With the bike rack, you’re now able to take your bike to any place you want to. The best thing is you don’t have to ride there, rather you can just carry it with your vehicle with ease.

A bike rack works as an extension with your vehicle that helps to carry your bike from one place to another in a secured manner. An average bike rack can hold 60lbs. And it can carry up to 3 bicycles depending on their size and weights.

Just so you know, your regular bike’s racks aren’t going to cut it for holding an electric bike. As you’re well aware, e-bikes tend to be a lot heavier than your regular bikes or mountain bikes.

In the following segment, we’re about to discuss every essential aspect that’s related to your bike rack’s weight.

Does The Bike’s Style Matter When Choosing The Bike Rack?

Choosing your bike’s rack completely depends on your bike’s style. As you can’t change the weight lifting capabilities of the rack, you need to consider your bike’s style, shapes, and weights before you get one.

Because depending on the bike's style your bike rack's style and weight lifting capabilities may differ.

For example, if you have a bike rack that can easily hold your regular bike, you can’t expect it to hold an electric bike as well. Because the weight of a regular bike and an electric bike has a huge weight difference and needs a more sturdy bike rack that can hold up to 190lbs. The lightweight bike rack for ebike, is particularly designed to hold the weight of an e-bike.

Different Types Of Bike Racks?

The bike racks do come in different types, which also means different weight and cargo capacities. We’ve gathered here 4 different types of bike racks and are about to have a brief discussion on them. We’ll also mention their weight capabilities, which will give you a general idea about the bike racks.

Hitch Bike Racks

The hitch bike racks are the most sturdy and they are capable of holding down up to 5 regular bikes, and it’s easily detachable. However, the hitch bike racks add a little bit of length to your car, it’s a little sacrifice compared to the protection it provides.

The hitch bike rack has two different methods of keeping your bicycle, one is by hanging and the other is with a platform. Although we admit the platform bike rack provides more stability than a hanging bike rack.

The hanging hitch bike rack can hold up to 132lbs and the platform hitch bike rack can hold 143lbs. As you can see the platformed one is much stronger than the hanging one.

And you can use this rack to hold any kind of bike you like. But know this e-bike takes up a lot more space than your regular bike so it may not hold more than 3 e-bikes on it.

Rooftop Bike Racks

The rooftop bike racks can work as a multipurpose tool, as you can hold your kayak, snowboard, etc. besides just your bicycle. It’s more of a permanent rack for your transportation.

As you have guessed by now these bike racks can lift heavy weights, as they are made for multipurpose usage. And it provides quality, not quantity as they can’t hold more than 2 bicycles and can lift up to 44lbs of weight.

These bike racks can transport your mountain bike and some low-weighted e-bikes. As use you should be aware, these bike rack adds highlights to your vehicle, and must remove the bike before parking.

Trunk-Mount Bike Racks

The trunk-mounted bike rack is a portable rack and as the name suggests you can install it over your vehicle’s trunk and can store no more than 3 bikes on it. As the bikes are kept over the trunk it might hinder your vehicle’s paint job, so be extra careful while installing it over your car.

However, the best thing about this rack is that you can use this on multiple vehicles as it’s easy to install and remove. The trunk-mount bike rack can hold up to 40lbs of weight. It can easily store your mountain bike, but we wouldn’t suggest using this rack to hold your e-bike.

Boot Bikes Racks

The boot bike racks are lightweight racks that are installed over your vehicle’s boot and can take up to 3 bicycles on it. Each boot rack can hold up to 30lbs of weight. These bike racks are ideal for carrying your regular bikes, not so much when it comes to carrying an e-bike.

Considerable Factors While Choosing A Bike Rack

Now that you’ve got a better understanding of the different types of bike racks and their weight capabilities, naturally, you wish to get one for yourself, right?

However, there are several factors present that you might want to consider before getting a bike rack for carrying your bicycle. We’ll discuss the essential factors below.

• Type Of Bike

As we mentioned earlier, the type and style of your bike hold the key factors when choosing the bike rack. If you don’t consider it, you might not get a rack that’s the right fit for your bike.

As you know by now, the bike rack that can hold your regular bike might not hold an electric bike. So, keep your bike’s style and type into consideration while choosing a bike’s rack.

• Weight capacity of The Bike’s Rack

Just like the bike’s style, it’s crucial to consider the weight capacity of the rack. If the bike is too heavy for the rack, it might break down and cause permanent damage to your bike. So, choose a rack that counterbalances your bike’s weight.

• The Quantity of Bikes

If you want to carry more than one bike while travelling to your destination, it’s a good idea to consider how many bikes you can carry with the rack. But it’s better if you choose a bike rack that can hold at least two bikes.