Family of 3

Finally got round to buying some bikes for Xmas 2010 presents in October 2011!

We bought one of those clip on the back racks, which was fine for transporting 1 bike at a time from the shop. However the day we tried to carry two bikes, the whole thing listed sideways and the bikes fell off - luckily before we'd got to a busy road.

So options appear to be:

(1) Have a tow bar fitted to the car and get a tow bar bike rack. Tow bar plus fitting will cost $800, but at least if we want to tow something in future it's there. The manufacturer doesn't do a tow bar rack anymore, so we'd need to find one of those.

(2) Get a roof bike rack. This would cost $492 for the cross bars plus $412 per bike for the rack. At the moment we'd need 2, but later 3 when Mini's bike is too big to go in the boot. I'm concerned that I wouldn't be able to lift the bike onto the roof (not being wimpy, for medical reasons I'm not supposed to lift anything heavy).

Any advice from experienced cyclists? Which of these is most stable? Where to buy tow bar rack? How many bikes can you fit on tow bar rack?

KJCherokee

What sort of bikes are you talking about? I'm not a cyclist myself but I've seen plenty of bikes being transported and it seems to me that towhitch racks are used by the trail/mountain bike brigade and roof racks by the racing cycle enthusiasts - and I assume from this that the towhitch method is not a gentle on the bike as the roof rack. Certainly bikes on tow hitches tend to have their front wheel spinning in the wind as they are driven along, plus they are held by a single clamp on the crossbar. Roof rack carriers either have both wheels on or the front wheel off and stowed in the boot.

asprilla

hmm, funny that this thread has cropped up. My brother in law has recently become an avid cyclist and has had the towbar fitted. It scrapes against the road when he goes up his steep drive way.

When I asked him if he could use a roof rack (his racing bike is extremely light and easy to lift) he said " you can't do that. they need to be transported vertically."

Kooky.

I'm not sure why but The Geek and his father have just been chatting about bike racks, experiences of people that have them, etc., and the one piece of advice I can pass on is - remember you've got your bikes on the roof BEFORE going into a car park with the usual 2.1m clearance, as apparently it can get very messy.

Family of 3

I can beat that (and it doesn't involve possums or strange noises).

Years ago when we lived in the UK (and last had bikes) we had a saloon car and a clip on the boot bike rack. I'd arranged to go for a ride with my sister so we loaded the bike onto the rack and reversed the car into the garage.

Somehow (and we blamed each other) the handbars got moved and as, I drove out the next morning, the handbar caught in the garage door mechanism and the whole boot lid was pulled up, ending up suspended about 2 inches above where it should have been (so a 2 inch gap all round). The garage was a bit stumped - they'd never seen that one before.

TO go back to the present....bikes are non-serious racing bikes, i.e. not mountain. My husband, being from Yorkshire, is currently in shock at the cost of both these options, so I'm going to look for a better clip on rack or a generic roof rack holder.

Dorothy

Go see Candy at Bike Force in Joondalup. She won't try to sell you something you don't need and will have a look at your car to see what fits.

Saying that, though, my bike fits nicely in the back of my Barina. I just take the front wheel off (it's on a clip sort of thingy so no tools required) and it slides in there quite nicely. Mind you, the back seat does need to be down and I'm vertically challenged so my bike is pretty small.

Scubaemma

We've got the ones on the car roof, and with ours you don't have to take the front wheel off, the whole bike goes up there. It's so quick and easy to put the bikes up there, there's no fiddling around or anything. (We have a road bike each).

Very pleased with ours!

quoll

We had the towbar racks and, apart from obscuring the number plate which got me into a bit of trouble once, it was fine - the clamp was padded so minimal damage to the frames. It was a p*i*t*a to take on and off but I let the DH do that and latterly with only one needing a bike taken anywhere we tended to just take the wheel off and pop it in the back (even fitted in the Fiesta). Now, try transporting a recumbent, that's a whole different problem!

Alfresco

A pic would be very helpful.

Kate D

Hi,

Our dealer quoted us almost $1000 to buy and fit the twobar/ball only, so we found an independent dealer who sold and fitted a towbar/ball plus a Thule bike rack for two bikes for less than $700. We then ordered the extra bike number plate online from the RTA and picked it up when ready a few weeks later. Our car's an SUV so higher off the ground, no need to worry about the two bar scraping on anything. Flip side - no way I would be able to get bikes up onto the roof without risking major injury to me or the car! I also want the roof to carry kayaks in time so this way, we can cover both options.

I'd honestly suggest looking at an independent supplier - the one we went to was really helpful, and not out to sell us the most expensive item.

Kate

Tr1boy

I've been racing cycles and driving to races multiple bikes (sometimes two road bikes, somes one road and on time trial/tri) for as many years as I can remember.

In all those years I've only ever used one make and system (I've bought newer versions over the years and when changing cars and the foot kit won't translate). And that's Velo Vise, by Thule. Drop the front wheel and lock the dropouts into the clasp mechanism and lock and you are good to go.

Good for 120kmh freeway cruising, being bumped around. You can get three bikes on, but the middle one usually faces backward to avoid bar clash.

Basically you buy a base bar set and then as many Velo Vise as you need. Probaly north of $1,000 for two bike system nowadays, so not cheap, but I would never risk having $20k, worth of bikes written off by a minor rear end shunt. Always have them on the roof. (always have a sticker on the steering wheel reminding me me they are on the roof for entering garages, drive throughs etc).

Just on the roof system where you don't need to drop the front wheel, good for mtbs where the wheels can be dirty (I don't ride mtbs) but on a road bike, you're better off dropping the wheel, putting it in a cover and having it in the back of the car. It secures the bike more firlmy to the racks, and lowers your fuel bill. Not so much of an issue if you're not criss crossing the country every weekend LOL.


(Thule HQ is in Artarmon, Sydney or at least was)

I realise this is way over the top for what the OP probably wants, but thought it might be useful for other 'roadies'

fish.01

http://www.bikeexchange.com.au/bikes...per_page%5D=60

fish.01

Thule:

Scubaemma

Can't find a pic of our bikes on our car, but it's kind of like this (except we have 2 road bikes on ours).

Very easy to use and we are very happy with them.

Family of 3

Just found this on a sponsored link at the bottom of the thread!

http://www.roofrackcity.com.au/AccSu...ck_408_11.aspx

What do you experienced guys think? It looks more stable than the one the bike shop sold us (Bike Force in Joondalup, D) and has 6 straps rather than 3. The one we bought only has one strap at the bottom, which is probably why it tilted!

We'd be transporting bikes a few miles up the road to the park, rather than half-way across Australia.