The Best Bike Racks

The Delta Cycle – Michelangelo is a gravity bike rack that can suspend two bikes. It’s extremely easy to assemble, taking us 10 minutes to connect its ladder-like steel poles with the six included bolts. Four adjustable arms with rubberized hooks are attached, and the Michelangelo can then be leaned up against any wall. The top section of the rack has a rubber cushion that protects the wall from being scuffed. You lift the bikes onto the hooks, and like magic, they suspend in mid-air. Another great feature is two smaller hooks for hanging bicycle helmets are also included.

Assembled, the Michelangelo stands 7 feet tall and its splayed legs are only 20 inches wide, which makes this bike rack ideal for apartment dwellers. Because the top hooks need to be positioned high to allow room for the lower bike, a shorter person might have trouble lifting their bike up onto the upper rungs. The Michelangelo is reasonably priced for such a well-designed bike rack. For larger spaces, a four-bike model is available; two bikes hang on either side of the extra-sturdy rack.

Most wall-mounted bike racks hang a bicycle vertically, but the Ibera is one of the few that hangs a bike horizontally. The Ibera was the easiest of the wall-mounted racks to install: A steel tube attached to a metal plate is screwed into the wall with three screws, and an outer tube with hanger arms is slid on. The tubes can be adjusted to accommodate almost any bike width and frame. The arms are positioned at a 45-degree angle, and they can be adjusted to tip your bike forward or backward. If installed properly — into a stud — it can hold up to 40 pounds.

It has a couple of other thoughtful perks worth mentioning: The arms are padded to protect the bike frame from being scratched, and there’s an extra-long Velcro strap for tying the bike’s front wheel to the frame to keep it in a horizontal position. The Ibera is advertised as suitable for any living space, but you would be giving up significant wall space to accommodate the entire length and width of your bike. For our tester’s garage, which had minimal storage space, the Ibera was an excellent option.

There are many vertical bike racks on the market, but the Racor – B-1R has a few design features that make it a better choice. Once we measured the length of the bike from the top of the tire and located the garage wall’s studs, installation took five minutes. The rack is an enamel-coated steel panel with a slightly curved, rubberized hook from which the bike hangs by its front tire. Other vertical bike racks have a more severe curve, and it’s difficult to maneuver the tire onto the hook.

The Racor also has a raised V-shaped channel that holds the front tire in place; a feature other vertical racks don’t have. The bike was easy to hook up unassisted, and it felt secure on the wall. The Racor would be your best bet if you need to free up floor space in either your garage or home.

Right out of the box, we knew we had a winner with the Bike Hand – Parking Rack. This is a sturdy and well-made steel frame that unfolds in a second by pushing a small knob, which releases its vertical arm. That’s pretty much it for setup. The front wheel of the bicycle is guided into the frame, automatically locks into place, and the bike stands on its own.

This really is a product that’s “so easy a child could do it,” and many Amazon reviewers comment that’s the reason why they purchased it. The Bike Hand has four hard-rubber feet that keep the rack steady on a cement or wood floor, and we also found it to be equally secure on carpet as well. The Bike Hand is affordably priced and can hold any size bike tire. It can be used in the home, garage and taken anywhere that doesn’t have a rack to park your bike.

The Feedback Sports – RAKK is very similar to the Bike Hand – Parking Rack, but it’s smaller and more lightweight, which made it more prone to tip over. It’s about half the price of the Bike Hand, but we found it tricky to unfold and less sturdy.

To open the RAKK, a small button underneath the spring mechanism needs to be pushed and the vertical arm lifted simultaneously. Too many times, our fingers got pinched by the spring, and the vertical arm simply would not budge. Once we did unfold it and guided the bike into the frame, the bike was unsteady, and we were not confident it would stay in place, especially if bumped.

The Dirza – Vertical Bike Hook was the most difficult to install. Its curved hook is positioned over the top screw hole, so it was hard to maneuver the screwdriver to get any leverage. Its cheap hardware stripped easily, and even when we used better (and longer) screws, it took us much longer to securely install the Dirza than it did the other wall-mounted racks.

As if the installation hassle weren’t enough, we had trouble hooking the front bike tire onto the sharply curved hook, and once hooked, the bike swayed back and forth at the slightest touch.

The Hornit – Clug would be a nifty, minimalist way to hang your bike if it actually worked. The company’s website is very specific about measuring your bike tire before ordering the product. We followed the instructions — our tires measured 32 millimeters — and ordered the “Roadie” (23-32 mm). When we tried to fit the Roadie Clug, it was too narrow. The width of the c-shaped Clug can’t be adjusted, so we returned it and bought the next size up for “Hybrid” (33-43 mm).

Installation was a cinch; trying to hang the bike was torture. The bike needed to be rolled up the wall vertically — leaving stripes on the wall — and the front tire guided into the Clug. Although our bike tire fit, the Clug was too loose to hold it.