When you are talking bike carriers there are really only four options to consider—roof top, hitch, spare tire or trunk. The Yakima Flipside 4 Bike Rack that we will be discussing today is a hitch-mounted bike carrier which we have selected because we think it is the best of the rest. Roof top carriers work well but you have to muscle the bike up to the roof and there they have a bit of an impact on your gas mileage. I have also heard a few horror stories about people who forget about their (often pricey) bikes on the roof top carrier as they drove into their garage or under ground parking—you get the idea. The trunk bike carrier option keeps the bikes behind the vehicle and thus reduces wind drag however you are limited to two or three bikes due to their weight and the forces it places on your trunk. The spare tire option is similarly limited to two or three bikes and places all of the bike and rack weight on your rear mounted spare tire which is fixed to the vehicle body or rear hatch. I'm not a fan of all this weight going directly onto anything else other than the frame of the vehicle, enter the hitch alternative.
Plenty more to read in the full review here.
