Hi

I need to get some kind of bike rack for my 3 series company car.

I can’t get a tow hitch fitted as the lease requires that I get a genuine BMW tow bar fitted and at £1100 fitted, it’s a bit expensive.

I’ve priced up Thule racks (I need to carry 3 bikes) and thats quite and expensive option for using Thule.

BMW do own brand bikes racks and roof rails. I’ve been for a look see at the BMW dealers and they look sturdy, well made and cheaper than the Thule stuff.

Anybody got experience of them?

Cheers

Ken

Check for Thule stuff on the classifieds and Ebay – Got two proride 591s and bars etc for my A4 for £95 a little while back

Go with thule every time over car manufacturers own…they usually look good but dont have the substance of thule.
I second th 591s…excellent bike holder…try skidrive.co.uk….

I kept my eyes open for some bars and racks – got the bars off a guy who drove a Honda Accord – remember him being really confused when he turned up to drop his bars off – he said "I was looking for an Accord" – little did he know that by advertising the bars as Honda accord bars (made by Thule) he’d kept his bids to a minimum meaning I coulod enjoy a cheap set of bars and get the footpack from somewhere else saving me a forture!!

Just felt I’d share!

I have a set of BMW bars on my one series. Quality of the rack is excellent, and they are very quick and easy to fit. I have had them for about 2.5 years, and on average they get fitted once or twice a month, and no problems so far… I wouldn’t hesitate to buy them again. It is worth asking the parts man at your local dealers if they have any promotions coming up, as every so often they have a deal on ‘touring’ parts – I think I got 20% off mine.

I have Atera bike racks on mine, so no idea of the BMW ones.

A mate had genuine BMW bike roof rack for his 7 series saloon. It was a cracking thing which doubled as bike stand, you sort of clamped the bike into it like a bike stand where you could work on it, then you swung the bike up into position on the car. A very nifty piece of kit, better than the thule bars I would say.

Thule 591’s and aero bars, very quick to fit and take off again, good sturdy bits of kit and spares are readily available. Definately do the ebay thing- look up the parts you require and find out the other vehicles they fit, quite often a set of bars will with a new fitting kit fit another make.
I did a similar thing and picked up both my carriers and aero bars through ebay, neither were advertised for my 3 series, but fitted according to thule listing. They’re spot on!

My BMW rack is excellent for most things, but the clamp system isn’t brilliant for odd shaped tubing like my Mojo.

i got a set of Thule roof bars for my 3 series E46 from ebay for £30 incl postage. They’re very good but had to wait a bit to find the right ones. The bike racks I got were halfords Advanced, £70 for two.