Car Rack

dave milne

Hi,

I am looking for a boot mounted car rack to carry 2/3 bikes.

Does anyone have any suggestions on good or bad ones to avoid? As far as I can tell from the reviews on Wiggle the Saris Bones looks like a good choice

Cheers

Leesykoi

Got a Saris Bones 2.

Fits great on my 5 series and looks kinda cool as well !!!

Lee.

dave milne

Thanks - I'm definitely leaning towards the bones

dgstewart

I got a Saris Bones 3 bike rack last year. Whilst it isn't cheap it is a good piece of kit. I use it an Audi A4 estate and an MX-5 - that's versatile in my book!

I've carried two bikes on it no probs, but not three, although as it's built for that I see no reason why not. One thing to note is that you may have to remove the pedals from one or more of the bikes to fit them all on together. I would also recommend some soft felt/cloth to put under the feet of the rack, to avoid scratching paintwork or glass.

I recommended it to a friend who bought it and also thinks it is very good.

dave milne

Thanks again.

A couple of the reviews I have read say that it can be detached from the car without having to open the boot which efftively means you have to take it off when you're parked. Is that true or can it be secured to the car?

dgstewart

Yes, it can be removed from the car without opening the boot. I don't know if you can get more secure racks (for boot mount at least). Most roof mounted racks are lockable, however, I wouldn't let the bikes out of my sight anyway even when I'm using my locked roof mounted rack.

If you are concerned about leaving just the rack on the car when you are off cycling, then the rack folds down quite neatly in seconds so you can just put it in the car (it goes in my MX-5 boot - just).

gsk82

i've got a saris bones three. its spot on with 3 road bikes on, i wasn't so confident with 2 mountain bikes on though.

ajb72

Another vote for the Saris bones 3. Previously had a cheapo Halfords version which was no wher near as solid, or easy to fit for that matter. The bones is literally a 2 minute job to set up. Well worth the extra few £'s IMO.

dgstewart

gsk82 wrote:

i've got a saris bones three. its spot on with 3 road bikes on, i wasn't so confident with 2 mountain bikes on though.

I've had 2 mountain bikes on it with the estate car, and driven it from Aberdeenshire to Loch Ness, over 100 miles of twisty and hilly roads - no problems. I've only ever carried a single road bike on the MX-5 as the load is taken up by the boot lid, which is quite thin Aluminium.

Beno2010

dgstewart wrote:

Yes, it can be removed from the car without opening the boot. I don't know if you can get more secure racks (for boot mount at least). Most roof mounted racks are lockable, however, I wouldn't let the bikes out of my sight anyway even when I'm using my locked roof mounted rack.

If you are concerned about leaving just the rack on the car when you are off cycling, then the rack folds down quite neatly in seconds so you can just put it in the car (it goes in my MX-5 boot - just).

It's a great rack, really secure feeling and an absolute doddle to put on and take off once you've done it the first time. Yes, to be safe you probably would want to put it in the car if you were leaving it for any length of time. It's not so valuable though that someone would break in to get it so you can just leave it on the front seats without having to even fold it down.

One other thing with it is that I always like to tie the front wheel to the frame to stop it swinging about - that's no hardship though.