After getting fed up of cramming two bikes into a boot I've decided I want a roof carrier.

I'll be fitting it to my Volvo 850.

So, first off – recommendations? The Thule ones seem to be most popular, but a little pricey? I have read that the Halfords advanced ones are made by Thule, and are pretty decent?

Will these carriers fir with any cross bars, or do they have to be manufacturer specific (i.e. Thule carrier with Thule bars)?

I mean, Thule aero bars look 'better' than normal bars, but lets face it, they still look shite, and are only ever going to be fitted (in my case) when the carrier is being used, so I'm not that worried if I can get good fitting bars that look a little clunky, for less 🙂

Any advice appreciated 🙂

There are lots on roofbox.co.uk

i have the atera aero ones which i have used for 4 years and have been great!

A quick note on bike carriers, if you have a wierd shaped frame with lots of travel you may struggle to get your bike on them , most bikes with a proper downtube are ok! thule now do one for bolt through forks and i need to get one of those for my mount vision

just think what value of bike are you carrying – buy the best you can

Volvo do their own brand bars that are made by Thule

the "normal" bars will accept any of the carriers.

So in essence work out what you want, ie number of racks etc and price up the various makes etc and see what's in budget and go from there.

oh and i have thule carriers and atera carriers on atera bars so seems pretty unilversal.

Roofbox .co.uk were alot cheaper than hellfords and delivery was pretty much next day!

or consider a tow bar and get a Thule or similar tow bar mounted carrier as they're easier to fit regularly and pack down smaller for storage

roofbox or skidrive

Thule 591's are the best, but quite pricey.

Aerobars – I have them and used to have square bars. They do live on the car full time with the bike racks. A lot less wind noise than the square ones, but more of a fiddle and IMO not really worth the extra dosh

Cheers for that – both of my bikes have conventional downtubes so hopefully fitting should be OK.

I had considered getting genuine Volvo bars, but was a little confused again as you often see cars with roof rails, then cross bars, then the carriers.

Seems a little excessive if you could just use cross bars and the carriers, but got me wondering if there is a set distance that the bars need to mount onto the carriers, so you need the rails to allow freedom of movement on the bars – does that make sense, lol!!??

Look at Skidrive.co.uk I found them to be cheapest by far for the Thule stuff. I ordered some 2 weeks ago at lunchtime and they arrive the next day. I got aerobars, fixing kit, free locks and one Thule 591 carrier. Came to about £190 (probably just under £250 with 2 bike carriers – might be cheaper for an 850 if you already have roofbars as you shouldn't need the 'feet' bit). Seem like good quality – shafts mpg though…

or consider a tow bar and get a Thule or similar tow bar mounted carrier as they're easier to fit regularly and pack down smaller for storage

That would work too. Probably not much more if you can get a good price on a tow bar. I had a Thule 9503 which was decent (just over £100).

with roof rails you can play with the seperation of the cross bars if you want – the back mount on the 591 carrier slides to allow this. 591's fit most bikes, certainly conventional downtubes, also weirder shapes like Marin's and Oranges etc

right I assume your 850 has roof rails???

You then need a fixing kit specific to the 850, a footpack, the bars, the bike racks.

have a look here for 850 with rails

http://www.roofracks.co.uk/fitments/volvo_850_rails_93_96.htm

or without

http://www.roofracks.co.uk/fitments/volvo_850_estate_93_96.htm

I have roof rails, roof rack and bike racks ontop of my Mondeo est. I've got the Halfords Advanced ones, same as the Thules, £75 last year for 2 racks and about 50 for the roof rack, was fairly crapping it the first few times I drove with a couple of grand worth of bikes up there. But there good for 80mph on the motorway.

Cheers again – answers my questions!!

I don't have any rails on my 850, I had considered buying them in case they came in handy, but then as I'd still need cross bars I wondered what the point was!! Probably many, but as far as bike carriers goes it seems that I'll just need the cross bars – simples 🙂

Mpg is already pretty poor being a T5 (I'm averaging around 25mpg!), but it's the biggest wagon on the drive, so makes sense to be the bike carrying, general support vehicle!!
I too never liked the look of these on top, but I don't really want to fit a tow bar, and I tried a generic clip on rear carrier and it didn't fit well. Can you still drive 'spiritedly' with a roof carrier on, or is it wise to be considerate?

Can you still drive 'spiritedly' with a roof carrier on, or is it wise to be considerate?

I know some who's bike nearly made an appearance through the rear door window with a bit of over enthusiastic parking…
I was in a bit of rush on Saturday (doing 80-85mph with the bike on the roof) – a V70 with 4 bikes on the roof flew past me in the outside lane so he was obviously very confident about the bike holding capability of his rack.

I think you'll just need the cross bars, but if you have to get the rubber feet fixing then fitting them is more of a pain. If you can get the feet that sit into the slots for the normal roof bars (if that makes sense) it'll be much quicker to take them off/put them on again. Probably more secure too. Unfortunately mine have to clamp between the door and the roof.

Can you still drive 'spiritedly' with a roof carrier on

with bikes atop I aim to keep below 75, but I have seen it creep to 80/85. would not like to have the 'experience'