Can You Fit An Electric Bicycle On A Car Rack?

Choosing a Bike

March 22, 2019

Hey guys, Dustin here, CEO of sixthreezero. I wanna talk to you today about the question, "Can eBikes go on a bike rack?" Let's talk about it. eBikes, in general, are going to be almost about double the weight of a normal bike. And so the reason for that is you've got a motor in the back and you've got a battery and between the motor and the battery you're talking about adding anywhere from say 20 to 40 pounds to the bike.

The batteries can weigh anywhere from 15 to 25 pounds, the motor can weigh about 10 to 15 pounds in and of itself, whether it's a mid-drive or rear hub or front hub motor. With that said can eBikes go on a bike rack? The answer to that question is yes but I think there are some stipulations. My number one suggestion is you wanna take your eBike on a bike rack, take the battery off. Take the battery off, put the battery in the front seat or the back seat or in the trunk and then put the bike onto the bike rack.

Number one, I wouldn't wanna put, that's about 70, the sixthreezero eBikes weigh about 70 pounds, about 65, 70 depending on the model. I personally wouldn't feel comfortable putting that kind of weight on my car rack on my car. Now with that said I do think there are types of car racks that are better but I'm talking more about a trunk rack that is mounted on the trunk of a sedan. I personally would not put a 70-pound bike on that.

Now if you have a hitch rack I would say you could put the full eBike on there or if you even have a hitch rack where you actually set the bike in a tray, I would say yes, you could put the eBike on there with the battery. But my suggestion, take the battery off, put it in the car. You don't have to worry about the weather getting to it or something bad happening if the bike flew off. Without the battery on there, you're not gonna have to worry quite as much. Take the battery off, put it on there so the answer is yes, you can put eBikes on there.

Now as I've said I wouldn't necessarily recommend certain types of racks or I would recommend other racks over other racks. With a trunk rack, how it's secured to the car isn't going to be as durable as a hitch rack or even a roof rack. Now, I would not recommend a roof rack for an eBike because of the sheer weight of it. Now unless you're Hulk Hogan and you're comfortable a lot like lifting that thing on top of your roof and that's where you like it then so be it, go for it.

But to the average person I don't even think it's gonna be possible to get an eBike on the roof, so I personally would rule that out. Also, I think it's pretty dangerous having to lift a 50 pound, even without the battery on there you're still looking at about 50 pounds for this bike. Lifting that on and off is going to be a real challenge and then you've got that thing sticking straight up on your roof another four feet in the air above your car.

And God forbid something hits it or it flies over or the wind picks up it's a bad situation. Stay away from roof racks. My ideal suggestion would be a hitch rack. Now obviously not all cars have hitch racks, you can always get a hitch rack installed but they're secure, they're mounted to the frame of the car. The hitch itself is usually mounted to the frame of the car. They're welded, they're not going anywhere.