Bike Carriers - Tow Bar vs Roof Mount

[Ratty]

Hmmm, I've just bought a roof rack set (still need to buy the bike rack itself) with the intention of putting a 16kg downhill bike on it... That, and my car is a brand new 2012 machine which I love almost as much as my bike and am *much* more pedantic about. I'll let you know how it turns out!

 

I'm a girl and I can put my 12.5kg bike on the roof of my car without any problems, you should be fine.

Don't quite understand how anyone would scratch a car putting it on as the bike doesn't touch the car.

[LazyTrailRider]

Nope it's an Audi but cos its not factory fitted, the have to order a new rear bumper and add new park distance control sensors blah blah blah, so roof racks it is

Eish, I didn't realise the PDC story could add that much to complexity. That's nuts!

[LazyTrailRider]

I'm a girl and I can put my 12.5kg bike on the roof of my car without any problems, you should be fine.

Don't quite understand how anyone would scratch a car putting it on as the bike doesn't touch the car.

Haha, I wasn't worried about the weight More about my new car, I'm *super* pedantic about it (read, I can easily spend 3 hours washing and waxing it). I guess I'll get used to it in time... and will just be extremely careful when loading.

[GLuvsMtb]

I have both systems, but I am not using the roof system at present on the car (I do have the racks on the trailer though). A few years back the bracket of my thule roof rack failed on my way to Ceres for the holiday resulting in both bikes and roof carriers being ripped off in a cross wind. Seeing your bikes still fixed to the carrier bouncing on a tar road is not fun. I thank the Lord that no one was travelling behind me, because it could have ended in tragedy.

The cause of the problem is that the roof rack rails on top of my Audi A4 Avant does not run parallel. They slant in towards the back. I had the recommended system on and Thule could not guarantee that it would not happen again. I will use the roof system again if I get another car that has parralel roof bars that would allow for the roof rack clamp to grip the bar properly.

Moral of the story: If you decide on the roof system, make sure that the roof rails are designed to handle the load. Also know that cars that does not have rails and rely on a system clamping onto the side of the roof is prone to damaging the car in the long run (Had a Honda Civic before the Audi and noticed small scratch marks when I took the Thule footpacks off when I sold the car)

The tow bar option works well for normal travelling. I use the trailer if I go on holiday and bikes go onto the trailer. For fuel effeciancy I get the following economies:

Roof mounted at average 100km/h = 10lt/100km

Tow bar mounted bike rack at average 100km/h = 9.5lt/100km

Loaded trailer with bikes on at average 100km/h = 9lt/100km

 

I also thought that it was strange that I get best economy with the trailer.

 

Another weird thing is that my wife's Audi A4 sedan uses more fuel than the Avant and that you get more noise from the tow bar bike rack and bikes than with the Avant at the same speed.

 

I would get a trailer and load the bikes onto the trailer for longer trips

[Dirtbreath]

 

Is this the hanging kind of rack or the one where you stand the bikes up?

Im very anti the hanging kind as they do stuff your bikes up one way or another.

 

It's the standing rack. Totally agree with you re hanging racks.

[Thug]

I have 2 Thule Pro-rides on the roof of my car.

 

I initially was going to travel down to Winterton with my ss in my car but due to circumstances I had to put the bike on the Pro-ride.

 

I measured my fuel consumption from JHB and I averaged just under 8lts / 100km which i thought was damn good.

[ibruegge]

 

 

It's the standing rack. Totally agree with you re hanging racks.

Standing rack on tow bar works the best - I just love the fact that I can load up bikes and all the stuff and still park in my garage - I.e. sleep in in the morning before an early race... :-)

Edited October 3, 2012 by ibruegge

[Dirtbreath]

 

Standing rack on tow bar works the best - I just love the fact that I can load up bikes and all the stuff and still park in my garage - I.e. sleep in in the morning before an early race... :-)

 

Definitely. Although the Thule Pro Ride on the roof is so quick to put on. I have a 3 bike carrier and I dread the day I have to play bike Tetris to try and get 3 mountain bikes on.

[The_Break]

Owned both and have made a shift to only roof. If you are not concerned of riding into a carport then the benefits of roof mounted far outweigh the slight bit of extra fuel you may use. About 1l/1ookm. Bike stay clean in rain, are out of people touch reach, out of way for boot access, look much cooler, dont require a dong on the rear of your car and special hookup to your lights, dont have issue with rear impact. Put your bike on the roof and go!

[flymango]

Definitely. Although the Thule Pro Ride on the roof is so quick to put on. I have a 3 bike carrier and I dread the day I have to play bike Tetris to try and get 3 mountain bikes on.

 

http://1.1.1.3/bmi/cdn.bikehub.co.za/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/laugh.png Indeed!!! Two 29'ers is fine, but three 29'ers? Aikona.

[Dirtbreath]

 

 

http://1.1.1.3/bmi/cdn.bikehub.co.za/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/laugh.png Indeed!!! Two 29'ers is fine, but three 29'ers? Aikona.

 

I reckon you need to take seatposts out. I was actually thinking of going to Thule and asking "ok smartass, show me".