The Allen Sports Deluxe 2-Bike rack is a pain to install, and you can’t adjust the arms.

The Ultra Compact 2-Bike, also from Allen Sports, seems cheap and not durable, and while we were driving, the rack shook from side to side quite a bit. High Current Connectors With Signal Pins

The Saris Solo is a single-bike trunk rack that’s made of cheap plastic and isn’t adjustable. The rack’s set angle allowed the bike to contact our VW Jetta’s rear.

Even though the clamp assembly of the fork-mount Yakima HighSpeed is easy to tighten with a knob, it’s cumbersome to have to put it together every time you mount and dismount a bike. Also, the HighSpeed didn’t hold our bikes as solidly as some other racks did.

The SeaSucker Talon is a fork-mount rack that attaches directly to a vehicle’s roof with large suction cups. We found that the suction cups didn’t fit well on some vehicles, especially if they had raised ribs on the roof. When they did fit, they held so tightly that if the bike swayed from side to side, the car’s roof flexed underneath (this is a concern we saw echoed in an Amazon review).

Although you can lock bikes to the Swagman Race Ready, there’s no way to lock the rack to the vehicle. The Race Ready also didn’t hold the bikes as securely as our pick did.

The Thule Insta-Gater Pro is held in place by a truck’s tailgate, and it holds your bike, with both wheels on, by clamping onto the front wheel. Because you can’t lower the tailgate and keep the rack secure, you need to be sure that the bike fits in the pickup bed with both wheels on. Also, tighten that wheel clamp: When we were driving on a twisty, bumpy road on a rainy day, the clamp gradually slid down the tire of one bike, and the bike fell over.

The Yakima GateKeeper Tailgate Pad is basically a nylon-covered pad that wraps around a truck’s tailgate; it holds up to five bikes, the front wheels set over the tailgate and the bikes’ down tubes wrapped with Velcro straps. We found that the Velcro straps weren’t long enough to hold our bikes securely, and on a twisty road they came loose.

Ian Grall, Rack Attack, Portland, Oregon, phone interview, June 1, 2015

Mike Mansmann, East Burke Sports, East Burke, Vermont, phone interview, June 1, 2015

Courtney Gearhart, public affairs, REI, email interview, May 1, 2016