Rack ’n’ roll
Cars are handy for moving your bike from one place to another. All you need is the right rack
One of the beauties of cycling is that you can walk out of your front door, get on your bike and go for a ride any time you like. But there comes a time when you want to explore further afield and visit the truly spectacular venues that the world has to offer (by our estimations, Cyclist has presented almost 100 great rides around Britain, Europe and beyond since our launch in 2012). That means finding the best way to transport your bike by car.
‘Your main options are tow bar, roof or strap-on mounting,’ says Martin Robson, technical manager of Pendle Engineering, maker of bike racks. ‘Tow bars are simple and solid, but they are usually the most expensive. Roof racks are almost as simple as tow bar mounting, but they create more drag, so they’re worse for fuel economy and you need to remember they are there when going through height restrictions like car park entries. Strap on racks – the kind that attach to the rear boot – are usually the cheapest option, but they fit onto the car’s window and/or paintwork so there is risk of damage if not fitted correctly. Also modern cars are becoming increasingly less suitable for fitting as the shapes have become more complex – the curved surfaces and edges can make fitting the straps quite hard.'
Before making a selection, the main things to consider are the number of bikes you want to transport, the type of bike, and the safety of the fitting.
‘We do a lot of testing on our racks,’ says Eric Norling, manager product management at Swedish bike rack manufacturer Thule, ‘and there is no real difference from a safety perspective for personal injuries or damage to the bike between our models.
‘The easiest product is the tow bar carrier. You avoid the high lifting that you have on a roof carrier, and if you have more than one bike it becomes much easier because you can have up to four bikes on a tow bar carrier whereas if you use a roof rack you would need to buy four separate carriers, and reaching positions two and three in the middle becomes a real pain in the…’
So, tow bar it is, then? ‘Actually, I usually drive with a roof rack just because I think it looks cooler,’ adds Norling. ‘Cyclists aren’t always rational. It also means I can leave my rack on all the time; it’s ready whenever I need it.’
Roof racks are the largest part of Thule’s bike rack business and within this sector there are two main options: front wheel on or front wheel off.
‘There is no real benefit difference between a stand up carrier [wheel on] or fork mount carrier [wheel off]. I think sometimes people go for fork mount because it looks cooler – a bit more pro. I would say it’s more of a hassle to go
for a fork mount because you need to take off the front wheel and store that somewhere. With a stand up carrier you can remove the bike and be off riding quicker. The difference comes if you have a carbon bike as opposed to an aluminium bike, because the bike is more sensitive to external force. We never recommend you clamp anything onto a carbon tube,’ says Norling.
With a stand up rack, the bike is usually held in place by a clamp that is secured to the down tube, but it’s easy to over-tighten the clamp and then damage the fragile carbon.
‘That’s why we only do a fork mount type of roof rack,’ says Robson, ‘because we found it was the best way we could ensure a solid fit. Clamping the frame would require a lot more flexibility to accommodate different shapes and sizes of tube.’
Norling points out that even fork mount carriers can do damage to carbon frames if the dropout attachments are
‘If you have it on the roof you can have a 10% increase in fuel consumption, while if you have it on the tow bar it’s below 5%. That could make quite a difference to your wallet’
done up too tight: ‘This is the reason we are now launching the Thule Sprint, where we have a fork mount carrier that has a torque limiter function that only tightens to 4.5Nm, at which point it starts clicking.’
There is a way of circumventing the problem of tube-cracking clamps. ‘I put a bike frame adaptor between the seatpost and the handlebar,’ says Norling, ‘and then I clamp the claw to that instead of the frame. It’s basically a metal tube with two hooks at the ends. It becomes like a second top tube and it means that you are not clamping onto anything sensitive.’
Another consideration with mounting bikes to cars is the additional fuel cost that comes from the extra drag.
‘One of the biggest differences is down to fuel consumption depending on where you mount the bike,’ says Norling. ‘We did tests recently, and if you have it on the roof, our study showed that you can have a 10% increase in fuel consumption, while if you have it on the tow bar it’s below 5%.’
That could make quite a difference to your wallet if you’re driving across Europe, and the figure will increase the faster you go, but at least you should be confident that the bike will stay in place no matter how aggressively you put your foot to the floor.
‘We recommend that you follow the national speed guidelines or a maximum of 130kmh [80mph],’ says Norling. ‘But we also know that one of our biggest markets is Germany, and they don't stop at 130kmh. It’s not as if you drive at 135kmh the rack will fall off.’
And finally, does it make a difference if you mount the bikes frontwards or rearwards on the roof?
Norling says, ‘If you have four bikes on top of your car it’s so much easier if you mount them front and back next to each other so that the handlebars don’t rattle together. For me, I usually only have one bike and I go with rearwards because it reduces the number of bugs that squash on the handlebars and saddle. It’s a small thing, but I’d rather have the flies on the underside of my saddle than where I’m going to sit.’