I am in the market for a second hand roofbox – to go onto a Mazda estate. I want to be able to fit two bikes along side it. I have the aerodynamic Thule roof bars. I was looking at a second hand Thule Atlantis 200 as it seems the right size and shape but these are very hard to come by it seems.

I have instead been offered a Mercedes branded roofbox – not seen it yet. The owner tells me they are Thule rebranded. I am not a brand snob but I hate buying cheap and regretting it and I want something that will fit with the roof bars I have. Thoughts?

My hunch in Halfords last summer was that it looked like all the boxes were from one company regardless of brand (Halfords, Thule or Exodus)

Feature varied with brand

At the risk pf stating the obvious you need to:

* look at an Actual Thule one

* Try and fit the one you have been offered

Oh and look carefully for cracks around the attachment point. That was why I was in Halfords

Last year for escapism I took the road bike with me on our family holiday. I now have two bike racks which are used for MTB and see no reason why my THULE soft luggage bag wont fit between as its just a mirror image, and being soft luggage less likely to be an issue.

I might be wrong though and have had a couple of glasses of wine tonight

Thule make roofbars and boxes for most manufacturers including Mercedes.

A few years ago they purchased karrite so they would have a cheaper brand to recycle their old molds with a slightly simpler spec (one sided opening instead of 2 that sort of thing). Halfords sell them under the Exodus brand.