Coming back from the Wyre today. Missus says she wants to stop off at the tesco express for some GOT popcorn. ??
I’m my usual compliant self and head for it. At the last minute she says. Oh! Just go to the main tesco. It should still be open.
Dutifully and blindly, I make a B line for it and head straight down the ramp to the parking lot.
Needless to say, I quickly stopped as my canondale ripped down the low height swinging board thingy.
What made it worse is that it wrecked the front wheel and snapped off my seat pin.
I’m feeling pretty dumb about the whole thing and after providing my details to the store manager, I slinked off to mope and ponder the financial consequences. No doubt they will be huge and enduring.

Damn – that’s bad. I would easily do the same thing which is why I wouldn’t trust myself with a bike up top.

Sounds like you might have got away with it, to an extent, if the frame is OK? Or are you concerned that Tesco man’s swinging board is going to dent your insurance premium?

I’ve just bought a roof rack and I’m terrified of doing this…

Wasn’t there someone who used a post-it note on the steering wheel saying ‘BIKE ON ROOF’ every time they used the roof rack?

I had to fix a couple of bikes that had been driven through a low flying pheasant. Dried on pheasant goop is very very sticky.
I’ve written off a couple more that met carparks, so no, you’re not alone.

I blame Muslims.

Yep. Very worried about my insurance premium.
And I see what you’re doing there grum. 🙂

Haven’t managed to do that…… yet. Did once have a mates bike fall off my boot mounted carrier, 2 new wheels and a brake lever and all was well!

Does sir need an extra large bin bag for the lady?

Oh dear sorry to hear that, way to easy a mistake to make. I know of someone who did this in his own drive way, “shifting” the cars round 🙁

Ouch….

A few years back I went Evans in Gatwick to “take a look”. The mrs and kids decided they all wanted to come too.
While I was there I was taken by a trek remedy 9, took it for a little spin and decided I had to have it and bought the bike. I then realised that it wouldn’t fit in the car as the family had come with me and it’s a good 1.5 hours round trip at that time of the day, so I bought a Thule roof mounted bike rack too.
Got out to the car park fitted the bike rack and loaded up the bike. Drove off just thinking I cannot wait to get out on the new bike, when I noticed a couple of the staff waving as a car behind tooted me. I pulled up thinking I must have forgotten something, when I got out I heard them shouting “watch out for the barrier!” 😳
I was very embarrassed, but far more grateful.

Yep, I’ve done it. Hit a fixed hight barrier pulling into a forest car park that I hadn’t been to before. It peeled the roof rack off the top of my new car, but did surprisingly little damage to my bike, other than trashing the forks and a shifter. Theorist it was seeing it all happen in slow motion in the rear view mirror. Easily done. Haven’t done it since.

OK when there are people in the car you’ve no choice but I often see cyclists in EMPTY cars with bikes displayed like trophies on the roof where they can be seen by thieves, stolen, hit by barriers and soaked in salty water. Not to mention the increase in fuel consumption. Mad. We regularly get 3 bikes plus 3 people safely inside our Passat estate and we’ve even had 4+4 on occasions.

I’ve done this as well. DeKerf mountainbike. Bike was fine but Thule roof rack totalled. Sound.

I’ve done that with me mate’s bike on the roof. The barrier was one that hangs from posts on two chains. We heard the bang thought “Oh no” and got out of the car. We had hit the barrier, it swung up, cleared the bike and came down the other side. No damage to anything.

Was a pretty effective warning, not done it since.

A friend of mine owns a bike shop, its located in the entrance to our towns main car park with a height restriction barrier.

The amount of customers he gets coming in crying and gutted after bike meets barrier is worrying.

One of these helps.
http://singletrackworld.com/reviews/roofscope-car-mirror/

This always makes me smile;

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXIHps_fa4w[/video]

I had to fix a couple of bikes that had been driven through a low flying pheasant. Dried on pheasant goop is very very sticky.

Ive hit a pheasant whilst out on my R1. Covered me and the front of the bike. Not pleasant (see what I did there).

I usually see several mpvs on the motorway, massive great things with a roof mounted bike rack and just one tiny,miniature child’s bike up there…
Folks got to accessorize. 😀

You need something like this to hang off the rear view mirror:

Did something similar. Was with canoes tho rather than bikes.

We have a courtyard sort of driveway with the garage opposite the house. Have a couple of washing lines strung between the two. Started reversing out. Line was left hanging down and heard a bang.
Thought “bugger, just pulled the washing line out the wall.” Got out and it had ripped one roof bar completely off the car and bent the other one at the attachment points.

TLDR… Washing lines are actually quite strong. Don’t drive at them.

Personally I’d be far more worried about the dog driving from the back seat.

On a family holiday a few years ago a mate of my brother in laws drove his year old Audi A4 into a low bridge with 4 bikes on top, result – 4 dead bikes and one written off car!

Nearly done this but without the bike, my faux pas was with our old camper van with the plastic pop top. We left the campsite, had a bite to eat came back to site quite late not realising they had pulled across a barrier to stop people nicking caravans… The noise of barrier hitting plastic roof and ripping off the skylight was pretty horrible and made a bit of a mess…. my how we laughed.

Been there twice. Once I was driving, second my wife, makes an awful gut wrenching noise. Second time, bike was fine, but cost 950 to fix the gauges in the roof of the car. No more roof rack for me now! We can’t be trusted. Bike now goes in the car.

Tesco Chester a woman tesco driver drove one of their delivery vans up the ramp and destroyed the whole overhanging roof of the car park.

Male Asda delivery van driver reversed under our low arch smashed the back of his van then blamed us,despite signs, large steel scalping bar and hi viz tape on bar.

Get a mirror from halfords and fix to dash board with blue tack pointing towards roof, youll know whats happening oop there then.

Somewhere online I saw a hinged, spring loaded sign that sticks on the bonnet with magnets. As you drive along, the wind blows it flat, but as you slow down, it pops up and warns you about ‘toys on top’. looked very handy.
I always buy a car that will get at least 2 people and 2 bikes in. My car is a motorised bike storage shed.

Motorised bike storage shed pretty much describes my car too. Except sometimes it’s filled with other stuff and the bikes don’t fit in (mainly camping stuff) so we pondered roof or tow bar. I ended up going for the tow bar option for precisely this reason. If there’s room they’ll still go inside, but it’s nice to have another option if the car’s full or they’re stupidly muddy.

My speciality is reversing over my own front wheels.
Thinking of getting a string and running it down the inside of my coat sleeves just like me mittens

Ah. The front wheel thing. Once drove over mine then reversed back to see what it was. Testament to the magic that is wheels – 2 new spokes and a new disc and I’m still riding it.

First time I used my roof bar mount I was paranoid of this very thing so stuck tape on steering wheel and passenger side of dash with “bike on roof” written on it done it ever since so far so good

That’s jinxed it!!! 😀

Done it on a barrier over bridge in own village 😳
Bike fine but roof bars pulled backwards along car so it looked like someone had tried to open the roof with a giant can opener…..and it trashed the boot…..and the rear lights……and the back window. I may have said a rude word.
4 weeks in body shop.