carrying it with my car

Agoogy

Just spent £2100 on an 08 Lapierr 714... at the moment I have to take the front wheel off to get it inside my Vauxhall Signum....
So taking off and putting on the wheel is starting to drag...as is cleaning censored off the leather...

roof rack or tailgate rack?

Mate has lockable roof rack...but frame gripper tends to shag the paintwork...
tailgate rack could shag my car's paintwork, and how relaistic is that someone would sneak up cut all the straps and have my epxpensive toy away?

or direct me to relevant existing thread as search functiuon sucks

cheers

pdid

IMO best way to carry is towbar mount. But if it has to be one or the other, i`d go roof.

IIRC most vauxhall`s have mount points on the roof which eliminates the rack scuffing paintwork.

Agoogy

I have detachable towbar... hmmmm..... cheers

monkeysm8

Towbar carrier is the way forward. I have just had a towbar fitted and bought a thule 9503 and it's great!!! So much easier than faffing on getting my grubby bike in the boot.

fwb2006

+1 Towbar.

OwenB

I'd go for the towbar, my Saris Bones won't accept my Cube and am so forgetful I daren't put it on a roof mounted rack, only thing is I don't want to go to the expense of fitting a towbar either. Guess it's going to have to be a bike bag inside the car

davidmiller

New car mate - at next possible opportunity

FSR_XC

Buy a boot liner (or a tarpauline) and keep sticking it in the boot.

It often takes longer to mount the bike on a rack. Add in the fact that you have to fit the rack each time you want to transport the bike and taking a wheel off seems like a small task.

Agoogy

davidmiller wrote:

New car mate - at next possible opportunity

harsh! :shock:

Agoogy

FSR_XC wrote:

Buy a boot liner (or a tarpauline) and keep sticking it in the boot.

It often takes longer to mount the bike on a rack. Add in the fact that you have to fit the rack each time you want to transport the bike and taking a wheel off seems like a small task.

you may have a point..but dragging it in and out of the car, even on a travel rug right now, still leaves all kinds of mess inside.... dunno I'll think harder...

monkeysm8

I have a mahoosive bit of tarp that I used to use, but the interior still got bogging.

stevieboy

Towbar and rack for me. I've asked people I see out and about who have alternatives and they all say they wished they'd got a towbar mount unit.

I've recently just got myself a set up for the busy race season. Got fed up with taking the bike to bits to get it in my fiesta boot (with seats down) with all the gear getting filthy underneath. Up until recently I use the car twice a year for bike transporting, but now the situation is different. Got 9 races and I ride in the peaks every other weekend so a few hundred quid investment to keep my car and bikes tidy seemed worth it. Not to mention the constant fannying about with re-setting the brake pads every time you refit the wheel.

stev68

I chuck mine in the boot all the time,got a big outdoor furniture cover which i use when its covered in censored .also got a boot rack but i hardly ever use it,too much faffin!but the only thing im not keen on, is getting rammed up the rear and getting a pair of forks through me back. plus its safer in the motor ie pulling up at petrol stations etc stop chav scum getting near it.

monkeysm8

stev68 wrote:

Iplus its safer in the motor ie pulling up at petrol stations etc stop chav scum getting near it.

Big lock attached to the carrier

Anonymous

There is another thread about where to clean a bike.

This was mentioned: http://www.dirtworker.co.uk

I'm not sure how it works as I haven't really looked in much depth at it but from a brief look it appears it might solve the problem of getting your car dirty.

Give it the quick once over with this device and put a cleaner bike in the car instead.

nicklouse

tow bar and then roof mounted.
I use both and prefer the Tow bar mounted option.

dave_hill

It's better inside.

Fold the back seat down and use an old bedsheet or purpose made bootliner/seatcovers. And stop being lazy!!

Having your bikes inside is more secure and on long trips can save you quite a bit of fuel, too. With my bike on a boot rack on a trip from Burnley to Newton Stewart last year, I averaged 34mpg over 195 miles x 2. I did the same trip again about three months later in the same car with the bike in the boot and averaged 39mpg!!

Chobber

Bought a towbar mounting Atera Strada 3 from here http://www.roofbox.co.uk/bike-carriers/

Terrific, easy to load the bikes, no scratches or crud on thecar, easy to open the back of the car (even with the bikes loaded) and little impact on fuel economy. Will never use a roof rack or strap on boot rack again. Not exactly cheap though.

FSR_XC

Agoogy wrote:

FSR_XC wrote:

Buy a boot liner (or a tarpauline) and keep sticking it in the boot.

It often takes longer to mount the bike on a rack. Add in the fact that you have to fit the rack each time you want to transport the bike and taking a wheel off seems like a small task.

you may have a point..but dragging it in and out of the car, even on a travel rug right now, still leaves all kinds of mess inside.... dunno I'll think harder...

I have a tarp. With a careful bit of folding, tape & zip ties, it now lies flat in the car and has sides that are window level. Add a bungee to slip over the front headrest and it is securely fixed and no dirt can get in the car. Mine also folds out over the bumper so there is even less chance of dirt getting in.

Mancunianfightingcat

Old double bed sheet in the back of whatever car I come home from work in. Never had any problems with muck in the car and at worst only have to remove the front wheel.
And what's all this about resetting pads after taking the wheel out?

To be honest I would have thought with the seats down in a Signum, you wouldn't have to remove any wheels.

stevieboy

It shouldn't need doing, but the brakes inevitably get touched with the wheels out, even with a pad spacer in the pads always need some tweaking to prevent annoying disc rub.

Tbh the last thing I wanna be doing is any tweaking of the bikes having had it set up perfectly the day before.

If sticking it in the boot was the way forward i would have saved myself a few hundred quid, but been there and got sick of it.

Mancunianfightingcat

Each to their own!

Can't say I've ever had to reset my brakes and I take the wheels out to clean the bike too.

Another plus for the boot option is you don't get road muck (including salt) sprayed up on to the bike.

stevieboy

Thats a good point about the road muck actually, didnt think of that

Mancunianfightingcat

I suppose a few hours of it shouldn't do too much harm as long as you wash it off as soon as you get home.

bushtuckerlad

you couls alway's buy yourself a volvo v70 i dont need to take either of my wheel's off

Rich9

I have a Sris Bones boot rack and the more I use it, the more I realise its a pain in the jacksie. Fafing around putting it on, its marked the rear bumper, and when its on you cant use the boot. NExt time out i'm going to put the seats down and take the front wheel off. Got a couple of big pallet bags I can throw in to keep the muck off

Toasty

We were juuust about to buy roof bars for our Micra actually. After reading this I'm tempted to find out if a tow bar is an option. We currently attach my bike to the boot rack and the missus bike goes inside on a tarpaulin with the seats down, as you can imagine using 2 different methods is about as slow as possible, takes ages to mount/unmount, gets the car dirty etc.

Just out of interest, does anyone know of anyone with a towbar on a Micra? I'm not too sure those little Japanese cars are designed for that sort of thing.