Mountain Bike Car Rack - Help!!

Rookie1986

Hey Guys,

As the season gets set to start up again (although looking outside at 2" of snow doesn't give me much faith) I'm looking for a change to my current car rack. At present I have a Saris Bones 3, its a nice bike rack but its a total faff having to remove it entirely from my car, drop the seats, store it in the boot and then reattach it to the car with every ride (I also find that the bike wheels move around a lot when driving which is slightly off putting).

Anyway, I'm looking for some alternative options... and hopefully wanting to make the decision today so I can take advantage of the 10% off bike carriers at Halfords (I have an additional 10% off). A few friends have recommended I go with one of Thule's solutions.

Oh, and it needs to be able to fit a Vauxhall Corsa D 06-15

Thanks,

Rookie1986

oxoman wrote:

What about roof mounted instead, seeing as you have a smaller car it's not to bad to load up and you could leave the rack on all the time. If you have a towbar then any half decent ball mounted rack with lights already fitted.

Yeah I'd be happy to go with a roof mounted system, how does it feel when driving with a bike on-top though??

I don't have any bars at present so will need to but a fitting kit, feet and the roof bars along with the bike carrier itself.

I also don't have a towbar so either option is a possibility but I'll have to buy everything

Cheers,

philcubed

For thule racks go to http://www.thule.com/en/gb/buyers-guide?c=bike+carriers and fill in the info for your car and it will tell you what racks are suitable.

nicklouse

Rookie1986 wrote:

oxoman wrote:

What about roof mounted instead, seeing as you have a smaller car it's not to bad to load up and you could leave the rack on all the time. If you have a towbar then any half decent ball mounted rack with lights already fitted.

Yeah I'd be happy to go with a roof mounted system, how does it feel when driving with a bike on-top though??

I don't have any bars at present so will need to but a fitting kit, feet and the roof bars along with the bike carrier itself.

I also don't have a towbar so either option is a possibility but I'll have to buy everything

Cheers,

then go tow bar fitted. less effect on the fuel.

Rookie1986

philcubed wrote:

For thule racks go to http://www.thule.com/en/gb/buyers-guide?c=bike+carriers and fill in the info for your car and it will tell you what racks are suitable.

I had looked at the 598 and with the aero bars, fitting kit and feet its coming in at under £250 from Halfords (is that cheap?).

nicklouse wrote:

Rookie1986 wrote:

oxoman wrote:

What about roof mounted instead, seeing as you have a smaller car it's not to bad to load up and you could leave the rack on all the time. If you have a towbar then any half decent ball mounted rack with lights already fitted.

Yeah I'd be happy to go with a roof mounted system, how does it feel when driving with a bike on-top though??

I don't have any bars at present so will need to but a fitting kit, feet and the roof bars along with the bike carrier itself.

I also don't have a towbar so either option is a possibility but I'll have to buy everything

Cheers,

then go tow bar fitted. less effect on the fuel.

I had looked at the towbar options but wasn't really sure what I would need to get one fitted to the car, a quick Google search for a towbar to fit my corsa leads me to believe that its going to be fairly expensive once you include all the fittings/adaptors to make the bike rack fit/lightup etc... Is this the better route over the roof offerings? (not so bothered about the difference in fuel as it's paid for under my fuel allowance by work).

Thanks,

nicklouse

having both roof and tow bar racks the tow bar is preferable at all times. the issue with the car is that there is no tow bar available for it so I have to use roof mounted racks.

Rookie1986

nicklouse wrote:

having both roof and tow bar racks the tow bar is preferable at all times. the issue with the car is that there is no tow bar available for it so I have to use roof mounted racks.

Hmmm, I might put it on the back burner for now then as its more than double the price of the roof option I mentioned above and the Mrs wasn't overly happy about the idea of spending £200+ for a roof system let alone £500+ for a towbar one haha (I don't even think I'd dare "run-it-past" her aka ask permission lol!!).

Thanks for the help and advice

cooldad

Depends what you call cheap. I've had a few Thule kits for different cars, normally bought second hand on Ebay.
Current set up with square bars and basic (can't remember the model) carriers cost well under £100 for two bikes worth.

Work fine, look a bit used.

Can't really see the point of aero bars etc once you've stuck a couple of bikes on top.

Rookie1986

oxoman wrote:

Biggest thing with roof bars is extra wind noise and remembering it's on the roof when you get to car parks with overhead barriers, otherwise you pretty much forget it's on top. Rear mounted you tend to be wary as you see the wheels sticking out either side of the car. Towbars around me cost less than £300 fitted, last one a couple of years ago or so was about £250. Most bar mounted type racks that the wheels drop into have lights pre fitted.

Yeah that was my only concern with going upwards, remembering it was there when going past areas with low hanging trees and carpark barriers but if for the most part you "forget its there" that's a good thing as I hate seeing it in my rear view bouncing along wheels going etc etc...

Having a towbar fitted is around £280 at the garages near me, but then I'd also have to purchase a decent towbar carrier and from what I can see online a "cheap" one starts at around £200 and then they go up, and up and up! Maybe I should just buy a Vauxhall Mokka and be done with it hahaha!! I floated the idea past the Mrs at lunchtime and unfortunately... as expected she said "don't you think you've spent enough money on Bikes...." which is her way of saying no, although I couldn't help myself thinking "how could one spend too much on bikes!?!"

I think I'll give the new Thule ProRide 598 a try, its included in the 10% discount offer so that plus my 10% off from BC brings the total setup (fixings, feet, bars and carrier) in at just under £250 and if I'm not happy with it I can either return it in the first 14 days or sell it on via eBay.

Thanks for the help and advice with this guys

rockmonkeysc

cooldad wrote:

Depends what you call cheap. I've had a few Thule kits for different cars, normally bought second hand on Ebay.
Current set up with square bars and basic (can't remember the model) carriers cost well under £100 for two bikes worth.

Work fine, look a bit used.

Can't really see the point of aero bars etc once you've stuck a couple of bikes on top.

I've had square bars and now aero bars. There's a big difference in wind noise.
I don't really find roof bars have a big effect on fuel consumption. I get 38mpg without and 35/36mpg with roof bars and two bikes.

cooldad

Turn the music up. Problem solved.

kinioo

Rookie1986 wrote:

philcubed wrote:

For thule racks go to http://www.thule.com/en/gb/buyers-guide?c=bike+carriers and fill in the info for your car and it will tell you what racks are suitable.

I had looked at the 598 and with the aero bars, fitting kit and feet its coming in at under £250 from Halfords (is that cheap?).

,

I would go here: https://www.gumtree.com/search?distance ... _location=

rather than to the Halford's monkeys


I got a brand new thule roof rack with four feet, aero bars and three bike carriers for £90.

Well, the difference in the fuel consumption with one or two bikes on the roof will be marginal, however the overall vehicle height will be much higher, so don't forget you have a bike on the roof when parking in underground car parks etc...and I do agree with the wind noise.

We have been all-over Europe with two bikes on roof of our skoda Octavia estate - no problems at all, however I would go with tow bar mounted one if I had higher (van, kangoo, berlingo) car.

C.

Rookie1986

kinioo wrote:

Rookie1986 wrote:

philcubed wrote:

For thule racks go to http://www.thule.com/en/gb/buyers-guide?c=bike+carriers and fill in the info for your car and it will tell you what racks are suitable.

I had looked at the 598 and with the aero bars, fitting kit and feet its coming in at under £250 from Halfords (is that cheap?).

,

I would go here: https://www.gumtree.com/search?distance ... _location=

rather than to the Halford's monkeys


I got a brand new thule roof rack with four feet, aero bars and three bike carriers for £90.

Well, the difference in the fuel consumption with one or two bikes on the roof will be marginal, however the overall vehicle height will be much higher, so don't forget you have a bike on the roof when parking in underground car parks etc...and I do agree with the wind noise.

We have been all-over Europe with two bikes on roof of our skoda Octavia estate - no problems at all, however I would go with tow bar mounted one if I had higher (van, kangoo, berlingo) car.

C.

Already took the plunge and bought the setup from Halfords and picked them up yesterday. Cost £248 for the fittings, feet, bars and 598 bike carrier (they had 10% off roof bars and accessories plus I have my BC card so another 10% off and then a £50 voucher from Christmas). Maybe a little higher then I could have picked a set up for on GumTree but after a quick scan most are in the London area so a considerable drive from Durham.

No worries, I've got them now and they seem very strong and up to the task of transporting my bike to and from the trails.

Fortunately most of the parking in my area is just open flat Tarmac so the only thing to worry about will be overgrown and low branched trees I guess

Yeah I could see why someone with a taller vehicle would maybe need to check there total height once the bike is fitted but on my tiny corsa it shouldn't be too much of an issue, just need to get the bike up top and see how it feels when driving around.

How do you guys find these feel in poor weather conditions like high winds or heavy rain?

Cheers for the help and advice guys!

cooldad

Never had a problem in any weather, distance or type of driving, except one bit of brain fade driving into a car park with a height restriction. Thought the roof was being ripped off.

Bikes took a bounce, lost a rear mech, but sounded worse than it was.

batmo

Tow-ball mounted racks are not immune from similar problems, I reversed into a stealth post in the middle of Belfast during a holiday and crunched the rack. I finished the trip with things held together with gaffer tape. The bikes were fine though and I was able to replace the damaged parts for about £60.

Dan_xz

Sounds like it's too late for you but halford will price match - got them to match Thule 591's against sandicliffe and got two for £120 versus shelf price of £109 each.
I imagine they will do the same for roof bars - prices seem very high to me. Thule aren't exactly cheap in general with thier pay-for-each-piece-of-the-jigsaw model.

Rookie1986

Dan_xz wrote:

Sounds like it's too late for you but halford will price match - got them to match Thule 591's against sandicliffe and got two for £120 versus shelf price of £109 each.
I imagine they will do the same for roof bars - prices seem very high to me. Thule aren't exactly cheap in general with thier pay-for-each-piece-of-the-jigsaw model.

Yeah I've already bought them, although I can't seem to find anyone online that comes in significantly cheaper for each of the parts (especially once you include postage):

3006 Fitting Kit - £29.97
753 Feet Kit - £66.69
961 Wing Bars - £68.65
598 ProRide - £80.99

Total: £246.30

Maybe I over paid... maybe I didn't.... either way it doesn't really matter.... what matters is now that it's fitted I'll be going out riding this weekend as the weather forecast predicts it to be 8°C and Sunny

rockmonkeysc

Strong winds don't really effect the roof bars and they're fine at very illegal speeds (late for ferry back to England speeds).
I take mine off when not using them and as long as you thoroughly clean the feet and car roof contact points it won't mark your paint.