Does anyone here have any good/bad experiences with bike racks off of Amazon?
I know this isn’t a sporting good forum, but I trust you folks!
I’m looking to buy a bike rack for the wife, she has a jeep compass. No hitch.
This is one option:
Bike Rack
The biggest issue with racks of this type is they can cause some paint damage/scratching, so if this is important to you or your wife it’s something to consider. Also you need to make sure that all of the straps are tightened securely to prevent the rack from sliding or becoming loose.
I had a rack similar to this years ago, but have used only roof-mounted or hitch-mounted racks for the last few vehicles. Those types of racks are much more secure and solid and result in less damage to both vehicle and the bikes.
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I use a similar rack with my car and it gets the job done (it was one of the few I could find that fit over my rear spoiler). The straps do tend to work themselves loose in transport, so it’s better for short trips (20 miles or less) unless you don’t mind stopping and re-tightening the straps from time to time. As @tommcd24 noted, make sure that the padding pieces are positioned properly and press down on the rack (to simulate the weight of your bike) to make sure the metal parts don’t touch the car.
Thanks for the comments! The trips would be short, maybe a roof rack would be better in the long run.
Just hope that it would be able to be installed on the next car.
I’ve seen a lot of horror stories if they’re not installed correctly, don’t want to go down that route.
I use a folding bike and keep inside the vehicle.
I own this rack… pretty good, Just like anything else mounted on the outside of the car… make sure the straps are tight. And if your bike doesn’t have a straight cross bar, you would need to buy the adapter (Tension Bar Bicycle Cross-Bar Adaptor) or the bike would sit like ""instead of “–”. Clean the surface where the foam sits or it’ll scuff your paint… the dust will act as sand paper. Or to be more safe… add some microfiber towels on the foam. If the straps get wet, they will get loose, so you would have to tighten them as they’re wet…since I believe the fibers of the strap become loose compared to when its dry.
You’ll also need some bungie cord to keep the steering bar of the bike from moving.
Also… A roof rack would mean you would have to lift the bike higher.
I have the Yakima Double Down Ace 4 Hitch Bike Rack
Use it on my truck, our Toyota 4 runner and my jeep tj.
Paid 160 for it on a Christmas deal on amazon 2 years ago.
Works awesome