Tips for Lifting your Bike onto your Roof

Lifting your bike onto your roof may seem like a daunting task. I can assure you that with the right technique it becomes a lot less about your strength or how heavy your bike may be. Follow these steps below to start lifting your bike like a pro!

Before we even lift a finger there are a few key steps that will make your life a heck of a lot easier during the process. If your rooftop bike carrier allows you to keep the front wheel on, getting this ready to accept your bike BEFORE you lift it is a life saver. Unhook your rear wheel strap and fully loosen the mechanism that clamps the bike. If you have a fork mount carrier double check the skewer that will clamp your fork isn’t too tight if your bike is quick release. If your bike uses thru-axles just double check that rear wheel strap. 

Here comes the part you’ve been looking forward to…the lifting! To start, make sure that whatever side you are loading your bike from, the front wheel of the bike is facing the front of your vehicle. We don’t want to do any spinning with a bike above our heads. Here is one of the crucial details, when grabbing your bike to lift it onto your car you are going to want to grab the front of the bike by the front fork lower and the rear by the seat stay. This will allow for the most balanced hold on your bike without touching any parts that may be greasy. During the actual lifting process do not just grab these areas and just pull up. You'll want to squat down first, grab the bike, and as you extend yourself back up use your momentum from your legs to bring the bike up and over your head. You’ll find that the bike will now be very well balanced above your head with pretty minimal effort to move it over to your car and secure it in your rack. 

We hope you found these tips helpful to you and your back when lifting your bike onto your roof. If you are reading this article and are considering going with a rooftop bike rack, I highly recommend trying to lift your bike onto your roof first before opening your wallet. If you have any questions about anything we discussed here don’t hesitate to reach out to our Rack Experts we’re happy to chat with you! They can be reached at info@rackwarehouse.com, or by phone by dialing (800) 272-5362