Roof rack recommendations

A bit OT - so apologies but I am guessing a few of you must use em...

I'm off to Burgundy this summer and the plan is to take a couple of bikes and have a bit of a blast round the hills, stop for lunch, then stop for wine, then wobble back to our campsite/car.

Trouble is that to fit the requisite amount of wine and cheese into the back of the car negates the ability to use the interior of the car for stowing the bikes...

Hence the question - what roof mounted bike holding devices have people used and reccomend? Bearing in mind that we already have the roof rack/rails things for the bike holders to fit to.

Cheers,

Dan

Thule

If you have a towing hook on the back of the car use one of the bike racks that mount to that- far preferable to putting the bikes on the roof.

I have a detachable towing hook (because I drive a Volvo) and would far rather that the bikes are behind the car secured to the tow hook/chassis, rather than on the roof at an Autoroute friendly 95 mph cruise.

As Rusty mentioned Thule is the way to go especially if you already have rails on your car, see if you can get the laockable ones and Ebay is worth a punt once you know which model you need.

When in France though beware low bridges.........................

no tow hook (its a Seat Leon Cupra R....) hence the roof option.

Anyone tried the Mont-Blanc ones - they look a bit more Aero :) haha

Planning on measuring the height and then making myself a note with it on for low Bridge avoidance....

After a quick Google it would appear that you cannot fit a tow-hook to a Cupra R bumper, which is a shame (in a way) as they are the best mounting for a bike carrier.

Beware low bridges as said above if going the roof mounted route.

You can get bike carriers that will fit to the hatch-back, just make sure you use a million straps to secure the rack to the boot, and the bikes to the rack.

You can get bike carriers that will fit to the hatch-back, just make sure you use a million straps to secure the rack to the boot, and the bikes to the rack.

I'm looking into this at the moment. Planning a road trip to Amsterdam, Alps and Barcelona soon and want to take me & the gf's bikes. 306 HDi = no tow hook.

This is what you want to use it for:

I'm looking into this at the moment. Planning a road trip to Amsterdam, Alps and Barcelona soon and want to take me & the gf's bikes. 306 HDi = no tow hook.

You can get them retro-fitted, or if handy with the spanners fit them yourself.

Struggling to remember the names, but I think Brinks have a fairly good rep?

Got some secondhand Thule 530's which worked pretty well - although I am wondering whether the more expensive ones may have been more aero and improved fuel consumption (it went from ~36mpg to around 27!)

Pretty easy to install (bought the t-bar mounts - £12 for a square bolt!!!!) and remove and the seemed fairly secure.

They dont half make a racket though (wind noise) and one piece of advice - tape up you brake levers/bars/front of bike - so that when you take them off you can peel off the bugs and crap rather than having to spend 10mins wiping dead wasps and beetles off of your handlebars .....

Sorry for the dredge but better than starting a new thread eh?

I've bought roof bars for my car and I'm trying to figure out what bike carrier will fit them.

Ideally I'd like a Thule 591 as I've used them on a few mates cars and they seem pretty secure and nice to use. I'm not sure if Thule racks only fir Thule bars though?

I have bought the bars direct from Suzuki as they were almost as cheap for the full set up of bars, feet and fitting kit, than I would have been for Thule bars alone.

Suzuki do a cycle carrier but it's £60 and I could easily get a Thule 591 off ebay for less than that.

I get that some more universal and older racks fit with u bolts, the 591 seems to use t bolts that slide inside the rails though, anyone know how cross compatible these are likely to be?

Do you know the model of the Suzuki bars/ kit?

On a similar note I'm about to start building a North Shore style (bikes vertical across the back with front wheel up) mountain bike rack for the back of my Discovery. Plan is to be able to carry 4 bikes with a max capacity of 100kg. I'll post pics as I go unless I get carried away and do a Current Projects thread for it...

This is the bars and stuff I've bought.

Suzuki do this bike carrier that looks ok and I think I've found one on eBay albeit under a different branding - http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Atera-Giro-Roof-Mount-Bike-Rack-Carrier-Cycle-Carrier-Roof-Bars-/282593726816?nav=WATCHING_ACTIVE

If it doesn't get bid up I'll go for that and hope it's compatible.

Resurrecting this thread too see what the LFGSS go to is for carrying bikes on cars.. Prius with one bike (poss two in the future) - do I go roof rack or is a boot attachment thing good enough?
Slightly scared of propelling beloved bikes along at 70mph wiggling around either on top or behind car.. advice/makes etc welcome!

The thule racks that clamp to hatchback boots are pretty solid.
Roof racks are nice because they're always there, but if it's only used a couple times a year the boot ones are fine.
The most dangerous thing about roof racks is driving into a garage with the bikes still on the roof.

I’ve been using a Saris solo bike rack on the back of my vw polo for years now. Does make me a little nervy but never had an issue with it and keeps the bike secure. I do take it steady on motorway/dual carriageways and corners but even if it slides a little the bike and rack still hold in place.

Cheap and does the job.

Top tip: use a toe strap or similar to strap the front wheel to the frame so it doesn’t spin/wobble and also you’ll need to wrap the pedal that faces the car with a soft cloth or similar to stop it scratching the paintwork.

Haven't used it yet, but I picked up a Saris Gran Fondo for two bikes at the weekend for a guy on eBay. Seems to get very good reviews and come up fairly often for a lot less than RRP.

Other thing to point out is fuel efficiency is much better for the car if you have the bikes on the back rather than on top.

I used a 20+ yo paddy hopkirk rear rack on a vw polo for years before getting Yakima roof things when we changed cars.

The big benefit of on the back vs on the top is you can’t smash the bike on a low barrier. Ask me how I know*

• god bless steel bikes. The bike was fine, I had to replace the roof rail and bike carrier
  

I recently bought a pair of Volvo branded racks made by Thule which are identical to a 598 but 80 quid instead of 120

Easy enough to fit and no issues with them so far other than better half worriedly looking up at them as the bikes wiggle about at 80mph on the M6

Has anyone got experience of using a SeaSucker system? I'd like something that a) can be transferred between cars and b) is easy to remove and store when not in use and they look ideal, if a little expensive.

My mates got the Treefrog ones which are the same concept, and I've borrowed them loads.

They work a treat and take minutes to put on and seconds to take off. Really secure, I've done two long trips with them and had no issues.

They are pricey, but if you change vehicle you don't need new bars etc

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I'm very happy with my SeaSucker that user @amey sold me.

Only thing that can be a bit annoying is if you have a few different bikes you might need to buy a few different mounts, but it totally depends on which front axles your bikes use.