Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Bike racks on a car which is best? Tow bar type or Roof racks?

Depends on what and how many you are carrying. And then how forgetful you are when it comes to garage doors

How tall the car is, wether you have a tow bar already, wether you like cleaning bugs off the front of your bike, wether you like cleaning road spray off the bike (bad on dirt rd for tow bar rack).

There is no 'best'. There are however heaps of different varieties o f both to choose from. I currently have fork mount roof mount racks and a platform type tow bar rack, both have different benefits and suit different purposes.

I personally believe the most dangerous (for the bike) & difficult place to mount a bicycle on a vehicle, is on it's roof.
Although it does show off the bike more than on a towbar rack on inside the vehicle.

All depends on what you priorities are.

Owning a car that has no tow bar on it, I opted for a clip on Rhino Rack that goes one the rear of my Hyundai i30 Wagon. Will carry up to three bikes (AT) 15kg each. Personally I have had two bikes on it, a Trek 7.3 and a Trek 7.1 and had no problems at all. Take about 5 minutes to put on, and about 2 minutes to take off! I also got myself an accessory plate to comply with the law, even though when I only have my bike on it, my number plate is not obscured. Better safe than booked!

Sigh - guess it's timely to post this warning yet again. Do not use a roof carrier if you want to keep your bike. It's not a matter of 'if" but "when".

Think it can't happen to you? Read about another forum members experience here. Crashed Carbon - Need Advice. He was lucky - the bike seems to have survived, yours may not. But too bad about his car

RonK wrote:Sigh - guess it's timely to post this warning yet again. Do not use a roof carrier if you want to keep your bike. It's not a matter of 'if" but "when".

Also depends on the types of trip you are taking. Short trips, probably less chance of the above. longer trips there is more chance of fatigue and forgetting what is on the roof.

There is also less chance of it happening if you don't park your car under anything (ie on the driveway, not in a garage or carport, or under a tree). my car lives on the street, no trees nearby so if I'm tired and get home late I won't be smashing a bike into an overhead obstacle.

There are thousands of roof carriers out there, and although there is a risk of you doing something stupid there is also a risk of another car rear ending you and squuishing towbar mounted bikes. Make your choice.

My personal choice is to store the bike inside the car at every opportunity, but gets more difficult when there is more than one.

bychosis wrote:Short trips, probably less chance of the above. longer trips there is more chance of fatigue and forgetting what is on the roof.

You think so? Let me tell you about the incidents that have happened to people I know:
1. Wife of my LBS owner drove into a shopping centre carpark on the way home, destroying her sons bike
2. Owner of a hiking gear shop we frequent took delivery of new bikes for himself and wife, and destroyed them driving into the garage arriving home without ever having ridden them
3. Lady friend took advantage of bike shop offer of free pickup and delivery of her bike for servicing - bike shop employee destroyed her bike somewhere along the way
4. Very experienced cycling friend drove into garage and destroyed bike after regular Sunday morning ride
5. Another experienced cyclist friend drove under a gantry at a shopping centre and destroyed his Colnago C40
6. Lady friend drove under the house after mid-week morning ride - somehow bike survived better than the roof of her Benz.

Nary a long trip amongst them.

I have never put my car into the garage after a ride no matter how long the ride has been. i use a tow ball mounted rack and since my garage is a low height my VW caddy's boot hits the garage door if i open it so after riding i park in the driveway and unload the car. If i had the bikes on the roof as i'm planning to get one roof mount i might tie a piece of string from the bike to the windscreen wiper to remind me. i have never gone into the garage with a bike either on a roof rack or a tow ball mount as i like to have room around the car to get everything out.

As they say, if something can wrong, it will. I use a roof mounted rack because my bike is too long to fit on a rear rack. I’m very conscious of it being up there when I’m driving with it on the roof, but it still worries me that one day in a moment of inattention I will forget. I have wondered if fitting a lightweight pole, something like an aerial on the front bumper bar might be useful as a warning device. Make it the same height as the highest point on the bike and only fit it when the bike is there.

RonK wrote:

bychosis wrote:Short trips, probably less chance of the above. longer trips there is more chance of fatigue and forgetting what is on the roof.

You think so? Let me tell you about the incidents that have happened to people I know:
1. Wife of my LBS owner drove into a shopping centre carpark on the way home, destroying her sons bike
2. Owner of a hiking gear shop we frequent took delivery of new bikes for himself and wife, and destroyed them driving into the garage arriving home without ever having ridden them
3. Lady friend took advantage of bike shop offer of free pickup and delivery of her bike for servicing - bike shop employee destroyed her bike somewhere along the way
4. Very experienced cycling friend drove into garage and destroyed bike after regular Sunday morning ride
5. Another experienced cyclist friend drove under a gantry at a shopping centre and destroyed his Colnago C40
6. Lady friend drove under the house after mid-week morning ride - somehow bike survived better than the roof of her Benz.

Nary a long trip amongst them.

I didn't say it wouldn't happen, just LESS likely. You might also note that 2,4,6 are arriving home scenarios, which I also pointed out is LESS likely if you park in the street.

I also recall that somewhere in a previous thread (possibly not on this forum) I mentioned I was going to measure the height of my car plus bike so that I can confirm I will fit under stuff that is marked with a height. There are ways of mitigating the risk. It is up to the OP or others to determine what level of risk they are wiling to accept. RonK YOUR opinion is that it is an unacceptable risk to put YOUR bike on the roof.

Give me roof racks anyday. Still have clear access to rear of car, can still park easily within todays ever shrinking car spots. Can park the car without bikes on it legally.

And if I do damage them, it will be my fault, not some git who hit me from behind. edit: for the purposes of clarity this post ceases to be serious at this point and everything after this point is firmly tongue in cheek Which I know of having happened, and is the only type of accident I have ever had. Which means its only a matter of when, not if it will happen to you too.

im_no_pro wrote:Give me roof racks anyday. Still have clear access to rear of car, can still park easily within todays ever shrinking car spots. Can park the car without bikes on it legally.

And if I do damage them, it will be my fault, not some git who hit me from behind. Which I know of having happened, and is the only type of accident I have ever had. Which means its only a matter of when, not if it will happen to you too.

Yep, you had to do a worldwide search to come up with a photo of a towbar mounted bike rack mashed.
But, if you wanted a pic of smashed bikes on a roofrack, limit your search to an Australian suburb and perhaps even up to 7 days ago....

bychosis wrote:It is up to the OP or others to determine what level of risk they are wiling to accept. RonK YOUR opinion is that it is an unacceptable risk to put YOUR bike on the roof.

It would be a fair bet that the OP was not even aware of the risk when he posted this thread.

I have detailed 6 incidents of which I have personal knowledge, posted a picture of 7th and a link to an 8th, all of which go to demonstrate substantially that the risk is unacceptable.

In fact it is you who has posted your opinion.

The OP has a clear cut choice as to the real risk - a series of unrelated incidents that cannot be dismissed as mere chance, or your opinion.

Wow, roof mounts gets personal exclusively on BNA. I wouldn't have guessed how someone else transports their bike ON A CAR can raise THAT much passion amongst cyclist. If only that passion could be bottled up and poured towards improving the cycling road network around the country.

On the topic of personal, here's my personal crash. Now if that was a bike hanging behind me, it too would be a write off (was >$15k worth of damage and the driver of the van fled the country to avoid paying the damages) and yes, that's me saying "ooooh" and flying towards the steering wheel followed by several F words after I cut off the video.



But I've know several people with rear end crashes. It's not a matter of "if" but a matter of "when". Heck vehicular collisions is not a matter of "if" but a matter of "when". Same with cycling. You're going to stack it one day. Just hope it doesn't kill you.

For a balanced and reasonable experience with both sets without the agro above.

- Towbar mounts if left on the car is a risk of someone standing/jumping on that platform and damaging way more to the car than breaking a bike. You never know what kids these days do just for "fun". So just check if you've got space to store the bike holder in the car when you get to your destination.

- Reverse sensors, reverse camera, self parking are useless with the towbar mount although some reverse sensors don't sound when the trailer wiring harness is connected.

- Forget about parallel parking unless it's a very generous spot. The added length makes even the most generous space on your average 4.6m long car go out to the low 5m mark (That's about the length of a Hilux ute with an alloy tray which doesn't contain itself in a shopping centre car park without sticking out just a fair bit.)

- Another thing towbar mounts is that some may require additional strapping to the hitch so that the tongue doesn't twist on the receiver excessively. The rotational forces on an average 15kg bike carrier (sans bike) as it pitches and rotates as you drive on today's goat track multiplies significantly more and those forces are very different to the forces applied when you're towing even 1500kg. Towbars are made for towing and designed as a pivot point to drag something on wheels.

- Just make sure you have a spot to store the bike holder when you're not using it. Roof holders you can keep on the car roof "forever" or taken off and passed through the roof access hole in the attic/roof space etc whereas the towbar mount being 15kg+ is a little harder to store anywhere other than the floor unless you're OK with lifting awkward objects or just don't care and leave it outside.

- Roof mount, just don't drive in any low lying buildings. There's no real other downsides other than maybe a bit more wind noise if you drive frequently over 80kmh, bugs splatter on the bike on the highways, going through a toll may incur truck fees with the overall height with the bike on the roof being >2.8m and maybe people can see your flashy bike easier, could trace you to your home and become a theft magnet.

- My tip to remembering it's on the roof is to open the sunroof shade. The shadow the bike makes inside gives you a reminder unless it's night time.

I own both, I use both methods of transporting bike. There's pro's and con's of both. I use the roof carriers more. Others may be passionate about towbar mounts, others like me use the roof more. I don't care about how others transport it. All in all, be aware if it's on the roof as you can't rely on the person in the car behind you to stop even if you've stopped at the lights for 7 seconds.

RonK wrote:<snippage>, all of which go to demonstrate substantially that the risk is unacceptable.

In fact it is you who has posted your opinion.

Defining a risk as unacceptable is based on Risk Appetite, which is unique to you and doesnt necessarily transfer to all parties in this instance. Residual risk will vary from one person to the next depending on the controls applied as well e.g. those who hide their garage remote in the glovebox when they have bikes on, or put a sign on their sunvisor as a reminder will have a lower residual risk due to the additional control(s) applied.

Whether the risk is unnaceptable is indeed a matter of opinion.

Edit: Marx/Tofu: my 'If, not when' statement in relation to rear-enders was firmly tongue in cheek, if that wasnt as obvious as I may have thought.

someone needs to make roof racks which can be tilted to one side so the bike is lying down.

im_no_pro wrote:Defining a risk as unacceptable is based on Risk Appetite, which is unique to you and doesnt necessarily transfer to all parties in this instance. Residual risk will vary from one person to the next depending on the controls applied as well e.g. those who hide their garage remote in the glovebox when they have bikes on, or put a sign on their sunvisor as a reminder will have a lower residual risk due to the additional control(s) applied.

Whether the risk is unnaceptable is indeed a matter of opinion.

Edit: Marx/Tofu: my 'If, not when' statement in relation to rear-enders was firmly tongue in cheek, if that wasnt as obvious as I may have thought.

I wasn't referring to your comment when I wrote my dribble above. But anyway, rear enders are more common than I thought after I had that big one above. I've personally have had 2 happen to me and been in car as a passenger on 1. Best place to put it is inside strapped up but the missus wouldn't be impressed if a dirty MTB gets shoved inside.

On the subject of racks ... I managed to destroy my Thule ProRide Silver BA 591 on Sunday. Thankfully bike and car are okay; the rack took the impact.

Anyway I need to decide if I want to replace it with a roof carrier again, either another Thule BA 591 or maybe instead a Rhino-Rack Discovery or to go to rear carrier.

Neither of our cars have towbars and I don't want to go to that expense so the alternative is a Thule Raceway 9003. Anyone have experience with the Raceway 9003 or thoughts on it?



The other alternative is the Thule Raceway 9001 but not sure how this will go with a recumbent.





Thanks
Andrew

RonK wrote:

bychosis wrote:It is up to the OP or others to determine what level of risk they are wiling to accept. RonK YOUR opinion is that it is an unacceptable risk to put YOUR bike on the roof.

It would be a fair bet that the OP was not even aware of the risk when he posted this thread.

I have detailed 6 incidents of which I have personal knowledge, posted a picture of 7th and a link to an 8th, all of which go to demonstrate substantially that the risk is unacceptable.

In fact it is you who has posted your opinion.

The OP has a clear cut choice as to the real risk - a series of unrelated incidents that cannot be dismissed as mere chance, or your opinion.

Both my responses and yours are opinions, differing opinions in this world make it interesting. And yes, the series of incidents are actually chance of occurrence (risk), and I agree the risk may be higher than some other options and the individual's risk appetite will determine if it is acceptable for them. If the risk was completely unacceptable no-one would make roof racks because no-one would buy them.

What those of us with experience can do is highlight the risks we are aware of and offer suggestions on how to mitigate the risk, as has been done above.

The Thule 9003 above looks a good option, but I have no experience with it. I do prefer platform carriers but I don't think I would like something that straps onto the paintwork like that. Of the two roof rack types listed I am not a fan after having seen a few of that type with quite wobbly bikes when driving on uneven ground, I prefer the fork mount option.

/personalopinions

You can get roof luggage pods with plenty of room for a bike or two, particularly if you are happy to remove the seat post as well as front wheel, and maybe a pedal. A little prep work with some foam to fit your frame and wheels in to stop the bike moving around and getting damaged, and you have a low and protected roof mount.

On a normal car your height won't be higher than your average 4 wheel drive, and shopping centres, bridges etc shouldn't be an issue, though some garages might be, though you'll scrap the pod before the bike. Downside is some pods can be very expensive, it can be harder to reach up and fit the bits in than mounting a bike in a std roof rack, and if you do fit it out with foam inserts it pretty much means nothing else can go in there, but it is an option for those worried about the other racks and who can't put the bikes in the car.

Aushiker wrote:Anyone have experience with the Raceway 9003 or thoughts on it?

Good to know the bike survived.

Not with the Raceway 9003 but I have used another Thule clip on rack. It worked very well as a carrier, but I was always concerned that it would damage the paintwork on my car.

I covered the contact points with duct tape each time I used it, but this gets a bit tiresome if you use the rack frequently, and eventually I gave up and fitted a towbar.

There are ways of remembering your bike is on the roof.
http://bikesonroof.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.rackreminder.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.headsupsystems.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Emjay57 wrote:There are ways of remembering your bike is on the roof.
http://bikesonroof.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.rackreminder.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.headsupsystems.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for the links. I like the Bikesonroof.com product, the other two are only good for predetermined destinations so not much help for the immediate stops where things can happen.

BTW still to make up my mind but does anyone know if the mount on the arm of the Rhino-Rack Bicycle Carrier can be adjusted along the arm? Emailed Rhino-Rack but yet to get a reply.



Thanks
Andrew

Yep, I'm looking at the same rack and the mount has a release on it to allow for movement to suit different style bikes.