Roof Mounting a Road Bike

scottreynolds

Okay. I'm buying a roofrack for the car (part of my ploy to go camping in France next year with bike and baby). I saw a few different options around the swords leagure and was wondering if people think its better to mount with the front wheel on or off. It doesn't make much difference to me as the price is the same but I'm leaning towards to one where the front wheel is off the bike -- its looks aero.

Here's the two options. I prefer the first but what do other people think?

DirkVoodoo

Front wheel off.

StudentC

Would the difference between front wheel on or off change your overall car height enough to push it above / below any of the height limits on the ferry?

scottreynolds

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Front wheel off.

Your approach of 4 people and 3 bikes on a car half the size of mine was calssic. With a roof rack you could get 5 more people and 4 more bikes - TEAM VOODOO

scottreynolds

StudentC wrote: »

Would the difference between front wheel on or off change your overall car height enough to push it above / below any of the height limits on the ferry?

TBH, there's very little difference in overall height. I'd probably take it off the roof rack for the ferry (to save a few quid) if it made a difference.

DirkVoodoo

scottreynolds wrote: »

Your approach of 4 people and 3 bikes on a car half the size of mine was calssic. With a roof rack you could get 5 more people and 4 more bikes - TEAM VOODOO

That poor little Punto. It could barely overtake with that much stuff on it. Seeing the rack bounce around on the motorway was worrying, but godihatethehills assued me Lidl have a very good quality control procedure. Did manage to remove some of the clearcoat on one of my chainstays, need more bubblewrap next time!

Lumen

I guess it depends how fast you want to get the bikes off.

Mixture of both:

scottreynolds

Lumen wrote: »

I guess it depends how fast you want to get the bikes off.

Mixture of both:

What the difference in power requirements for the acceleration of the car for the two options?

DirkVoodoo

scottreynolds wrote: »

What the difference in power requirements for the acceleration of the car for the two options?

You drive a Renault, I wouldn't worry about such things.

Lumen

scottreynolds wrote: »

What the difference in power requirements for the acceleration of the car for the two options?

I dunno, but that density of carbon rims makes me dribble.

Just trying to balance up the thread after you posted pictures of knobby tyres in a thread with "road bike" in the title. For shame.

scottreynolds

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

That poor little Punto.

A womens shopping car, No?

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

You drive a Renault, I wouldn't worry about such things.

I'm not sure you have the right to criticise.

DirkVoodoo

scottreynolds wrote: »

I'm not sure you have the right to criticise.

I drive a punto....sporting....in bright blue. If ever a car said "euro italian style mobile", it is that :P.

scottreynolds

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

I drive a punto....sporting....in bright blue. If ever a car said "euro italian style mobile", it is that :P.

Yeah italians are well known for their car reliability.... they should stick to making bikes.

Lumen

scottreynolds wrote: »

Yeah italians are well known for their car reliability.... they should stick to making bikes.

The Kiwi car industry does rather put the Italians in the shade.

Oh, hang on...

Yes, I know I'm not in a strong position to be throwing stones here

Quigs Snr

For the RAS we had 2 racks that were wheel off, and 1 which was wheel on. The wheel on rack felt a little flimsy, I had to wrap a cloth around the clamp so as not to scuff the frames. The wheel off rack felt more solid. However for practical purposes during the race we had to whip off the spare bikes twice for a bike change and obviously the wheel on rack was better for that.

Much of a muchness though, the bikes didn't fall off either of them, both seemed to work..

scottreynolds

Lumen wrote: »

The Kiwi car industry does rather put the Italians in the shade.

This is certainly the latest tech................

scottreynolds

Quigs Snr wrote: »

For the RAS we had 2 racks that were wheel off, and 1 which was wheel on. The wheel on rack felt a little flimsy, I had to wrap a cloth around the clamp so as not to scuff the frames. The wheel off rack felt more solid. However for practical purposes during the race we had to whip off the spare bikes twice for a bike change and obviously the wheel on rack was better for that.

Much of a muchness though, the bikes didn't fall off either of them, both seemed to work..

Thanks... good sensible answer... I think the wheel off is better as i would really only use it to get to races or for long distances. I doubt I'll be supporting any teams, or be supported, in the near future.

-Chris-

My vote is front wheel on.

That's what I had for ages and I'm glad I didn't have to faff about with removing/replacing wheels every time I used the bike - I don't see the advantage of removing the front wheel personally...

ednwireland

i got both but only used the wheel on one for mtbs the road bike goes on the wheel off one (and if i ever get a carbon bike wouldnt fancy clamping the frame ( the wheel off one is forks and rear wheel only neither ever fallen off ( but it is all thule roof racks and carriers)

Quigs Snr

Theres no advantage to removing the front wheel (In theory its better not to). In practice however, the main thing is that the forks are held in place by a skewer in a wheel off rack and thus the bike tends to be held a little more securely. Also for a frame like my Cervelo R3, the square tubing on the downtube does not work as well as it might with the clamp for the wheel on type of rack (although it does hold the bike). I certainly don't like the way that I have to overtighten the clamp to get a decent grip... So you would want to take your frame into consideration also.

Whichever rack is used, we use small bungee cords, literally just a little loop maybe 3 or 4 inches long with a piece of cylindrical plastic on them, don't know what they are called, and they are used to wrap around the bottom of the wheel and under the part where the wheels touch the rack. These little bungees can be released quickly (very quickly in a race in fact, amazing the strength you get with the adrenalin surge of seeing your rider lying in the middle of the road with half a pedal next to him), plus they stop the bike "bouncing" on the rack.

-Chris-

Quigs Snr wrote: »

Whichever rack is used, we use small bungee cords, literally just a little loop maybe 3 or 4 inches long with a piece of cylindrical plastic on them, don't know what they are called, and they are used to wrap around the bottom of the wheel and under the part where the wheels touch the rack. These little bungees can be released quickly (very quickly in a race in fact, amazing the strength you get with the adrenalin surge of seeing your rider lying in the middle of the road with half a pedal next to him), plus they stop the bike "bouncing" on the rack.

I used toe-clip straps for that, but I don't race so speed of removal isn't an issue for me. No fear of bike bouncing off the rack though...

Bikerbhoy

Thule Outride fork mounted ....just do it

jlang

If you have a wheel-off rack does that mean you need to take up boot space with the loose wheel or does it go on the rack too?

Quigs Snr

Usually in the boot. Although for some racks you can get a seperate wheel mount, don't know which ones but have seen them from time to time.

Home:Ballyhoura

Yes, Thule also do a roof rack wheel carrier.

Does anyone know where you can pick up the Thule 561 Outride Roof Carrier anywhere in Ireland for a reasonable price (or anyone that even sells them at all!) besides Cyclesuperstore for €139. I was looking online but it's a sort of bulky awkward thing to ship so postage costs are a killer! I did found it for €101 delivered here on leiseureshack and €104 from rutlandcycling. Roofrackshop.co.uk look to be quite good if their shipping costs are not anything ridiculous, they have to get back to me with a quote. I like to see that buying 2 racks is cheaper than one, and 3 even better again. Makes sense really, chances are you will need more than just the one at some time!

I will let you know how I get on with things, but until then any help in finding the best deal would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!

I think it looks really classy and neat, especially with the Orbea Orca on it below! Haha

Home:Ballyhoura

I meant to ask, can the Thule bike rack products be used on any style roof bars are the made to only work on Thule's own roof bars solely? I ask this because I saw an adaptor kit for BMW Roof bars, so you would probably need to buy an adaptor kit for your own roofbars aswell or just splash out and buy the full Thule package. Am I right in saying this?

@jlang: This is the thing you are looking for to hold the wheel on the roof aswell!

brayblue24

I started with the wheel on and changed to taking the front wheel off

however it made not a jot of difference to the end result when I completely forgot about it while driving under a barrier into a car park....

ednwireland

roof rack locks your spending 200+ on something that can be unscrewed from the roof (plus bike costs) now obviousley someone can rip it off buut my racks are lockable and there is a lock on the bike carrier as well (just found the locks for my roof rack so their going on next

kenmc

Home:Ballyhoura wrote: »

I meant to ask, can the Thule bike rack products be used on any style roof bars are the made to only work on

Yes, you can use them on thules, they have a sliding fit really nice system, or if you don't have thule bars then you also get an adaptor set with them to use with any parallel bars.
Thule rock.

scottreynolds

Home:Ballyhoura wrote: »

I will let you know how I get on with things, but until then any help in finding the best deal would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!

http://www.micksgarage.ie/bikeracks.aspx I just ordered from here. it was €130 all up.

Halfrauds also have a special at the moment on the 'whell on model' for €99.

Home:Ballyhoura

ednwireland wrote: »

roof rack locks your spending 200+ on something that can be unscrewed from the roof (plus bike costs) now obviousley someone can rip it off buut my racks are lockable and there is a lock on the bike carrier as well (just found the locks for my roof rack so their going on next

Yes, in this picture you can see the lock for the roof bars as well as the lock on the quick release for the fork mounted carrier. This is another benefit of the "wheel off" model!