Roof rack/bars

knotty514

Hi, I am new to this forum, so apologies if you have answered any of my questions before.

I am looking at getting either Farad or Thule bars for my car, together with 4 x the Thule 591 holders.

So, my questions are as follows:

1) Are the Farad bars any good? As they are £100 cheaper than Thule wing bars.
2) How secure are the bars and holders? I have seen a youtube video where a bike is stolen out of the 591 in super quick time.
3) When all 4 bikes are on the roof - does anyone advise that I chain them all together for additional security?
4) When removing the bikes and going on a ride, are the bars and holders safe left unattended on the roof of the car? Or is there any other advice people would give regarding this too?

Sorry for such basic questions. Please help if you can.

Thank you.

Chris

tangled_metal

I have never heard of Farad bars but I always go for thule. I know someone who bought cheap bars and had to pick them up off the M6 complete with expensive kayaks on top. That was a long time ago and the bars were the old gutter type from Paddy Hobkirks.

I can imagine four bikes giving a bit of drag although nowhere near as much as four kayaks which I am used to on bars. So it is important to get a decent set of bars not cheap ones.

Personally I prefer towbar ones which we intend on getting for our new car. We can't get on with bar mounted ones purely because my partner does not want to lift bikes that high. I got a new hybrid and nearly dropped it getting it off my old roof mounted rack. It was an upside down bike mount which I think makes it harder to handle the bike.

If you look at the cost as divided by how long you have the car it goes onto and the trips you use it for then perhaps Thule prices are not too bad. Plus with Thule you can easily get feet and fitting kits for other cars when you replace the current vehicle.