ASK MBA: WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS OF TRAY AND VERTICAL STYLE BIKE RACKS?

Q: I’m a few years into riding and, until now, I’ve had a pickup truck with a tailgate pad to carry my bikes. A few weeks ago I decided to give up my truck for an SUV and am now in search of a rack to transport my bikes. It has a 2-inch receiver. Is there a specific benefit to those upright racks like the VelociRAX, or would I be better off going with a tray rack?
Rory Sandler
Las Vegas, Nevada

 

A: As we all know, transporting bikes is a very important part of mountain biking, especially if you’re shuttling with your buddies. The question you’ll have to ask yourself when buying a rack is, “How many bikes do I need to be able to carry at one time?” Tray racks are nice when you only need to shuttle one or two bikes around, but you must remember, the more bikes you add, the longer the rack will stick out from your vehicle. Tray racks are also easier to store when not in use and more out of the way if you choose to keep it on your vehicle.

Vertical racks are cool for a few key reasons:
1. They increase the number of bikes you can carry—up to seven on one rack.
2. They don’t add an absurd amount of length to your vehicle.
3. They’re generally less expensive than tray racks with similar capacities.

 

There are some things you’ll have to think about when purchasing one, though. For one thing, they’re relatively tall when mounted to a vehicle, so garages of any sort may be an issue depending on the height of your hitch, especially when bikes are mounted. When not carrying bikes, most of these racks can fold down enough to remedy this issue. Another thing is ground clearance. Some racks will stick out just enough to scrape on deep dips or in parking-lot entrances. This issue isn’t exactly exclusive, but it can affect the bikes themselves more. If you ride a bike with a long wheelbase, like a size large or XL enduro or DH frame, vehicles with higher hitch receivers will have fewer concerns with this. They can also be harder to load at times and may require another person to help when lowering or raising the boom while fully loaded. VelociRAX uses gas struts to help with this.

 

 

Rear hatch or door access may be more limited with vertical racks, which can be remedied a few ways, specifically by buying a swing-away hitch adapter that will swing the bikes out of the way when access to the hatch is needed. One of our editorial staff utilizes one of these, even with his tray rack system, and it works quite well. The issue with this is added weight. You must be aware of your vehicle’s weight limitations, especially with vertical racks, because they can hold so many bikes and are rather heavy.

 

 

Tray racks are cool because they’re simple, easy to store and easy to keep out of the way if you choose to keep it mounted to your vehicle. There is also a much wider variety to choose from and can be much cheaper depending what you’re willing to compromise on. Like with anything, they have their limitations, but for the most part it’s an easier system to deal with in most scenarios and thus more popular with the vast majority of recreational riders of all kinds. Bearing all that in mind, vertical racks and tray racks both have their place in the world of bike transportation, and we can only see them progressing as time goes on. We hope this helped answer your question.