Looking to get a couple of bike racks for the car. Which would you suggest? the 561 which clamps on to the front forks (so front wheel comes off) or the 591 which looks like it might not work with all frame designs.

Also the 561 says it should not be used with carbon drop outs. I don’t have these now and doubt I ever will…do many road bikes now?

And the 591 says it should not be used on carbon frames…but is that really true?

My bikes are: Ibis mojo, singular swift and Pearson Carbon Audax.

thoughts?

591’s here.
Had all sorts of bikes up there with no issues.

591 here too, been using it with carbon frames for years and years and no issues.

If all your bikes run the same diameter bolt hrough front axle and you can be bothered taking front wheels off then go for a 561 as they’re held a bit more solidly to the rack and a lot less bulky if you’re planning on leaving them on the roof at all times. Saying that I’ve never seen a bike come off a 591 they just wobble around a bit more.

If you have bikes with different front axles or frequently take mates bike with mixed axles then go for a 591 as swapping between qr/15mm/20mm is a bit of a faff.

Much prefer the 561 but as others have said the 591 also works fine. Bikes do look wobbly on them though! I have 2, one set up for QRs on my road bikes, the other 15mm for my mtb and cross bike.

561 and use them on road bikes, with carbon forks (not sure if the dropouts are carbon?)

They’re by far the most secure (and aero) way of transporting bikes.

Being a bit special needs, I actually have both and they’re both good – I’ve yet to find a frame that doesn’t fit the 591 from my Son’s 20″ wheeled bike to my Cove, my Wife’s HT and my mates road bike, obviously not having to stow the front wheel helps, although I’ve got a wheel bag to keep the boot clean(ish), the only downside is that a friend used one and the frame managed to fall out of the clamp, we had 3 bikes on the roof at the time and we were all working together loading up and I suspect it wasn’t put in properly – anyway the bike fell, made a dent in the roof and scared the crap out of us – but the wheel straps are good enough that it won’t fall off completely.

The 561 is almost totally secure, especially with a 20mm / 15mm fork (bear in mind that they come suitable for 20mm or QR, if you’ve got 15mm you’ll need an over-priced adapter) but of course you’ve got to stow the front wheel – it’s not usually a problem, but if you’ve got 3 in a car and say driving to the Alps, 3 wheels take a lot of room – also the 20mm doesn’t fit Rockshox 20mm forks with maxles they’re a couple of mm too wide (they fit Fox and Marz 20mm forks perfectly) so you’ll need to get the metal file / Dremel out to trip them a tiny bit – doing so doesn’t effect the way they fit other forks.

Typically if we’re going on a long journey with 2 bikes I fit my wife’s HT onto the 591 but in such a way that the open side is facing into the car and not out, then fit my bike on the other side with the 561 – so if my wife bike does fall out, it just falls onto my bike – it’s never, ever happened, but that one time on my cars car 5 years ago put me off. As for carbon frames, there’s quite a bit of clamping force with the 591, I perhaps wouldn’t fit a light road bike into one, but I suspect a mtb would be okay – bit of a risk though.