My wife & I do alot of camping and I usually take a bike with us on our trips. We now have a wee baby boy and rather than buying a new car we have decided to go down the roof bar/box and single bike roof carrier road as our car is big enough for everyday use (5 door ford focus) and the extra luggage space is only for camping trips. I have purchased roof bars from Halfords at the weekend and am thinking the Thule 532 single bike carrier but unsure as to which box to go for? possibly the Thule Karrite 360 or similar size?

Has anyone went down this route and if so which combo do you use? I dont really want to spend any more that £200 for box & carrier if possible.

Thanks in advance. 🙂

We have Ford aero bars, Thule bike rack and a halfords 320/360 ltr box, enough for a fortnights camping, except for the fridge on the back seat for 3 of us. Focus as well.

I’ve been rocking a Thule ski type roof box for the last 7 years or so with a pair of Thule bike carriers, one either side.
This set up means you can’t get into the roofbox without taking the bikes off first but that’s no big deal as how often do you need access to the box during the journey?
I’ve got an Ocean 500 box (obsolete now I think) and use a pair of 591 bike carriers.
The 532 carrier is plenty good enough but everyone I know who has one says they wish they’d bought the fancier ones in the first place.
It won’t be long before you’ll need a rack for the boy too so unless you want to buy a narrower box in three years time, I’d recommend a long thin one now. Fnarr fnarr etc
Some places do deals for buying multiple items.
I’ve just bought a new set of roof bars for my new motor from roofracks.co.uk. I’d recommended them over Halfords any day. Halfords should be used in emergencies only in my view with the prices they charge.

I use a v long 600mm wide (i think) kamei box with thule freeride carriers- one on each side. I forget the model number, but the box was the longest available at that width at the time and overhangs the windscreen by quite a way.

I’ve used this set-up for years now. All perfectly fine, if a bit battered looking now. All from roofbox.co.uk. Give them a call as they are pretty helpful.

Thanks for the responses. I will definatley have a look at roofracks.co.uk, sounds like they will be able to sort me out. I’ll give them a call. I usually steer clear of Halfords however we managed to get the complete roofbar set & fittings for £50 all in which I thought was a good price. I agree that we may well need an additional carrier for the lad’s bike when he gets on two wheels and the wife sometimes takes her bike when we go on trips but I’ve been informed that we may have child number 2 on the way by then so might need to upgrade the vehicle size then anyhow to meet our lifestyle!! :-/ I did look at the halfords 320/360 litre boxes aswell as the Thule brand. Ok thanks very much for the replies, Its given me food for thought with a few options! 🙂 🙂