UKC

I've never owned any type of bike rack, normally managing to fit my bikes in the boot when necessary, but now with family etc. that's often not possible, or a hassle, so I think I should get a proper rack.

What are people's experiences? Roof or back mounted? Are expensive brand name versions much better than the generic one I can get for 30 euros from the Finnish equivalent of Halfords? How much hassle is it getting a bike onto the roof on your own? etc etc. I have a mtb, road bike and commuter (hybrid) so it would likely need to carry all of them at different times. Thinking about a back one as then I could take the kids bikes as well.

Car is a Focus estate. We have roof bars, although I don't leave them attached (could/would do if I got a roof holder).

Any thoughts/experiences?

Thanking you all kindly...

In reply to TobyA: if you can i'd go tow bar mounted otherwise roof mounted is the best way to avoid bike-bike contact causing untold frame scratches! I have used a boot mounted one and unless you spend good money on a Saris Bones rack be prepared for faff!

In reply to TobyA:

I've always had back mounted as it's easier to lift the bikes on. Strap mounted can be difficult to adjust and tension right, tow bar monted is much sturdier, but a lot more expensive if you don't already have a fitted tow bar.

Care needed with adjustments to stop peddles, handle bars etc rubbing against the car paintwork or rear glass. Multi bike racks can be very fiddly to get the bikes properly algned against each othe so that nothing rubs.

If the rear number plate or lights are obstructed you'll need a plate/lights to fix on. My tow bar mounted one came with number plate and lights already fitted and plug in lead beside the tow bar.

Rear visibility was never a problem. but you need to be aware of the extra width with the bikes protruding on each side.

In reply to TobyA:

Had a cheapo back mounted rack from Halfords. I could never get the straps really tight which ended up in disaster where my sons bike got trashed when the whole rack came off the car!!

Then went for roof cycle carriers again from halfords but went for the "deluxe" version. So far no problems and they are as good as my mates expensive branded ones imho.

It isn't as much hassle as you think putting the bikes on the roof. Once you practiced a bit it's a doddle.

good luck with whatever you choose

Gaz

In reply to all: Thanks all so far. Should have said, we don't have a tow bar and don't need one for anything else so that I think that makes that option too expensive.

In reply to Trangia: After a long time putting bikes on the back of the car, I am now firmly in the roof-mounted school. So long as lifting them up is not a problem, I found it's easier and neater and of course doesn't stop access to the boot where all the climbing/waking/picnic non-bike activity stuff lies.You can use pretty cheap bike holders, leave the whole rack on for short journeys without the bikes, etc etc. There is a very minor technique to getting the bikes up but you will soon master it.
The disastrous idea I had was to mount the bikes in the same way as you would on the car roof but on two cross bars which ran across a large wooden trailer which had no suspension. Cue bikes coming adrift, paint rubbing off, components breaking ...

In reply to TobyA:

I saw an ad in a cycling magazine recently for a nifty system that I'm going to check out. The bikes are mounted on the back but vertically with the wheels perpendicular to the car.

Unfortunately I can't find an image of it on the web.

It also locks through the wheels, rather than the frame (if you have a carbon bike)

In reply to TobyA:

We've just got a Saris 3 bike back-mounting one. Takes the kids mountain bikes as comfortably as Mr TC's 29er. Fits fine on a Focus estate, a slopey-back AudiA4 estate, and even a Merc S-class saloon car (though it looks weird on that).

In reply to TobyA: hi Toby, I've really looked into this. Your vey best option is tow bar with a quality thule carrier (expensive).

Next option is a Saris boot rack, the best the do is the Saris RS which is a much more elegant,secure and simple system than all the strapped tubular things you see on the market. Then next best is the eyecatching Saris Bones,which although it looks very innovative works on a strapping system.

If money no object,then tow bar mount evey time

In reply to TobyA:

Up until recently I used to mountain bike every week with a group of 10+ guys all using a variety of methods to transport the bikes.

The general consensus of the group was to use a thule product due to the quality.

Next was that no one used one that strapped onto the car(paintowrk damage,1 guy had bikes come off,easy to steal from car),all used either roof mounted or tow bar. Tow bar mounted seems to work best on estate cars,provided it has a tilt facility to allow easy boot access.


However on the whole roof mounted were preferred due to the fact you can strap skis,roof boxes,kayaks,ikea wardrobes etc to them. Just make sure you dont drive through a height barrier with a carbon road bike attached like my friend did.

Hope this helps

Also if you buy other thule products you can get the locks changed to match.

In reply to Tall Clare:

I have a Saris as well - really good piece of kit.

Toby - The roof mounts are ok, but the straps knacker my Carlos Fandango superlight carbon wheels.

the alternatuive is the tow bar mount - seems to be gathering favour in the MTB fraternity

In reply to ClimberEd:

That's the new Saris old chap.

Looks good but I worry that it leaves your bike sticking out the back, awaiting a texting blonde Mini driver........

In reply to TobyA:

My preference is always inside the car.

Failing that, Thule fork-mounted carriers on the roof - accepting that you get horrible drag and need to watch out for height restrictions.

Never had a tow bar, so never used them - always considered them the expensive and less practical alternative to the roof.

I also drive a Focus estate and never had a problem getting bikes on the roof, although can be a reach to get them in the middle - helps if the bikes are light Get rear wheel in the track and then fit the forks.

In reply to TobyA:

One note about roof-mounted systems: a friend's wife wrote off £8k of shiny carbon road bikes by forgetting they were on the roof and driving into a car park that had a height restriction barrier... oops.

In reply to Radioactiveman:

I'm worrying about that already! Our carport is just the right height to destroy my car roof and bike in one go.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Do you know which model Clare? According to the Saris website they don't make anything that fits my car, a 2005 Focus estate. This seems a bit bizarre as they were for at least some time the best selling car in Europe!

In reply to TobyA:

Mine's 2003. Mr TC has assured me it'll fit but you've got me worried that he's lied to me. Will investigate this afternoon and report back. And potentially bludgeon Mr TC with the bike rack.

In reply to Tall Clare:

...and I can't see why it won't - it's just legs and straps. will report back though.

In reply to Tall Clare:

What about the carrier?

In reply to Tall Clare:


I think that's the original version: http://is02.thegumtree.com/image/big/127495034.jpg

Mines the 2nd gen: http://www.carhire-malaga-spain.com/images/ffe2.jpg

Oddly the local equivalent of Halfords do their own back rack and I actually bought one before realising looking at the instructions that the newer ford focus was about the one model it wasn't cleared to fit. Wonder if there is something about the boot door design that makes its hard to fit a rack to?

In reply to TobyA:

but it's just a pretty bog standard slab on both models - would be strange for it to fit one but not the other. Could you get one to try and return it if it doesn't work?

In reply to TobyA: The only disadvantage to the roof-mounted ones (other than the disaterous one already mentioned) is the drag induced will affect your MPG on longer journeys. if you factor that into the cost of towbar systems over a longer period it might be favourable in the long term [to go with towbar system]

In reply to David Hooper:

I've really looked into this. Your very best option is to avoid Thule racks.

They are way too expensive but very badly designed with too much thin gauge aluminium, too much brittle plastic that snaps and really shit locks that mean you NEED a key every time you put bikes on or off. They look nice though.

PENDLE tow bar racks are much better designed, cheaper and stronger, MAXXRAXX are also top quality but a bit more expensive (although more adaptable)than Pendle. Both are made in this country too, rather than jonny foreigners place.

You won't get them at Halfords only the quality bike shops carry (oops) them.

p.s. roof mounted is better all round. Aerodynamics and fuel economy of the car are shot to shit whichever place you put them. Fact.

In reply to TobyA:

We've got a selection of roof mounts and rear carriers. On a daily basis, the rear carrier gets used the most because it's easiest to fit and remove. Roof bars and racks are a PIA to fit and remove.
The high mounted rear carrier is troublesome – it’s OK for a single road bike, but if you put two mountain bikes on it the flipping thing is an air dam and fuel consumption rockets. If you’re going to go any distance, you need a low mounted rack which holds the bikes below the roof line – and a tow bar mounted one is best in this regard. Low mounts mean you’re probably going to need a light bar of some sort.
Roof mounts get around the faff of lights and number plate, aren’t too bad on fuel and mean you can still get to things in the boot. Beware car park barriers though. The bike racks will last for ever and transfer from car to car. We’ve got some flash ones and some cheapies – and both struggle to hold the massive down tube on one of the bikes securely and fat tyres are a bit of a problem.
Next time, I’d probably go for a Saris thingy.
Top tip for bikes on the back – work out your loading plan. Get an old karrimat and cut some holes so that you can slide it onto the rack after the first bike. Then fit the next bike and cut the superfluous mat away. Draw your loading plan onto the mat with a marker. Use spare mat to make extra pads for the first bike where it touches the rack.
The boot rack also has a lock – a big padlock and a thin cable with a plate that you shut in a door – if the whole things falls off, at least it will follow us down the road instead of taking out the car behind

I've got a passat estate and have gone roof mounted. Getting them on and off isn's problem for me but the GF wouldn't be able to do it.

Roof mounted also means if I ever need to carry 5 bikes(only happened once so far), I can use my cheap rear mounted one as well.

In reply to TobyA:

Wife got some boot mounted contraption from Aldi or Halfords I think. Works perfectly well if a little fiddly. Fit's fine both on her hatchback, and my MX5.

It's ok for occasional use, I've been the length of the M1 and half way round the M25 in a single journey (Pontefract - Reigate), but it does take a while to set up/load the bikes on.

If I was doing it more regularly then I'd probably get a towbar mounted one (yes, I do know someone with a towbar on an MX5, just for a bike rack)

In reply to TobyA: I use a cheap boot rack. It has always been fine (15 years old) and still does the job. It cost about £20. It has also been on loads of different cars fiesta, metro, 106, brava, focus, octavia, shogun, xc90, accord, colt to name a few and worked fine on all of them.

In reply to tatty112: On most of those cars you could mount it high or low enough that enough of the lights and numberplate could be seen to not be a problem (never had trouble with the law in 15 years with it.

In reply to TobyA: Do NOT get a Paddy Hopkirk style hook on to the boot/hatch stle carrier. A) Had two bikes on it while cruising along on an A road when one drove over a bump. The outer one bounced off the arms under a HGV. Oops..luckily for one, it belonged to a fellow competitor hitching a ride.... and B) the weight of the combined bikes managed to warp the boot/hatch door and eventually the boot/hatch door had to be replaced. One prefers the roof mounted ones nowadays. Good luck.

In reply to TobyA: As others have said, towbar mounted racks are the best solution, but are expensive if you don't already have a towbar fitted. Even then you have to factor in extras like a number plate & light bar.

I'd never touch a rack that mounts on the rear door after one forced me to cancel an outing I'd been very much looking forward to. Testing the fit of the rack to the car - just the rack, no bike - I discovered too late that the hatch struts couldn't support its weight. The hatch was OK but it crushed the tip of my right middle finger as it slammed shut. It smarted a bit at the time but I put that down to me being a wuss. When I woke up at one in the morning with agonising throbbing pains in the finger I had to take it to A&E for them to drain the sizable haematoma which had formed under the nail. Didn't get home until six and, unsurprisingly, felt little inclination to set out two hours later on a lengthy drive followed by a bike ride.

Door mounted rear racks are the work of the devil IMO. If you can't afford a towbar mounted carrier then a roof carrier is the best alternative - although if you have a tall car then you may need to think about carrying something to stand on for loading and unloading.

In reply to nniff:
>
Wrong on soooo many counts. Roof rack or rear mounted BOTH kill fuel consumption about the same amount.

Why do you think aerodynamicists spend so much time designing the rear of the car? All cars now have the same characteristic shapes at the rear that the original Ford Sierra spawned - soft broad curves, absence of sharp edged hatch openings, faired in lights, rear screens which are glued in place, recessed locks and handles and the rest. The low pressure area created at the rear is fundamental to a lower coefficient of friction i.e. less drag and hence faster, more economical progress. Sticking a rack of edgey bikes, straps and racks in there just f*cks up the airflow completely, easily as much as a roof mount system if not more. The roof-mounted air dam argument is specious to say the least. Even a wash wipe which the makers generally have to provide for the rear wash/wipe on hatches and estates is a real pain to the designers - they'd avoid it if they could, but they can't.

Fat down tubes - you just extend the screw thread on the holding device (to make it wider and fat tyres being a problem? Never. Just make sure you use pedal straps/toe clip straps to pull the tyre down firmly into the groove and they're sorted. Deflate the tyre slightly if you can't get them deep enough into the groove. You should ALWAYS strap the tyres down in this way. Failure to do so usually results in bikes coming adrift.

In reply to Martin W: When I woke up at one in the morning with agonising throbbing pains in the finger I had to take it to A&E for them to drain the sizable haematoma which had formed under the nail. Didn't get home until six and, unsurprisingly, felt little inclination to set out two hours later on a lengthy drive followed by a bike ride.

use a caravan step or a small mate. inability to install a rack properly doesn't necessarily make it a bad rack..................just a bad operator.

In reply to unclesamsauntibess: Int tinternet grate? You can always find somewhere to spout any old bobbins. Bikes on the back cause as much drag as bikes on the roof? You're a card.

In reply to TobyA:

Back in the 'old' days (60's) before fancy carriers were invented, the standard way of fitting bikes on a roof rack was to upend them and strap handlebars and saddle down to the rack using nothing more sophisticated than toestraps. After I'd passed my test I would transport up to 4 bikes that way going to races with the club using my dad's ancient Wolsely, and a gutter mounted roof rack. Did hundreds of miles driving without a mishap or any damage to the bike. Sometimes we'd take the wheels off the bikes and put them in the boot to reduce drag.

In reply to TobyA: we got a towbar just for the bike rack. total cost was £250 for towbar and thule rack. Used to have a high mounted boot carrier and the difference in fuel costs is noticeable

In reply to Sir Chasm:

damn, you've got me bang to rights there. sorry. what are your qualifications on vehicle design and aerodynamics again?

In reply to ebygomm: another thing that might be a consideration is you have to pay extra on some ferries for roof mounted bikes

In reply to unclesamsauntibess:
>
You see, that's the funny thing about theory and practice: in theory they are the same but in practice they're not. A 1,600 mile trip with a roof rack of bikes and the same 1,600 mile trip with the bikes on a rear rack says the fuel consumption is different.

A new high mounted boot rack that replaced a low one savaged fuel consumption to such an extent that bikes and rack were dismantled and squeezed into the car.

As far as fat down tubes are concerned extending the bolt achieves four fifths of f all if the clamp is too small to go around the tube.

All those straps for tying the wheels down? Well, I threw all of those away, except for the one that I kept to lash the clamp to the tube.

Give me strength.

In reply to nniff: Have to agree with you here. I have spent a bit of time throwing various things into wind tunnels back in Uni and most cars produce an area of low pressure around the boot and behind where the slipstream above and below the car meet. It makes sense that anything even partially inside this slipstream will cause less drag than something carried outside it (say on the roof)

The best aerodynamic shape for a car is bloody ugly, being a kind of half raindrop shape with the thin end at the rear....... this helps the slipstreams meet without the low pressure area.

In other word, you are correct both in theory and in practice.

In reply to nniff:
>

The clamps are generally of the correct-ish radius to grab the larger tube, it's merely that the clamp won't open WIDE enough to let it grab at all.

Check out the individual bike carriers when they are sold - they contain two(not three, or indeed just one)straps. One for each wheel, yes? Even you can do simple maths I suggest.

Of all the roof rack, boot rack and tow bar rack accidents I've come across (and that's quite a few) most, if not all, have occurred when the wheels have popped out of their troughs because the wheel have not been retained correctly into them.

Give me strength too.

In reply to unclesamsauntibess:

Well I never. You do surprise me.

So, help me with my maths here. Two of the four roof-mounted bike racks we've got - they've got four straps each but the bikes (being bicyles and not tricycles or unicycles) have only got two wheels each. What do you think the other two straps are for?

And if the clamp does open wide enough, but the tube touches the bolt before the clamp reaches far enough around the back of the tube to hold it? Do you think it might be one of those clamps that isn't of the correct-ish radius to grab the larger tube but does open wide enough? Maybe it's the bike that's wrong and the rack is fine.

All those accidents too. I must be more careful.

In reply to Lord of Starkness:

I was still doing this in the 80's as I couldn't afford a 'proper' rack

In reply to TobyA:

I've got a couple of the Halfords deluxe roof-mounted carriers which sit on roof bars across the roof rails. They seem absolutely fine, no trouble loading them up. Only problem is sometimes I get a hideous whistling on the motorway (but not always... not sure why, maybe its the budget roof bars I've used).

Bikes on the roof takes my average consumption down from 55MPG to 50MPG. I can live with that.

In reply to TobyA:
I've tried to resist but I must add my two pence to the pile.

I've got a towbar mounted Thule carrier. I initially had this on my little Citroen C3 1.1. The car couldn't handle the load with two bikes, and especially not with a car of people.

I now have a towbar on my Citroen C5 estate, but temporarily used a rear boot-mounted stand. The boot-mount carrier was one of the Halfords bargain ones. It was okay in terms of stability, but not exceptional.

I can't lift a bike onto the roof of my car without risking dropping it. I'm not especially tall either. I bought the towbar mount because it's an easy way for me to deal with the situation. I love it, works excellently and has a tilt function which allows me to access the boot (and get the dogs out easily). The initial outlay is painful...but I find that the ease of getting the bikes on is so totally worth it. I love the fact that its so stable with the towbar mount. The Thule rack is great construction. I chose it for the brand's reputation and I haven't been disappointed.

In reply to FrancescaFord:


Really? How much do your bikes weigh?

In reply to TobyA:

I have a twinny ergo tilt. Locks onto the tow bar and holds the bikes by their cranks. Holds two bikes and we have and adaptor bit that adds on so it will hold three. The tilting thing means you can still get into the boot with all the bike on. It's an amazing peice of kit we wish we'd bought years ago.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=7836

The picture above is wrong, it looks like:

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/product/24769/Twinny_Load_Ergo_Tilting_To...

We bought ours from CRC.

Cheers

Toby

In reply to TobyA:

Have a look at the new Saris Gran Fondo - if you havea Ford Foetus it should fit perfectly

In reply to John Rushby:

Nononono -- one of those things that fixes by straps to the tailgate is going nowhere near my new Octavia Estate when it arrives.

In reply to FrancescaFord:

We have got a towbar mounted Thule. Had it for about 6 years now and it has been all over Britain. Not the cheapest carrier, but worth it in the long run.