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Boot mounted bike rack

adamzworldadamzworld Posts: 29
in Road general
I wonder whether anyone can advise please, I have a Honda Civic (2014) and it has a glass boot lid. We're planning on having a break with kids down on the south coast later in the month and I was hoping to be able to use my old boot mounted bike rack. The problem is that I don't think it's advisable to use the tailgate straps due to mounting points being glass.

Halfords have these on sale and I wonder if anyone has used them on a Civic, or any car with a glass tailgate https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-racks/bike-rack-accessories/halfords-essentials-glass-hatch-anchor-kit-146351.html

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. TIA

Posts

  • oxomanoxoman Posts: 11,439
    Having been involved with automotive glass in the past, I wouldn't be hanging anything of a glazed hatchback. If it's got a metal surround then no problem, but straight off the glass NO. The glass is only bonded with a PU adhesive, although strong I suspect the glass would shatter if under tension and had shock applied. Suspect you will only have tow bar or roof options open as per various website warnings for your car.
    Too many bikes according to Mrs O.
  • adamzworldadamzworld Posts: 29
    edited July 2020
    oxoman said:

    Having been involved with automotive glass in the past, I wouldn't be hanging anything of a glazed hatchback. If it's got a metal surround then no problem, but straight off the glass NO. The glass is only bonded with a PU adhesive, although strong I suspect the glass would shatter if under tension and had shock applied. Suspect you will only have tow bar or roof options open as per various website warnings for your car.

    Thanks for the feedback and I agree that fixing the straps straight to the glass would be a bad idea. I wondered though if the ones that Halfords sell would be safer to use, as from what I can see they feed through the gap at top of the boot lid and sit inside the car.

  • oxomanoxoman Posts: 11,439
    They still pull on the glass panel though. One of the development tests we used to do on panoramic sunroofs and rear glazed tailgates was loading it up with weight using something similar to seasuckers. The they took the weight ok but we found when put them on vibration test tables they shattered under shocks caused by pothole type shocks or constant resonance caused by say concrete roads or rumble strips. You'll find most rear boot rack manufacturers and car manufacturers will state don't do it. Sorry if my description was boring, PS no longer in the automotive sector luckily.
    Too many bikes according to Mrs O.
  • thistle_thistle_ Posts: 6,899
    Saris have some boot mounted racks that will apparently fit a 2014 Civic: https://www.saris.com/catalog/racks/honda-civic
    There's no pictures though to show how they do it. Is there somewhere to hook it on at the bottom of the glass, above the rear light maybe?

    There's some info here: https://www.civinfo.com/threads/which-cycle-carrier.30060/ although one of the threads shows a Saris bones hooked onto the top of the glass...
  • adamzworldadamzworld Posts: 29
    oxoman said:

    They still pull on the glass panel though. One of the development tests we used to do on panoramic sunroofs and rear glazed tailgates was loading it up with weight using something similar to seasuckers. The they took the weight ok but we found when put them on vibration test tables they shattered under shocks caused by pothole type shocks or constant resonance caused by say concrete roads or rumble strips. You'll find most rear boot rack manufacturers and car manufacturers will state don't do it. Sorry if my description was boring, PS no longer in the automotive sector luckily.

    Thanks for sharing your experience of testing glass panels and that all makes perfect sense. The roads in the UK are generally pretty bad, so the rack would be subjected to plenty of vibrations which I guess would then be carried up through the straps and could result in a cracked tailgate.
  • adamzworldadamzworld Posts: 29
    thistle_(mbnw) said:

    Saris have some boot mounted racks that will apparently fit a 2014 Civic: https://www.saris.com/catalog/racks/honda-civic
    There's no pictures though to show how they do it. Is there somewhere to hook it on at the bottom of the glass, above the rear light maybe?

    There's some info here: https://www.civinfo.com/threads/which-cycle-carrier.30060/ although one of the threads shows a Saris bones hooked onto the top of the glass...

    Thanks for the info and it looks like the Saris rack might be my best bet unless I want to invest in a roof rack. They seem to be quite expensive to buy so I'll have to decide whether I'm going to be keeping the car as otherwise I don't think I'll be using it regularly enough to justify buying one.

    Funnily enough you can fold the rear seats up in a civic and this was one of the things that appealed to me when I bought the car as you can fit a bike in the back (once you've removed the front wheel) and still be able to keep the boot space free
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