Cycle Racks

Why do manufacturers make bicycles which won’t fit on “standard” cycle racks, or conversely why do manufacturers make cycle racks that don’t fit some fairly common types of cycle?

I’ve been told to “get on my bike” by one of the North Dorset Mental Health Team to get some exercise and had a fancy dual suspension mountain bike donated by my daughter, I just had to collect it from her house in Bournemouth, so after saving up my pennies I bought a brand-spanking new cycle rack and proudly strapped it on the car (that’s a lie. It actually took me nearly an hour of sweat and curses to get it to fit).

After arriving at Bournemouth I applied cycle to rack – or it tried… No matter how I placed the bike on the rack I couldn’t get it to fit    Even a loud exhortation to the god of cycle racks didn’t work and I was faced with either leaving the bike behind until a later date when I could return with tools to dismantle the bike so it will go in the car boot, riding the bike home (obviously out of the question for an overweight, chronically unfit slob), or giving up the idea of cycling for exercise.

Just to stab me in the back and twist the knife, my daughter’s bike which I had promised to repair and renovate fitted on the cycle rack perfectly