Which bike rack, best fit for Cannondale lefty bike??

poucher

I'm currently driving a saloon car and its a right chew taking the Lefty front wheel off to get the bike in the car boot, can anyone out there recommend a decent rack that will take the Cannondale lefty bike without too much hassle?

Needs to be quick on / off and not obscure the brake lights etc,

Ideally a pic of your bike on the rack would be good??

Cheers,

Poucher

The Rookie

Do you have a tow ball?

Tow ball mounted (or mounting in removable tow ball socket) are a great option.

poucher

Nope, no tow bar...

rockmonkeysc

Roof bars are easiest. Don't go cheap though or you'll regret it.
I use Thule aero bars (minimal wind noise) with Thule proride bike carriers. Absolutely solid at very illegal speeds when late for channel tunnel.
The Thule roof bars are very gentle on your cars paint. I can fit or remove mine in ten minutes by myself. They lock on to the car.
Can't comment on effect on fuel economy. I never checked when I had a sensible car but never noticed a significant effect. My current car drinks fuel at a rate I'd rather not think about anyway.

FishFish

I recommend the tow bar version - will cost you say £200 for the towbar but the racks are very easy to use and very robust. The main issue is that they are very low risk to use - no chance of dropping the bike on the car or flexing causing paint damage. Additionally much less detriment to fuel consumption.

Certainly you would need to inform the insurance co about the towbar (no extra premium for me) but maybe you ought to tell them about any temporary fitting anyway.

lostboysaint

One that doesn't rely clamping fork legs.

The Rookie

+1 for roof rails and racks are much easier to use and more robust than almost anything rear mounted UNLESS you go towbar.

rockmonkeysc

Tow hitches can be very expensive to fit to a lot of modern cars. I was quoted £450 for a basic one fitted to a 2008 Mondeo.

wmorgs

If you can index gears, you can fit tow bar.
Only gets complicated if light bar needed.

rockmonkeysc

You need light bar or electrical connection for tow hitch bike carriers unless they somehow don't obscure lights or number plate.
Lots of modern cars need the bumper modified as well.

Baron Greenback

I have a Thule 598 and a Thule 532. Great carriers, very stable, I used them with the basic square type steel bars.

Just remember that you have the bikes on the roof when going through car park entrances.