im after a bike rack for the towball on my skoda so I don’t have to take the campervan every time I want to cart our bikes around.

Likely to be carting a 26” steel mtb, either a plus sized rigid mtb or a gravel bike as well as a kids bike. Bike trailer in the boot or perhaps strapped on to the rack as well?

I looked at the Thule ones in t(e bike shop but they all look the same but different. I guess I want one that moves out of the way so that i can open the boot. Do they all do that?

What do I need to look out for?

Look at the options on roofbox.co.uk.

Decide on what features to want, how many bikes, etc. And also decide if you want to pay the premium for a Thule rack, or look at the Atera or Buzzrack ones which are (imho) just as good for less bucks.

The ability to tilt the rack out if the way of the boot is great. I love the Buzzrack Scorpion I’ve got. Very solid, works well, holds plus and long bikes. Only 2 bikes on it. But normally it’s just mine. But if we’re all going out I’ll put the two adult bikes on the rack and the kids bikes in the boot.

A friend of mine has just bought the Thule XT Flip, a bit pricey (though it’s abilty to fold up and hide in the boot, away from thieving scrotes, may offset some of that cost), but looked solid and well built. Certainly worth a look if you’re happy not hiding your bikes inside a van.

A Burley bike trailer fits on my Buzzrack.

We’ve got a Witter ZX503 which takes 3 bikes, is quick to install onto a towbar, and can be left sitting vertically if not being used with bikes.

I’m overjoyed that I didn’t look at this thread for a day and it’s nearly of& the bottom of the page, not quite, but nearly…. things are looking up…

Having owned one of these Racks, mine uses straps for everything, it’s pretty slow getting the bike on and off, takes about 2 to 3 minutes.

Which rack is the quickest for getting the bike on and off ?

This is a really important consideration to make when choosing a rack, sluggish loading/unloading times cause a lot of aggro in the long run. Especially when trying to get away from bad weather or Undesirables at Car parks.

I’d assume all roof bar or rack combos use some sort of strap?

Yes, they all use some sort of strap.  But the differences between how much faff they are can be quite dramatic!

And the cheaper ones degrade faster – fray etc – and get even more faff to use because of that over time, so the differences get worse…