Saris bones 3 bike-kids?

Charlie 08

Hi all,
I'm about to buy a saris bones 3 bike rack. It will carry a man's bike, a women's bike and a kid's bike (26inch)
From what I've read, the women's bike will need a bike beam. Will the kid's bike fit on or will I need to get another bike beam?

Thanks...

Cee-Jay-Cee

It depends on the style of the bike. If there is a cross bar then you may be able to fit it on the rack, if you it’ll be difficult to attach.

Charlie 08

Thanks for your reply. This is a link to the kids bike


https://images.app.goo.gl/Hf8QSsw1Xjd8Zaiz5

JMcL

That should be grand, We've put the daughters 24" Frog (link) on without too much trouble. The seat ends up a bit elevated, but we've driven the length of France with no issues.

You will need a bike beam for the women's bike if it's a step through. I think we got ours in Halfords at the time

beans

Charlie 08 wrote: »

Hi all,
I'm about to buy a saris bones 3 bike rack. It will carry a man's bike, a women's bike and a kid's bike (26inch)
From what I've read, the women's bike will need a bike beam. Will the kid's bike fit on or will I need to get another bike beam?

Thanks...

I fitted a 14" kids bike on a similar rack (just about!) without a bike-beam, so you should be fine.

Charlie 08

Thanks for the replies everybody. Think it's back to the drawing board for me though as the saris bones wont fit my smax. In fact I cant find any bike rack that'll go on an smax. I dont want to get a tow bar as I'll be selling the car in a year or 2. Don't think my 5 ft 3 self would manage a roof rack!!
Any suggestions would be very welcome or else the bikes might have to be returned!!

JMcL

Charlie 08 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies everybody. Think it's back to the drawing board for me though as the saris bones wont fit my smax. In fact I cant find any bike rack that'll go on an smax. I dont want to get a tow bar as I'll be selling the car in a year or 2. Don't think my 5 ft 3 self would manage a roof rack!!
Any suggestions would be very welcome or else the bikes might have to be returned!!

You sure? We've a 2014 Smax and never had any problems. The second car is a 2010 Focus which it's not supposed to fit either, but works fine in practice. In fact, The Focus is the reason we got the Bones in the first place - it was the only one that had any notion of working with it

Charlie 08

JMcL wrote: »

You sure? We've a 2014 Smax and never had any problems. The second car is a 2010 Focus which it's not supposed to fit either, but works fine in practice. In fact, The Focus is the reason we got the Bones in the first place - it was the only one that had any notion of working with it

Really?Have just used online websites which allow you to put in your car make/model etc. Several came back as unsuitable. Ours is a 2017 smax. So no problem with the Saris Bones ?

JMcL

Charlie 08 wrote: »

Really?Have just used online websites which allow you to put in your car make/model etc. Several came back as unsuitable. Ours is a 2017 smax. So no problem with the Saris Bones ?

Hmm... I just did a sanity check and indeed can't find the SMax listed as compatible. I also just double checked when I actually bought the rack and it actually predates buying the SMax (we had a Scenic as the family car at the time) and the main reason for buying the Saris was that it (unofficially) fitted the Focus.

That said, we've used the rack with no issues on the SMax on at least 3 major trips to France, and loads more local stuff with no issue.

Since you've a more recent model (they seem to differentiate pre and post 2015) you might need to look at how the back window is constructed - the strap hooks on at the top and you could be in trouble if you don't have a metal frame, or if the car has one of those plasticy fairing things at the top. Ours doesn't really so we can get certainly away with it.

So that said, I'm going to hop back up on the fence as I don't want to be responsible for your rear door landing in the middle of the motorway! I'd dig a little deeper though on some of UK motoring sites to see how others fair with it (or what else they suggest - I wouldn't fancy hoisting bikes up on top of it either!)

Charlie 08

I've spent the past few days checking various forums to see if I can come up with some solution. No joy so far!
Thanks for the reply...will let you know if I find anything!
If anybody else has a solution let me know!