Bike Racks
Sometimes it’s not possible to ride your bike to your destination, such as when bringing it in for service or heading to a particularly scenic trail. Racks help!
Victoria public transit equips all of their busses with bike racks. Here is more information on using them.
Racks
If transporting a bicycle by car, there are several additional options. Many bicycles have quick-release front wheels, making it fairly easy to stow them in the back of your vehicle if it’s roomy or has a back seat that folds down. Otherwise, there are racks that mount to cars. The usability of some of the racks depends on your model of car and what you have equipped on it. Hitch racks are fantastic if you have a hitch installed on your car, and most will work with either a 1 1/4″ or 2″ hitch receiver. There are also racks that work with tow-balls, though those are less common.
Roof
Roof racks are another option, and can be made to fit many vehicles. They are not our favourite, due in part to the difficulty many people have raising a bike onto their roof and in part to the hazard of forgetting about bikes on your roof when entering a tunnel or parking garage with a height limit: we’ve seen more than a few bikes smashed that way.
Trunk
Trunk racks will work with many makes of car, and are held on to the vehicle via straps. They often fold up to take up less space than a stored hitch rack does.
Spare Tire
There are also spare tire racks, which mount to an externally-mounted spare tire, such as on some SUVs. They often have lower weight limits than comparable trunk racks, and how securely they are mounted depends a great deal on how securely the spare tire is attached to your vehicle.
Most spare tire- and trunk-mount racks, as well as some hitch racks, involve putting the bicycle over two parallel bars. With step-through frames and some full-suspension mountain bikes, it can be difficult to manoeuver the frame over the bars. That’s why we carry rack adapters! These clip-on bars attach to your bicycle and create an easier straight bar to put over the rack.