The MTB Guy

There is nothing worse than having to rely on your flaky friends to go out and get a ride in. I drive a Subaru and went on a quest to become self-sufficient with my bike carrying needs. I looked into every trunk-mounted rack out there and The clear winner was the Saris Bones EX Trunk Carrier. I wanted to put this at the beginning of the post to save you time if you are ready to buy, there is nothing worse then spending 10 minutes scrolling through an article for one line of information. but if you want to learn more, read on and ill go into greater detail and offer some other options. Cost The first thing I obviously looked at was cost. It quickly became apparent that you get what you pay for, I found several cheap racks but I found that all their reviews mentioned damage to the truck of the car it was installed on and even some catastrophic failures involving bikes falling off. All of my bikes cost over $500 and one is closer to $5000 I can't imagine losing any of them. Due to this I quickly began looking for quality first then trying to find the best VALUE instead of lowest price. I looked at models all the way from Allen to Thule I quickly discovered that the price range for a good trunk mounted bike rack was 2-4 hundred dollars. My budget was then set. Quality I found that there were many manufacturers but one that consistently stood out for quality without breaking the bank was Saris. I found that the big brands like Thule had a high quality but you ended up paying for that name. I ventured to my local bike shop and tried out several different racks. I found the components on the Saris to be of the same, and in many instances, higher quality. I found this to be the case in the straps they used, which included Velcro closures to hold the extra length of the strap after it is cinched in place. I also was pleasantly surprised with how large and soft the plastic pads were that come into contact with the car. It is crazy to me that any company would not think of protecting the paint and body of the car it is to be affixed to. Durability This is in the same category of quality, but I just wanted to note two important things. Not only does the Saris have a lifetime warranty, it also has replacement parts and free manuals on it's site which is a huge plus for me. Click here for a Link to the Website Compatibility I go through cars pretty often so having the option to fit this to nearly any car was a must to me. After much research I found that because of this I would need alot of adjustability and the Saris had it. And not only that it also was spoiler safe should I decide to get a more fun car. Ease Of Install Here is the one category where the Saris lacks (initially at least). I found the initial instal to be somewhat confusing until I found a simple video Saris put out. Once you get everything once, it is very very simple, but that intial instal can seem daunting. Below is the video to save you time searching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC0rJWNaYY0&ab_channel=Saris Features I opted for the three bike carrier which can hold 105 lbs total. That's 35 lbs per bike. This was 35 lbs more than most other carriers, and necessary as I like to mountain and road bike. It is also super adjustable as I mentioned above to allow for continued use, from car to car. TIP TIME: Be sure and load the heaviest bike first! Weight The rack weighs 11 lbs, although I did find more lightweight options, I did not find one that held that much weight without being bulky or extremely expensive. Conclusion It's pretty clear where I stand on this, but I will attach two other racks, The first a more budget-friendly option, and the second a more Lightweight option, just to cover all the bases. Saris Bones Available Here Premier Trunk Mounted Bike Rack(Budget Friendly) Available Here Allen Sports Ultra Compact Available Here Disclosure: I make commissions if you buy through these links, although that does not influence my decision on which products to review or choose, it just helps pay for my time!