Neither. I hate racks. Put the bike in the car if you’re taking 2 or fewer bikes.
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Hitch rack. Climbing up on the roof (I’m on the shorter end of the spectrum) to get my bike on and off is no fun.
For anyone who is not American, what Kevin means when he says hitch is tow bar. I use a tow bar mounted rack (it’s al least thirty years old) on my Subaru station wagon (estate to the British) and the only problem I have is the rear door can’t be opened when it’s fitted. I have seen racks that have a tilting mechanism that allows them to be dropped down enough for the door to swing clear to gain access the luggage compartment.
Don’t be me and damage the actual car via roof racks…the factory installed roof rails on my Corolla Hatchback, well, I found out the hard way that those literally just clamp to the frame. Bikes got suck in a garage. (I wasn’t going in! I was turning around, so both me and my teammate despite have just loaded the bikes felt quite dumb.) Bikes were fine, fork compressed, all the force went through them, the rack, the rails, and into the car’s frame so it ended up being a whole thing with an insurance claim and frame repairs.
Much happier with my U-Haul installed hitch and a 1UP bike rack and add-on. You can always see the bikes, so you know they’re there, and that they’re fine. And when it’s just me going to a lot of back-to-back weekend races, I use just the 1-bike part and it’s quite small and simple. Then I install the add-on when giving rides to teammates.
Don’t do the roof racks!
I am amazed at how quick and easy it is to install or remove the add-on on the 1Up.
I returned a Thule hitch mount rack when I found out how heavy and awkward it was to install and uninstall. I use the roof rack on my Outback instead. But most of the time I fold down the back seats and put the bike inside.
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So I have a 2025 Subaru Crosstrek with factory roof rails but still went with a 1Up hitch rack (get the Subaru dealer installed one). As others have noted humping the bikes onto the roof grows old and while I never had a garage apocalypse I did damage a bike at a drive through ordering spot once. Biggest downside to the hitch rack for me is access to the trunk - clumsy even if the hatch opens with rack in the travel position. BTW on a 1Up get the handle extender otherwise its a major PIA to operate without a lot of gymnastics. G
If the car that you are interested in buying doesn’t come with a hitch already on it, I highly recommend etrailer.com for the purchase of your hitch if you live in the US. I have purchased five hitches from them over the years. Their prices are hard to beat and the website gives detailed directions on how to install the hitch on your particular car. If you are handy at all, it is a couple of hours to make the installation and it will save you a bunch of money. I was a cycling rep for many years and once I purchased a hitch rack, I would never go back to a roof top rack ever again for all the same reasons that other Escapees have mentioned.
EcoHitch from Torklift (https://torkliftcentral.com/trailer-hitches/rear-mounted-receiver-hitches/ecohitch) is another good option, I’ve installed three of them. Great instructions, easy to do if you’re a bit handy, and they tend to sit higher from the ground vs some of the cheaper hitches I’ve seen installed. The ones with removable receiver should give a nice clean look, although I’ve never tried/used those.
Kevin, I don’t see roof racks winning here. As a life long user of roof racks, I can’t defend them either. I still use mine all the time but the next rack will be a hitch rack. I have never done any $$ harm to bikes on the roof but I have come close, almost always post ride brain dysfunction to blame. Decades back, screaming into departures of airport to drop off a CX hotshot post-nationals race, his two identical and beautiful Alan CX bikes on the roof. Boston, USA airport (fuggeataboutit) required driving through a level of a parking garage to get to departures. Insane, yes, luckily, they had installed a lightweight swinging height warning sign in our lane, which hit the bike’s handlebars. Lock up brakes, pull over, unload bikes, no damage, lucky for me.
Our new car came with a hitch socket so I have no good excuse not to use it, except I had already matched my new Kuat roof racks to the car’s paint scheme before the car arrived. Who wouldn’t?
Am I in heaven? A rack for my rack!!!
I have 1-Up in 1 tray plus the expansion tray—and I am so copying your invention.
Obvs hitch are better. And this comes from someone who has roof bars and roof racks (Yakima wheel on racks +++) and has done so for years.
BUT.
Hitch racks and tow bars and super expensive. Last time I checked it would cost me £1500 for a set up (tow bar, electrics, hitch racks). Which is about £1100 more than roof bars and racks. Plus the bars and racks can be transferred to the next new car with no cost. So while hitch racks are clearly better functionally, it is not straight forward re cost / benefit. I only use them 5-6 times a year so for me, I just cannot justify the extra cost.
This is true for a hitch rack, as far as the rack goes. It’ll either be a 1.25” or 2” receiver here in the US and any car with a compatible receiver will work for the rack.
I recently purchased cross bars for a small SUV. Thule brand. The bars come in specific widths. Now if I bought another SUV with a similar sized roof, yes, the width of those crossbars might mean I could transfer them from one vehicle to another. But if that new vehicle is wider? Nope. I could buy super wide cross bars for my current vehicle but then that looks ridiculous.
There are more cross bar widths than hitch receiver sizes.
I agree with all of that. I was just thinking more about the tow bar bit rather than the hitch rack.
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I like hitch racks personally, but there are thieves running around my neck of the woods stealing street parked 1up racks. Their stock hitch lock is not that strong, from friends whom have gotten theirs nicked.
One vehicle-specific drawback on hitch racks is where the exhaust exists relative to where the wheels sit. I’ve encountered carbon rims get severely delaminated/compromised as a result.
I have both hitch and roof racks - and the biggest issue with hitch racks for me is my lack of strength to lift my full-sus onto it (as a lighter rider with a non-lifted passenger vehicle).
I’ll mount lighter weight groad bikes up top though.
If your neighbors enjoy ambitiously close parking, the aluminum of a 1up rack will not be kind to their bumper cover. Roof racks are nice in a way that my bikes aren’t vulnerable to questionably trained/programmed automatic emergency brake systems or distracted drivers.
Just came to say that I bought a new car that apparently requires the installer to have a PhD in hitch installation and will apparently void the warranty. It also has enough electronic sensors in the back that it would probably be a nightmare anyway, for reasons others have pointed out.
Had I known, I may have gone with a different vehicle. Now selling my beloved Kuat, including its lovely wall hitch mount in my basement, and grabbing a Seasucker.
Check that your car can accept whichever option decide on if this is important to you.
Don’t forget SeaSuckers if a hitch rack is too difficult.. They can be used on the rear boot or tailgate, as well as on the roof. I bought one when I had a Boxster and also have used it on the back windows of our campervans. They are excellent if you don’t want to invest in a more permanent solution.
DOH. Now I read the last comment just above mine. 
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and just by chance I see this post from Raoul on instagram. 
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I do have a SeaSucker Talon (single bike) that I bought when I didn’t want to invest in an entirely new roof rack for what I saw as limited use. It was fine for local use, but I felt somewhat leary of using it for long distance trips, and luckily I was able to put the bike inside for the trip. I am aware that many of the World Tour Teams use suction cup racks for the races outside of Europe, and don’t seem to have any issues, but then most of the time they aren’t driving at highway speeds.
Since then, I have picked up a full Thule system for my current car, but I only use it if I’m transporting more than one bike, or if I need enough room inside the car for more than one other person or more cargo. Otherwise, I can lay the back seats down and put either myroad or gravel bikes in the car without taking off any wheels. The TT bike needs the front wheel removed to get inside. Since it’s a car, the rack is at shoulder height, so the lift isn’t too bad. I have found that it only takes about 15 minutes to put the rack, two bike trays and the front fairing on the car when I need to. I don’t keep it up there all the time because of the loss of mileage and the additonal noise.
I had older Thule and Yakima racks, but I would have needed new towers and bars because neither of those older racks had a fit kit that would fit the older towers and bars. I’ve kept the old Thule square bars, roof rail adapters, and cargo box so if I get something with integral raised roof rails, I’ll have a ready made system.
A couple of points about hitch racks:
1- mudflaps help with spray and grime on the bike.
2- 1.25” hitch receiver limits you to a lighter setup, usually less than 4 bikes.
I used to have a Subaru Forester, and the stock hitch receiver is 1.25”, so I installed a 2” aftermarket one. Now I have an Ascent, and the stock hitch receiver is 2”, and the stock hitch is really much better than anything aftermarket for that vehicle. I realized that researching the hitch options is important if you want to carry 4 bikes. It is a lot of leverage and even if the weight isn’t a lot, the way it is supported puts significant strain on the system.
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