Summer Survival Guide - Part 2 - Bike racks

Having your family's bikes with you on holiday means you can have fun exploring exciting new territory.

However, since your car's rear seats are likely to be full of children, and the boot full of luggage, you'll need a rack if you want to get your bikes there in the first place.

There are lots of different brands and models to choose from, but only three basic types, one of which is bound to fit your car.

The options
Roof-mounted racks start at around £40, and are the most practical.

You'll need roof bars fitted to your car to mount the rack, but once it's fitted, just load up and you're off - and you can still get at the boot.

An alternative type is the 'strap-on' rack - a solid frame secured to the back of the car with a set of plastic-coated metal hooks and webbing straps.

Extra straps secure the bikes to the rack, and, as most of these racks are at chest height, it's fairly easy to lift your bikes onto them.

This type of rack also starts at around £40, but they work out as better value because one rack can carry up to four bikes.

You can even buy special strap-on racks for 4x4s that have a spare wheel mounted on the back.

However, fitting them can be fiddly, and they usually stop you being able to get at the boot when they're fitted.

Alternatively, if your car has a towbar, you can get a rack which attaches onto or behind the towball, although this does mean you can't attach anything else to the towball.

On the other hand, the rack is very quick and easy to fit once the towball coupling is in place.

However, some do stop you getting at the boot while the bikes are in place.

What's more, although you don't need to strap the frame to the car, you'll still need to strap your bikes onto the rack itself.

Costing from £60 to well over £100, they aren't the cheapest option, but you can fit up to four bikes on them.

Read on to see how we rate some of the most popular bike racks.