I have some roof bars, I want to buy a cycle carrier to mount to them.

Now sometimes I might want to carry our tandem as well as carrying normal bikes.

has anyone had an experience of carrying tandems on the roof on carriers that will carry normal bikes and if so, which ones?

Ta.

I can’t imagine any normal roof carrier will work. Have you seen the pendle tandem ones? http://www.pendle-bike.co.uk/shopping/tandems.php

You could possibly get a tandem rack adapted with an additional wheel tray to carry normal bikes.

I can’t help, other than saying I like my Pendle tandem carrier. I’m not sure if it would take a normal bike, and it’s a rather long thing to leave on the roof when it’s not in use.

You could leave behind one of the uprights and lash a wheel to the long bar, I suppose.

It’s worth asking on the tandem group in facebook. I usually put ours in the car I have to take the wheels off, and seatposts out – if it’s in MTB guise with no mudguards then it fits with just rear seats down, but if I have it setup for road touring with mudguards I need to drop the front passenger seat as well, and Mrs NBT sits behind me. Have been considering a roof rack but since I have no transverse bars I haven;t yet invested. Worth asking on the tandem club group in facebook, I saw one for sale on there a short while ago

I have a tow bar carrier and had some extra long arms fabbed up locally. I carry the tandem across the back of the car. It sticks out about 18″ each side so you have to be careful overtaking etc.

I wanted something a bit safer and more thief proof so bought an estate car.

I thought sticking out sideways (beyond the mirrors) was illegal? Not that I haven’t done it myself on occasion. I used to use a pendle rack on a nissan micra – not much chance of getting a tandem inside that! A van is the best tandem accesory though.

OK then.

As an addendum to my original question, are there any roof mounted tandem carriers, THAT AREN’T 200 FREAKING POUNDS!!!?

Lay it down on it’s side on the roof bars and secure with some ratchet straps?

That’s a good suggestion, ta.

Or just spotted this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Avenir-Tandem-Bike-Carrier-Car-Bike-Rack-Roof-Fitting-/111656449506?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item19ff3e35e2

If you can slide that rear wheel tray forwards is should work for a normal bike too.

thecaptain – Member
I thought sticking out sideways (beyond the mirrors) was illegal?

Well it can’t be can it if you can tow a caravan that’s wider than your mirrors?

Caravan people normally fit mirror extensions.

Having a trailer wider than your car is one thing but I think having a bike strapped to the back that is wider is risking it getting damaged or clipping something.

As andy says, you fit mirror extensions when towing – but that’s to give you visibility. I’m not sure I’d like to use a transverse tandem carrier like that, personally.

Visibility is the main problem with having something wider. But this highlights another problem that mirror extensions can pre-warn you about:

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wh_bifwDoQ[/video]

OK well fair enough but I’ve driven mine all over the shop and not been stopped by the rozzers or clipped either end of it (yet…). It helps if you have a largish car though it has been on the back of a couple of Focii we had. It did stick out a bit on them 😀 I’ve even had it on the cross Channel ferries with zero aggro. They put us down with prostitute murderers though 🙂

from one of the tandem groups on facebook

That’s the one, just like that without the Landy. The Landy must be a bit narrow, the overhang looks the same as a Focus. When it was on my car it was about half a wheel (14″).

I’ve got it, have someone sit on the Tandem and tow it. You’ll get some awesome Strava times. 😉

Just had a quick google and regs seem to state either 2.55m as max vehicle width or 2.3 or 2.55m as a max trailer width depending on the weight of the vehicle.

A tamdem must be pretty close to 2.5m if not over.

Besides, that land rover looks stupid and dangerous IMO.

edit: definitely seems to be 2.55m now for trailers in line with good vehicles I assume the same width limit applies to cars?

howabout using a fork mount on a rear carrier, I did this to carry a v long cargo bike

so used a wheel support rack which carried the rear and on the other side I bolted a fork mount onto the wheel support which then shortened the load by about 12″ and removed most of the overhang

Yeah, I checked the regs before I started using mine. No mention of any differential between trailer and towing vehicle just max width. My tandems are less than 2.5m end to end.

Stupid and dangerous? Don’t do it then. Sorted.

<edit> Using a fork mount you’d reduce the overhang to about 8″ either side.

Lay it down on it’s side on the roof bars and secure with some ratchet straps

This is what I used to do with mine. With the standard roof bars I had to take the pedals off the side that was against the roof. I then added some strips of wood to the roof bars to increase the distance between tandem and roof so that I didn’t need to take the pedals off.

I also had a bar between the handlebars and frame to keep the front wheel rigid.

I wouldn’t. First thing that comes to mind is accidents like the one James Cracknell had.

It might seem like I am nit-picking but apart from common sense telling me that’s silly the the lighting on that set up is also illegal. The load projects more than 400mm out from the outermost position light so a much wider trailer board is needed and I suspect it should also have a fog light and reflectors fitted (but not triangular reflectors as they are for trailers).

That land rover is say 70.5″ wide (google) and we have at least a wheel and half over hang in total which gives 2.78m width. Probably a bit less due to perspective but still over the limit.

A ford focus is a bit wider but 14″ puts you pretty much bang on the limit, the 18″ you mentioned earlier puts you well over.

edit: fork mount makes more sense but still tight. I think someone mentioned earlier about taking both wheels off (use a top tube type mount) which seems to be the most sensible for rear mounting to me and keeps your wheels safe from anyone clipping them.

I’ve got one of these for the tandem. I also use it for a solo bike by dropping the rear wheel into the keel tube cradle, although it’s not designed for that.
yakima sidewinder
I had to import mine from the states as you don’t seem to be able to get them in Europe. Much easier than trying to lift a tandem onto the roof in one go. This company are UK dealer but don’t list the sidewinder……….roofbox company.

Mine…………..

I use a bit of a DIY solution. Old school Thule rack and then when I need to put the tandem on I have a block of wood that I’ve routed so that it exactly fits in the channel in the Thule rack and then also the frame of the tandem fits on the top. The wood gets bolted to the back of the rack and the frame gets a strap to tie it to the block. Rear wheel needs to be removed and I also strap the frame to either side of the roof bars to make it more stable.

Not even slightly pretty but I’ve been using it for years now. It’s a bit like the Yakima rack about but with a block of wood where the curved rising part of the Yakima is at the back

In addition to the front you could always use a fork mount for the rear (use a 15mm mount with a rear through axle adaptor

135mm 9&10mm mounts are available in the U.S. And Australia

I used to strap a tandem to the roof bars on a Ford ka – no bother… dunno why you’d need more than that to be honest

My Thule T-bar will take an ordinary bike. It’s a pain to take the front wheel off but do-able. Other roof mounts would clamp the back wheel – Yakima I think. I like the rear mount option because lifting my tandems onto a roof was always hard work. Not to mention then clamping by the front fork!

The issue with mounting sideways is the overhang. More than 305mm either side requires:

* Two clear working days notice to Police
* Marker boards front and rear
* Additional lights required during hours of darkness or poor visibility.

http://assets.highways.gov.uk/specialist-information/abnormal-loads-industry-guidelines/A_brief_guide_to_overhanging_loads.pdf

Mine Sticks out the same as when loaded with 2 27 inch comfort bikes.

A section of used aluminum ladder with a bike rack attached would work just as well on a roof rack. Cheaper than overpriced Thule. It’s just metal bars!!!

PMSL. I’ll bear that in mind next time we go for a bike ride… 😀 you can all stop worrying, I’ve bought an estate and the tandem travel club class now. Just think of all the jail time I’ve managed to swerve 😀

I used a Thule 591, take the front wheel out and place the bottom of the frame on the carrier and the grip around the top tube or seattube

3 different ways I can (and have) carried a tandem with my car and rack setup:
1 – inside the car with both wheels and rear seatpost off (currently a Mondeo estate, previously a 406 estate – can fit the tandem in with just 1/3 of the rear seat folded)
2 – on a rear rack, I have one with arms which the top tube hangs from – after much deliberation I decided on that rather than the wheel tray ones most people recommend because I knew I wanted to carry a tandem on it. With the rear wheel removed and front wheel turned sideways I think it fits inside the width of the mirrors (Mondeos are wide). No way I would drive with the amount of overhang shown in the pics above.
3 – on the roof on a homemade rack. I already had a rack like this for carrying kayaks around. Drilled a 9mm horizontal hole in it near one end and fitted a front wheel axle with spacers to give the right 100mm spacing. Fork bolts to that, rear wheel strapped to the other end of the bar – no need for a channel, if you strap the wheel down well enough there is plenty of friction between the tyre and the bar. Of course most people don’t have a rack like that, but a bit of square section alu tube, some U bolts and an axle should only be ~£30.