Bike Rack Ed

Platform Bike Racks

Ride on bike racks, also known as platform bike racks are the type of bike racks that are generally seen on the back of vehicles and front of public transport. The design is generally similar to roof mount bike racks where the bike is “ridden” or placed on the platform and an arm or other device fastens the bike to the rack.

The major brands such as Thule and Yakima and many others all have offerings in this category. They can be mounted by hitch and even trunk mount and offer the advantage of being able to carry full suspension mountain bikes easier than traditional racks. Stay tuned for more information and pictures of this type of bike rack right here on bikeracked!

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Toyota Tacoma Roof Mounted Bike Rack

The Toyota Tacoma is a decent truck with good looks. More than capable of fitting bikes in the truck bed, you also have the ability to mount on a roof rack as this owner did. This rack has extended bars which if you decide to go this route has more than enough space for a bike for each passenger leaving enough room in the truck bed for additional gear if you like camping or perhaps a few kayaks. Just make sure you and your passengers don’t hit their heads upon exiting the vehicle.

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Subaru Impreza WRX roof bike rack

The Subaru Impreza WRX is a nice quick car. This one has the factory roof rack option installed and happens to have a single bike rack on top. Aftermarket bike trays will attach to most factory racks, just make sure before purchasing one. The WRX looks good with the roof rack, but not as good as a naked roof. The roof racks can be a little tedious to remove, but if you don’t mind the way it looks it’s not a problem. Just make sure if you’re going into somewhere with low roofs like airports parking decks, garages or drive-thrus, you remember your bike is on there or you might be in for a bit of a surprise. If you have the sun roof option it’ll help to keep the sun shade or roof open.

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Mazda 3 Trunk Mount Bike Rack

The Mazda 3 hatch is one of the cool hot hatches. I’ve always liked this design. This Mazda 3 sports a Saris Bones trunk bike rack that can be fully removed to keep the sporty looks. Where a roof rack is not affordable or desirable and for the occasional rider the Saris Bones 3 bike rack provides a good option. It’s not the cheapest of the racks, but its one of the better looking and functioning trunk mounts. I have personally owned a Saris, but did not like it due to the difficulty of installing it, although I did like its versatility. It fits on many cars, but installation can be tricky. Depending on how much you ride it could be a good option.

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Jeep Cherokee Hitch Bike Rack

Here is a Jeep Cherokee Hitch bike Rack. It is a Yakima Double Down and fits snugly into the factory tow package hitch on the Cherokee. It’ll hold two bikes with easy and minimal sway when installed properly. Personally, I’d have opted for a bigger capacity rack so that your riding buddies can tag along and chip in for gas.

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A Tripple Bike Rack. FJ Cruiser, Wranger and Forester

Today we have a triple bike rack special. 3 cars, 3 racks. From left to right we have a Toyota FJ Cruiser, a Jeep Wrangler and a Subaru Forester. Both the FJ Cruiser and Jeep Wrangler are sporting spare tire mount bike racks while the Subaru Forester has a hitch mount, because it doesn’t have a spare tire. The racks blend in pretty well on the first two, since there are no bikes on them and the picture is taken from a far, but you definitely notice the hitch on the Forester. The Forester has the factory 1.25″ hitch while the other racks are unidentified. I believe the FJ’s is attached by the lugs while the Jeep has an over the wheel type rack.

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Ford Explorer Hitch Mount Bike Rack

Here we have what I believe is a new Ford Explorer Hitch Mount Bike Rack. I am unsure of what brand the rack is, but it looks like it may be the one that comes from Ford directly. When towing or using the hitch with the new explorer there is a plastic piece that removes to expose the hitch. I don’t know if I like it yet, or would end up misplacing that plastic piece but it does make the car look a little cleaner when it is in place.

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BikeRacked Updates

Since I started this site a while back a lot has advanced in the bike rack world. New models of both vehicles and bike racks have appeared on the market. Some good, some bad and some classics designs remain the same because they’re just about as good as they’re going to get.

I’ve seemed to always have owned a mountain bike, but I was doing a lot of road riding when I started this site. Since then I’ve started mountain biking again and found some challenges with mounting full suspension mountain bikes on trunk mounted bike racks, so I can see how traditional racks, like trunk mounted and hitch mounted can cause problems. I’ll keep that in mind going forward.

Watch out for updates to this site with more pictures of bike racks mounted on cars and public bike rack designs.

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Bike Rack for Chrysler Lebaron

This is one of the more interesting pictures of trunk mount bike racks that I’ve seen in a while however it is quite effective as a method of bike transport on what I believe is an older Chrysler Lebaron.

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Jeep Wrangler Spare Tire Rack

Jeeps are known to be rugged vehicles, worthy of off road conditions and not scared of a mud. If you ask me they go hand in hand with mountain bikers that like to ride some of the more remote trails. Here we find some pictures of a nice and muddy mountain bike being hauled by a Jeep Wrangler spare tire bike rack. These pictures were taken in a grocery store parking lot, indicating that the ride is over and beer and or munchies are now being acquired.

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Ford F150 Truck Bike Rack

The 150 by Ford is a nice truck. Many people who have the F150 put their bikes in the bed however if you wish to buy a bike rack for an F150 my suggestion would be a hitch mount. The bike rack on the Ford F150 pictured is the “ride on” variety and holds two bikes. Many of these bike racks allow an extension which would allow this F150’s bike rack to carry four bikes with ease. Other options for the F150 are bed mount bike racks and roof rack a factory or after marked one is installed.

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Honda CRV Bike Rack

The Honda CRV is a versatile little SUV that packs a punch and gets great gas mileage. Adding a bike rack to the Honda CRV is a snap. Options are trunk mount, hitch mount, roof mount bike racks and if your CRV has one, a spare tire mount bike rack. Pictured here is an after market roof mount bike rack for the Honda CRV which I think it looks pretty sharp.

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Bike Mounts, bike rack pictures, Bike Racks, Roof Mount, Spare Tire Mount Bike Rack, Vehicle Mount |
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Data Loss!

So, I had a whole ton of pictures on my new phone that I’d been collecting for a while. Saving them up and waiting to post them when my iPhone decides to delete everything off of my phone! Good times. Luckily I managed to save some of them before the data catastrophe, but it’s an annoyance none the less.

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Chevrolet Cavalier Bike Rack

What do you get when you try to take a picture of a Chevrolet Cavalier with a Bike Rack. Apparently, the answer is a picture that’s slightly skewed. This I believe 2001 or newer Cavalier has a bike roof rack on top with the Yakima fairing. You can probably safely assume that the owner got Yakima for the rest of the cavalier roof rack setup but I was not close enough to really tell. I guess if you wanted to save money and all the parts fit, you could always mix and match the parts. For a Chevrolet Cavalier bike rack, I think that the roof rack is the way to go, either that or a trunk mount bike rack such as the Saris Bones.

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Awesome Free Bicycle Repair Manuals

I can’t believe that I’ve never come across Park Tools repair site before. After making my post about bicycle repair tool kits the other day, I think it goes hand in hand that I share two awesome free bicycle repair manual sites with you. Sheldon Browns (http://sheldonbrown.com) which you’ve undoubtedly came across before if you’ve ever searched for how to repair your bike is a great one and another good one is Park Tools (http://www.parktool.com/repair/) Its really easy to navigate and figure out how to fix what ever could be wrong with your bike from an untrue wheel to a broken derailleur. It’s not quite as in depth as Sheldon Browns but it has a great amount of information in it and its easier to navigate. Park tools are obviously going to plug their own tools, where as Sheldon’s would recommend all sorts of bike tools and often alternative bike tools and homemade bicycle tools. Truth is, doesn’t matter where you get your tools from, as long as you have a decent bicycle repair tool set and can find whats wrong with your bike then you can fix it your self and save some money.

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Honda Insight Bike Rack

The Honda Insight definitely has distinctive looks, which some love but most hate. I’m not a big particular fan of the looks, but am a fan of the technology it uses and the fact that they will be releasing a better looking 2010 Honda Insight. So, how do you mount bikes on this partially electric lump of aerodynamic madness?Well, you can’t go and stick a bike rack on top of it, and reduce the aerodynamics of those wheel arches can you? No, go ahead and buy a hitch and hitch mound bike rack. You should be able to afford it and all, you know, because of all that money you save on gas.

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Homemade Bicycle Hoist Update

When I posted about my homemade bicycle hoist I was living in a condominium. Pretty shortly, a couple of months after hanging it the home owners association wrote me a rather nasty letter telling me I was not allowed to hang anything off the roof above, or even store bikes or anything else on the deck because it was a fire code violation. Go figure, people had satellite dishes, portable grills, cheap plastic patio furniture and awful sounding wind chimes, but MY bike hoist was just too much. Eventually I took the hoist down which only took a matter of minutes (untied a few knots.) The bikes then lived indoors for a little while after that since the outdoors closet was full of my room mates junk at the time. Don’t get me wrong, I like bikes and I really like riding them, I just don’t necessarily like them all up in my personal space. It was not ideal, but we were moving soon so I figured I’d let it slide. Shortly after all of this occurred, me and my soon-to-be wife moved into a new apartment. I had a new dilemma: “where do I store the bikes now?” but that’s another post in itself.

So here’s to you my trusty home made bike hoist. May you RIP (in parts in my toolbox.)

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Bike Hoists, bike rack pictures, Bike Rack Plans, Ceiling Mount, DIY Bike Racks, Homemade, Homemade Bike Racks |
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Bicycle Repair Tool Kit

I recently walked into a well known bike shop just to browse around. I went back to the service desk to take a look at prices just to see what it costs to have repairs done. I found out you can save a lot of money by getting yourself a decent bicycle repair tool kit. Sure you can use your regular tool kit, or your multi-tool but a good bicycle repair tool kit is essential to anyone who is serious about saving money by doing their own repairs. When purchasing a bicycle tool kit take into consideration the cost of the amount of repairs that one single bicycle tool kit will allow you do do. For example, a cheap bicycle tool kit, may cost $20. This may give you a chain tool, and some essentials. This is not going to give you as many tools or the quality that a more luxury bicycle repair tool kit will. What you’ll need in your tool kit depends on your limitations. What do you want your bicycle tool kit to allow you to repair. If you’re like me you’ll want to be able to repair everything but not go overboard with the unessential.

Sure I could have got a tool kit with more options, but the amount of tools I actually needed and use was just right with the toolkit I purchased. The only tool I had to buy was a park tool individual spoke wrench as the multi spoke wrench just didn’t cut it. I’ve put together some tool kits that I would buy and use. Check them out here.

Here is a review of the tool kits I put in the bicycle repair tool kit store and why.

	This toolkit has 37 pieces and is very similar to the park toolkit I got. The only difference is it has a lot more pieces than mine, and is actually cheaper then the retail cost of mine. Had I of known this, I would have purchased this rather than mine. The layout of the case is better. These types of bicycle repair tool kits are great to keep in your garage and move to the car when you need them. You should be able to take this anywhere and fix your bike.
	There is no doubt about it that Park make great bike repair tools. This is the starter kit. The good think about it is that it’s a toolbox. Meaning you can buy any tools that you may need and stick them in the box. Great for those looking to expand their tools as they need them. I’ve always liked tool boxes and there is no doubt that Park make some of the best tools available. There is a reason some of the best bike shops use Park tools. So why not buy a tool box to match the great quality tools and save your money by buying the set?
	Want a quality bike toolset without the huge pricetag? This looks like the ticket and the price is low enough to justify it. Another clamshell bike toolkit with the basic tools you’ll need to do repairs on your bikes. Many of the tools included are of the same design as park, just different colors – but don’t tell Park tools that.My kit is very similar to this and there isn’t a problem that I have not fixed yet. You may want to buy some additional spoke wrenches to go with this one though.
	Ok, if you don’t need all the above tools, but want a quality set get a bike repair kit like this.Just make sure that you put a chaintool in it, in case you have an incident like this: I Broke my Front Derailleur If I had this kit with a chain tool in it, or even my multi-tool it would have saved me a lot of walking. Learn from my mistakes and buy a quality bicycle toolkit!

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Volvo XC70 Bike Rack

Volvo XC70 Bike Rack (Click to Enlarge)

The Volvo XC70 is truly a car that an outdoors person can appreciate. I’ve always like the Volvo tank’s since I saw them rallying around a track. These beats are great, and can traverse a wide range of terrain while still remaining a good family vehicle with decent gas mileage. Although the car is a mid-size wagon, it has a ton of room in the back to put your bikes, but why would you want to do that? Stick em on the roof. Make sure you tie them down though, because if you use this car to its full potential, they will fall off.

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I Broke my Front Derailleur

Derailer or Derailleur? Either way i have a story about what happened on my way to work the other day.

Firstly I was going to ride my Trek 1000 rather than my Specialized Allez Pro, but I broke the stem off of my inner tube. This didn’t make me very happy, but I figured I’d just get on the Allez. So I did, it was a cold morning and I had some extra gear on. I got about half a mile up the road and was coming to a stop because some one rudely was over too far right, and I couldn’t safely pass to get in the bike lane. Well, as any one on a hill would do as they were coming to a stop, I changed gear. Probably some what in a rush but shortly after I realized that I couldn’t pedal. Great. I figured you know it just got jammed as I was coming to a slowing stop. Look down, and see the reason my pedals wouldn’t move.

See if you can figure out from the picture why:

(Click to Enlarge)

It should be rather obvious what happened, my derailleur is clearly busted. I have to get a new one, but its a good thing I can fix it myself. So for now, I’ve removed it and I’m running around on the smaller chain ring and on my other bike. Not ideal, but it gets the job done.

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Free Standing Bike Racks

If you are looking for a free standing bike rack, you have come to the right place. If you are in Austin TX then you can get a free standing bike rack for free off of craigslist. If you’re not in Austin TX, or this exclusive offer has expired I have plans here that will help you make your free standing bike rack, or you can make another type of bike rack from my variety of bike rack plans

Here is the description and a picture:

This bike rack holds two bikes. It’s a little bit rickety but works fine.

Its your basic free standing bike rack that looks like its been made out of two by fours and painted red. Probably four 2 x 4’s were used, and then some screws. The cost of 2×4’s these days is about $1 – $2 a piece, making this cost about $15 with a box of screws and paint. Not too shabby, but the design can probably be improved to stop it from being “a bit rickety.”

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Specialized Allez Pro

Well, here it is. Another one of my bikes. As you may know I sold my Schwinn Sprint for $100. With that, and some extra money I had laying around I got this Specialized Allez Pro. I’m not sure of the year, but think its a 1993 or 1994. Its pretty bog standard, has Shimano 105 components and down tube friction / indexed shifters. I like riding it, despite its age it rides well and pretty fast. I’ve took the profile “aero bars” off since I don’t need them. The owner I brought it from used it in a couple of triathalons when he was in the Marine Corps said it did pretty good. The only things I need are a saddle (one is old and uncomfy) and I think I might get some new handle bars as these are way too wide and have the strange “turned down” ends. After that minor adjustments and its ready to go. Its about as light as my other Trek, if not a little lighter and rides just as well maybe better its hard to tell with the old saddle. The shifters took a little getting used to, but I find myself changing gear less and concentrating more on riding.

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VW Golf Trunk Mount Bike Rack

I spotted this trunk mount bike rack on a VW Golf while leaving work. You can barely see it in the picture, although if you enlarge it you might be able to. Anyway, in busy traffic it was easy to catch up to it and snap a good picture. There are lots of straps that you can see on this trunk mount, which can be a bit of a pain to set up, but if you only do minimal bike transporting a trunk mount for your VW Golf should do the trick. Golfs sit low so you can get a good roof rack system setup on them, or if you think you could use a hitch for something else, a hitch mount would work too. I’m still looking for pictures of the black GTI or R32 with a roof rack system loaded with high end bikes. Anyone?

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Schwinn Sprint Fixed Gear

Its been a while since I updated this site. Mostly because I have been buying a house. The news for me is that I no longer need my apartment storage (which I have yet to post about. I’ll update this site once I have the pictures and plans up.) Other news is that I’ve sold my Fixed Gear Schwinn Sprint. I loved the bike, but didn’t ride it enough due to the fact that it was a fixed gear. I probably only put about 150 miles on it at the most after I built it, quite a waste really. Well, along with the house I’m going to be riding my bike to work also known as “Bicycle Commuting.” Most Americans (Except Lance) think that riding your bike to work is a stupid idea, and while I agree with riding your bike to work down the interstate or busy highways for me this will not be a problem. Mostly because I have a bike path all the way to my work, with about 2 miles of actual road, and then another mile straight up hill. It should be a good ride. There are many advantages to biking to work. A short list of them are: not having to deal with traffic, getting a workout in the morning, saving gas money, extending my cars life and Dunkin’ Doughnuts…
Yup thats right, there is a Dunkin’ right on the way to work, which means I can now stop in and stuff my face with one of the foods of champions.

With this I have decided that I needed another bike which I’ll be posting it in another blog post. Until then, here are the pictures of my old bike for remembrance of the good times we’ve had. I’ll miss you old Sprinty *SOBS*. If any one is interested here are larger pictures of my old Schwinn Sprint. Enjoy!

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Saturn Ion Bike Rack

Here I caught a picture on a rainy day of a trunk mount bike rack on a Saturn Ion. I was in rush hour traffic and couldn’t get a close up picture, but if you enlarge it you should be able to see what a trunk mount will look like on the Ion. Its a good thing that they don’t have their bike on this rack today because the down pour and mist from the rear wheels would certainly require the bicycle to undergo a tuneup or at least a re-grease of the chain. It makes me wonder if people ever stop under bridges in the rain if they have their precious bikes loaded.

I know a few people who have Ion’s but none of them have bike racks. One thing they all have in common though is that they love their Ion.

It was taken in Charlotte NC and I’ll give props to any one who can tell me where. I’ll give you a hint: There are a ton of bikes and bike racks in this area, and its not near the airport.

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