Getting a Good Bike Rack, or Upgrading an Old One | MBA Podcast Ep7

Choosing a Bike Rack for your Car – A Thule Rear Mounted Rack

Hey folks, and welcome to episode 7 of the Mountain Bikes Apart Podcast!

This time around we’re talking about bike racks. This was thanks to a question from Tatsu Kiriyama, and then a follow-up from Rupert Bullock. They both sent in rack-related questions within a few days of each other, so it seemed a good thing to cover on the next episode.

Here’s what Tatsu had to say:

Thank you very much for your interesting and informative podcast. Colin, you have been a great source of information the past few weeks. Also a podcast on transporting your bike to your favorite trailheads or racing events might be interesting. Thank you again for everything. I look forward to listening to your podcasts in the future. I will be writing the reviews on iTunes as soon as I can.

And here was my conversation with Rupert:

Rupert: How do you rate the Witter racks?  The ZX89 looks good value at about £70.  How does it compare to the Thule which you recommend but is much pricier?

Colin:I’ve heard a few bad things about that rack to be honest – it’s not very sturdy, and needs a separate strap to fit 3 bikes, so it’s not just tow-ball mounted. Plus, a few folk have mentioned that there’s not much room on the arms – the bikes are pretty well squashed together. Although, to be honest, that’s the case with most boot or tow-bar mounted carriers! Witter aren’t a bad brand in general though – their ZX404 is supposed to be pretty decent, although then you’re paying a bit more obviously! For a boot rack, I wouldn’t go further than the Saris bones I mentioned in the article. It’s worth a wee bit extra for the reassurance that your bikes aren’t going to end up bouncing all over the road!

Have a listen to the episode for a full low-down on how to go about choosing a mountain bike rack for your car.

Resources from This Epsiode

A lot of the info from this episode was drawn from my article on bike racks. You can find links to all of the racks mentioned at that article.

I also mentioned the Witter bike rack and the Mont Blanc range of bike racks, the latter of which you can check out through that link. I haven’t linked to the Witter racks because I don’t recommend it thanks to a fair bit of negative feedback.

Appear on the Podcast

Please let me know what you think, and get in touch with suggestions for future shows. Email me through the contact page, or get me on twitter at @colinmcgray.

I’d love to get some reports from people on future podcasts about their local trail highlights. It would be great to cover areas around the globe that have some good spots for mountain biking. If you know your area pretty well and don’t mind chatting about a few of the best local trails, get in touch. I’d love to have you on!

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