. We have a lot of them as you may know and we have a decent amount here. I've used literally every single one of our bike racks many, many times. We're gonna go over the left side help you navigate through them to see what's best for you. But to start, let me just go over my favorites.

For the entry level bike rack, this is gonna be the best one. It is the Swagman XC. So the cool thing about this is, it's gonna be the least expensive of all of them. We are going to have a good construction. It gives you all the benefits you really need on a bike rack.

And the nice thing about this is, it's also gonna be the easiest to store because of its little suitcase style. Moving on the next tier up to mid-level. A very, very popular rack is the Transfer. I like the transfer just because, one, it's a Kuat. I just love Kuat.

It has a good finish to it, but it makes it really easy to get your bikes in the closest one to your vehicle because of this big U design. Also, you're gonna be able to see whenever you put it in reverse and you keep this on the back of your car a little bit easier because it doesn't have any center mass. So that is definitely my number two. And then number three, which is gonna be premium option. This is the end all be all when it comes to bike racks.

This is the NV 2.0. One, we have different colors that we can pick from. Two, we can either add a third one or even make it into a four like the Transfer. We can turn that into a three as well. But this is gonna be the best one that you can get. It's the most premium option and I really like it. Starting with our first filter at the top, we have either one bike, two bike, three bikes or four bikes. So let's go over that. If you need four bikes, just be prepared, you're gonna have a lot of length behind your vehicle. If you're not really sure if you're gonna need four bikes or not, I don't recommend going with a four bike ride off the bat. If you only need one or two, I think a lot of good options right behind me, especially the Swagman XC is gonna be a good option. We have the Yakima OnRamp. That's gonna be a great option. And then the Inno Tire Hold, if you wanna switch it up with the wheel hooks. But if you're just unsure, I don't like to limit myself right off the bat. I like to have options as maybe my family starts to grow or my love for the sport starts to grow. So that's where we come into these three here. We have the monorail, which is gonna have a one bike add-on. So this could be a three if you wanted to later on down the road. And then we have the NV 2.0. We can turn that into a three or a four. And then we have the Transfer which can go to a three or a four as well. And if you're just a lone rider, we have a lot of cool one bike options, like the MonoRail one or even the Kuat Transfer one. Moving on to the next category, it's gonna be type. What type means is some racks are gonna be able to swing away from the vehicle. If you have a Jeep or a truck to be able to access your tailgate and stuff. Other ones are gonna be able to tilt away with the bikes installed to gain hatch access. Others are gonna be able to fold up. And then we're gonna have some that are actually gonna slide out. And then you have one like this which is just completely fixed. What fixed means is we have a center mass here. That's not gonna be able to move. The only thing that we can do with this is just fold it up like this for storage. But either way, we're not gonna be able to get access with this rack which is the XC with or without bikes. I don't necessarily love that. I just don't wanna disable my vehicle just by putting a bike rack on there. The Kuat Transfer is gonna be great rack that folds up. So folding up is just like this. So whenever you're just cruising around town, don't have bikes with you. You can cut that amount of length you're adding to the back of the vehicle down by a lot. And I think the Transfer is definitely the best for this just because we don't really have a center mass or anything. So it's not gonna interfere with your backup camera. The next one is the slide out. This is a very unique feature. There's only one that we have that really does it. And it's the Let's Go Aero FAT PRO. So as you can see, it slides out. So this works for my car. It gives me plenty of access to my hatch and stuff, but we can achieve hatch access just by tilting away. This is mainly for your sprinter vans where you have those big double doors that open up and not just a big back hatch. Now we have tilt away, which with the NV 2.0 and a lot of the other platform racks that tilt away. You can gain access that way as well. I really like that just because I just hate taking off my bikes every single time I wanna grab anything out of the back. This is definitely the way to go. This the feature I really look for in racks when I'm looking. Moving on to my favorite, which is the swing away. And let me just show you how cool this is. So now a lot of these racks either have them built in or you can just get a swing away system and put your current bike rack on it. This is the exosystem, it's a big modular system. So this isn't my pick, but I just wanted to show you 'cause this is what we had here. But swing away is awesome especially for you that are maybe living out of your van, overlanding, working out of your van. It's really, really awesome for Jeeps. They always had the cool setups with swing away system and also pick up trucks. If you wanna have the whole entire bed to load and unload or just sit and chill out. Next on the list is the hitch size compatibility. If you know what size hitch you have just click the box and you're good. And if you need to measure, just measure from the inside lip. So this is a two-inch hit receiver. But if it was smaller down to 1-1/4", it'd be about that size. So if you click a two-inch hit receiver and you have a 1-1/4", it's not gonna work and vice versa. But there's another box you can check, that's says both. Like the MonoRail here, you can actually put it in both different sizes. So this will fit the two inch. But then we go in here with our tool and take this little screw out. And in a matter of seconds, we can put it in 1-1/4". I just don't always know if I'm driving. I what kinda hitch I have on my car, but if someone else wants to drive, go for it. But the nice thing about having both, you can put it on multiple different cars and still be able to use that bike rack that you like. The next one is hitch class. Well, what you wanna do is you can take a look at the size of your hitch and you can also a look at the sticker on the side. When it's 1-1/4" and you have a max tongue weight of 200 pounds, that's a class one. If you have 1-1/4" and you have a maximum tongue weight of 350, that is a class two. And then if you have a two-inch hit receiver, it's gonna be class three or higher. Next is brand. So if you are brand loyal to one of them, just go ahead and grab that. But different manufacturers have different things. Like for example, RockyMounts. You have blue accents. That's the only color that they really give you. So if you don't like that, you can go with something else. But then other times, certain brands are entry level. And I would definitely put Swagman and Hollywood Racks in the lower tier. So bare bones, but it gets the job done. And then you start moving up and I would say RockyMounts and Inno are pretty good quality. Not the best, but definitely an upgrade from the Hollywood Racks and the Swagman. And then you move into like Yakima, Thule, and then the Kuat's. By now, you probably know that Kuat is my favorite. I just think they do the best of every little feature that you need on a bike rack, but they also give you some color options too. So if you like to go style, Kuat definitely wins. Moving on to the next one. We have two different options. It's gonna be either a wheel mount or a frame mount. So this is an example of a wheel mount. That's what I prefer. There's only one thing that's gonna limit you with the wheel mounts, and that's gonna be a fender like this. So if you notice this is actually a coworker of mine, Brad. He used this for a couple different times and then the little fender actually fell off. That's why the zip ties holding it on. He doesn't really care a whole lot. Some people do. You could always just remove it if you really wanted to but that's the only thing that's really gonna limit you. When it comes to wheel mounts, it's gonna be great for your carbon fiber bikes as well. Another reason why you would want the wheel mount is for full suspension bikes like you see here. As you can tell, we have shocks on the back, shocks on the front. So with these frame mounts, they actually come down and go down. It's gonna compress your suspension. So there is gonna be a little bit of movement there. So it's not really a fixed point with those full suspension bikes. So it's not gonna be the most secure fit. Here's another example of a wheel mount. This is the Inno Tire Hold. So this thing's pretty cool. And this is also really quick to load up. Not only just the Inno Tire Hold, but literally any wheel mounted bike rack. It's so much easier and quick to put it up on there. All you gotta do is just put your bike on there. Simple as that. Having the two different types of wheel mounts is nice because with the other one, we had issues with our fender. And if you wanna keep your fender on there, totally fine. Go with the Inno Tire Hold 'cause right here with a 29-inch tire, we're not even getting close to that fender. Our other option is frame mount. So typically these frames, the frame mounted bike racks are gonna have a center mass like this. So if you do have a heavier bike, it's gonna be a little bit more difficult to get the bike on the cradle closest to the vehicle. And also if you have a step through bike or a kid's bike, you might need an adapter. So right now with this bike, it's perfect and upright, this little tube. But with the step through, they're like this. So we sell a bar. You're gonna have to put right here to be able to do that. And you have to remove it and install it every single time. And that's the same thing with the kids' bikes as well. This isn't the nicest bike in the world, but it gets the job done, so does a frame mounted bike rack. But if you did have a very high-end bike, definitely don't wanna go with this just because we wanna protect that finish and the frame as well. Onto the last one, it's locking capabilities. You can either get a hitch lock. You can get a bike lock. You can get neither or both. I say both. Let start with a hitch lock. This is something you definitely wanna get just because if you don't lock your stuff to your hitch like ball mount and especially a bike rack, you can have a couple hundred dollars just leave whenever you go into a store or whatever. It's just something you really wanna do. With the NV 2.0 comes with it, which is awesome. But it also comes with a cable lock right here. What I like about cable locks is when they store in the racks. So this one and we go around the frame of our bike and it'll lock back into each other. And I like getting a bike rack that has both of them 'cause they will be keyed alike. I just lose things all the time. If I can have one key for two locks, that'd be nice. And the NV does do a really good job of that one. It stores away really easily. It comes with it. You don't have to buy lock and core separately. So I definitely like that. Locks are pretty much essential in my opinion. Well, that's the gist of it everyone. That's pretty much all of the different filters on the side that you see. And hopefully this video helps you push you in the right direction. What I suggest if you're not 100% set on a bike rack yet, just look for my face on any of the bike rack webpages, click on it and I will give you a full rundown of that specific rack if you're still unsure about the decision. I hope this helped and good luck shopping..