After my newly bought roof bars decided to part company with the roof of my car on the M54 on Saturday with 2 bikes on, I'm just seeing if anyone else has had this happen to them.
The rails on the car are the closed type and I get a feeling the clamps were just not up to the job.
They were fitted exactly to the instructions and torqued to the specified 6nm!!
I can't help but must have been a scarey moment for the cars behind!
Luckily 2 mates behind managed to slow some traffic, if it had been 10 minutes earlier we would have been on the M6 at Wednesbury!!
I'm always paranoid when I fit my roof rack..
Hope your bikes are ok! How did you retrieve themmand reattach?
I've got the clamp version that reaches around the door frame rather than your system. It never feels right..
I always add another quarter to half turn once its torqued correctly.
Next car will have fixed system points or a tow bar. CBA with looking out the window every minute to make sure they are still there..
Never, ever happened in 30yrs of using roof bars. Was this the built in torque wrench or your own? In any case I would contact the manufacturer to work out what happened because even if it was user error when fittting (and I'm not saying it is) it is something that shouldn't happen.
I usually strap my bikes down in addition to the bike holders but that doesn't help in this case. Think I'll pay more attention to this clamps in the future
What make? I had one of the captive nuts that pulls the clamp shut fail on a pair of atera signos earlier this year. Thankfully they didn't escape & I noticed the failure when I was removing them. Roofbox replaced them next day.
I've seen the aftermath of someone driving into a low bridge with his Thule system and a seven sola on the roof.
Lowered the roof on his Audi 2 inches and snapped his forks /bent his ti king headset cup andThomson masterpiece
Roof rack and frame(sent back to seven for inspection ) were fine
Car was a write off.
Doesn't really matter if the correct torque is applied, if footpack isn't seated properly, I'm willing to bet that they weren't.
The rails on the car are the closed type and I get a feeling the clamps were just not up to the job.
Unlikely to be as simple as that as there's no way all 4 clamping points decided to fail at the same time
Doesn’t really matter if the correct torque is applied, if footpack isn’t seated properly, I’m willing to bet that they weren’t.
Seems more likely
“Unlikely to be as simple as that as there’s no way all 4 clamping points decided to fail at the same time”
They probably didn’t - one failing will have caused another to fail and so on, in very quick succession.
Yep, the Thule feet (less than a year old) failed on the Thule roof bars. Bike, still attached to Thule bike carrier, parted company and bounced along a busy dual carriageway on a Sunday morning.
Beleive me it was triple checked before we left by my mates as it was their bikes on the top, mine was in the car! They all seemed pretty secure when we set off and it happened around 25 minutes into the journey.
My mate behind said it tilted to one side slightly then ripped clean off which suggests one failed causing a shift which ripped the whole lot off.
One of the frames appears to be written off where it's twisted on impact and it's flexed the carbon. I'd add a photo but ain't that clued up on here! Link below:
https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/16201060/
Seems more likely
Not if the OP was using a rack that clamps onto the roof rails rather than one that bolts to the roof via a footpack.
One of the frames appears to be written off where it’s twisted on impact and it’s flexed the carbon.
I would have thought that unless the bike actually hit the rode and suffered some impact damage (like crashing it and a frame tube actually hitting a rock/treestump) it would be fine, the loads involved in a 30lb bike hitting the motorway at 70mph are going to be considerably less than the loads of a >200lb rider+bike on the trail at 30mph.
Never happened to me in many miles of use. 6nm seems very light. I'd go way tighter than that.
I have the sealed rails on my car and it's easy to torque them up without them being seated correctly if you aren't used to attaching them. I put mine on and off as I use them and so have plenty of practice, but I can see how if they are only used intermittently that you might not get it right - the clamps can lean if you aren't careful.
Interestingly the foot pack for the sealed rails on my previous car (BMW 3 Series Touring) were easier to seat than on my current one (Audi A6 Avant). I think the Audi rails are slightly taller.
Trying not to be a condescending arse! but tbh, it's entirely possible that the clamps weren't fitted properly, and the force of all that air resistance at 70mph tends to expose that sort of thing. It's far more likely than an actual material failure, but you'll never know really.
What's the limitations of the bars? there must be a weight limit?.
Nope, I’ve fitted roof bars to every vehicle I’ve ever had (except the roadster)
I have had a couple of issues mind, on a Merc they were screwed into the roof by a bolt, but the bolt supplied wasn’t long enough ... only went in 1/2 a turn.. Merc branded racks from the dealer, so took the whole lot back and they fitted the racks for me with new bolts.. had that car for 3urs no issues.
Thats the only issue I’ve ever encountered.
I would say the feet and rubber bump pad must be seated properly on the roof/rails before you start tightening any thing up.. then tighten in sequence, then finishing the tightening in opposing sides making sure it’s all square and such.
I do use vasaline (small amount) on the rubber feet just to make sure they seat properly..
Gald to hear you’re ok, bikes are a right off yeah?
Seen an 'expedition quality' roof rack come of a Land Rover in front of me complete with roof tent.
The alloy rack legs had all sheared so the rack sliced open the Defender roof as it bounced and slid off the back of the vehicle. We had only done 10km of corrugations while crossing the Sahara.
Don't you love seeing a thread like this the day after you buy roof bars and a cycle carrier....
Wow, my worst nightmare right there! A few things to add from my own experience (obviously, all in hindsight):
To add to other voices here it's very, very easy to tighten up a roof rack when it's not actually properly fitted and it can be very hard to actually tell that it's not right. I'm insanely careful about fitting them, mostly because of the thought of the photos in this this thread, but even then when you look round you realise that it's not clamped correctly and would easily work loose if not fixed.
On mine, the correct, rated torque (Thule) felt about right, so they've been fastened up to that. Once fastened, the whole lot was shaken hard (and I mean, two people standing on the sills, hanging from the rack trying to rip it off hard!) and then checked and re-torqued to be sure all was well.
I don't remove mine from the car. Once on, it stays on. This is partly because of the faff of doing so, mostly because it's used several times a week for shifting bikes to and from races but also because I know that if I keep taking it on and off, eventually I'll screw it up.
Forgive me for saying this, but looking at the photos it does appear that OP's rack wasn't a Thule one, and looking at the bike carriers, looks distinctly like a "cheap and cheerful" rack. Obviously, not everyone has pots of money to buy the very best kit, but I've seen other people use cheap bike carriers and they never seem as secure as the Thule ones. Same goes for the roof mounting hardware.
Sorry to hear about the bike damage, but noone was hurt and I suppose this is the most important thing.
It was fitted and torqued up to the instructions and seemed to be physically tight with the standard grab it and shake it test. I have already questioned the supplier as to whether they are intended to have some sort of specialist fitting to which they replied no.
Not entirely sure how you would be able to check them as you are going down the motorway though.
I just think that the clamping system was not suitable for my roof rails, maybe they neede a different type of clamp as the outside edge only has 3mm ish to clamp to. Yes they were the recommended bars for the vehicle by the seller.
The black rack was supplied with the roof bars by the supplier and are TUV rated.
There was no problem with the bike racks, they probably helped in keeping the bikes together!!
Tricky q is if the damaged bike didn't belong to the OP does he compensate the owner?
(or maybe not tricky - I would take responsibility, my car, my rack)
Never happened to me in many miles of use. 6nm seems very light. I’d go way tighter than that.
6Nm was the recommended torque for my old Seat OEM roof bars & is the same for my new Atera Signo RT bars
I think that the manual for hte Signo RT bars also recommends that you re-check the torque after doing a certain distance; after 50km and then every 500km thereafter, is what i read into their rather too hieroglyphic instruction manual.
in the same spirit...
Yes, years ago. Longboard not bike though. They can create a fair amount of lift but there's no way it should have failed as it did. Not gong especially quickly at the time, inside lane and just heard a massive crack/thud combination followed by the horrific sight of my beloved mctavish somersaulting down the m4. Either the plastic socket through which the bolt fed had broken or the bolt had sheared and caused the socket to smash - impossible to tell after the event. My fault for buying the cheapest ones I could find on eBay. Thule every time since then - no issues.
in the same spirit…
We've all had tyres that are hard to get off the rim. Good to see some people are thinking outside of the box when it comes to solving this problem...
Op have you been successfully using these roof bars on this car for ages before this failure, or are these new bars that you haven't used before?
Ive used roof bars for years now to transport bikes, on all sorts of cars, and never had an issue with the bars coming off the roof, I've used the clamp type and the bolt on type.
I have had an issue where a bike wasn't correctly clamped into the bike rack, which resulted in the bike coming out of the main clamp,but still being attached by the wheel straps, no damage done,but a close call.
It was a few years ago now but I had an experience where the clamps on my (brand new) roof bars snapped. The bit of the clamp attached to the gutter was still there.....the rest, where it was attached to the bars had failed.
Anyway, my windsurfer, masts, sail bag etc etc went floating down the A14 and straight under the wheels of an artic.
Peugeot dealer more or less said it was tough luck and go take a hike. (They had sold me the bars as robust enough to take windsurfing equipment so it wasn't as if I was using them outwith their design parameters. Also, I was only going at 55mph at the time)
Luckily no one was hurt. It gave me nightmares for ages afterwards.
Brand new bars, I had been driving around with just the bike racks on for 3 days before with no problems.
[I]the loads involved in a 30lb bike hitting the motorway at 70mph are going to be considerably less than the loads of a >200lb rider+bike on the trail at 30mph.[/I]
Disagree completely! Its going to cartwheel and fling bits all over the place!
<span style="display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Yes they were the recommended bars for the vehicle by the seller</span>
Recommended by the seller, not the manufacturer?
Never had an issue, even using 'cheap' roof racks. My current ones I've had about 15 years are Thule Aerobars, and their Freeride racks. My car doesn't have a gutter or rail. The foot pack sits on the roof, and a bracket wraps round and locates in a small hole on the underside of the door surround.
I've always ensured it's fitted correctly, and spent some time making sure the feet were in the correct position - once done, you don't have to do it again.
Had 4 bikes on the roof at 70 or more MPH before now.
In my case one of the feet sheered. Car had been bought new a couple of months earlier and ended up damaged with scrapes with paint missing. Bike needed parts replacing. Car insurance would not cover repairs, we were advised to pay for an independent report. Thule fobbed us off and sent a cheaper model of bike carrier to shut us up. I regret not involving a solicitor but it was very traumatic and did not want to dwell.
Yes by the seller.
It will be up to them to prove that the manufacturer has specced them for the car.
What rack/car was it? Would be amazed if 3mins of googling didn’t tell you.
OTOH how are you proving it wasn’t your installation that caused the problem?
OP just interested when you say closed type roof bars / rails do you mean those low profile things that are now becoming popular on estates and SUVs that are solid and pinched in like a kind of squashed I shape? I always think these look a bit insecure/unforgiving in set up.
Never lost a set of roof bars.
I've used the door/window/sill clamp type and the type for estate roof rails that clamp right round a raised roof bar all with little concern.
I second the check the tension after X miles and 6nm is normal for every posh set of bars I've had.
My cheap near 15 year old Halfords ones actually seem to have the most secure design imo.
Sh!t. That is unlucky.
I have had various bars/clamps over the years ( but always thule, for a roof box, not bikes) and never had an issue. Like others said above 6nM does sound quite loose to me, given the aerodynamic forces on the bike on top of a car at 60mph. I usually tighten mine to what feels like way more than 6nM then tighten a bit more to be sure. Not sure if that's a good idea but never had any issues thus far.
They are indeed the newfangled closed roof bars which don't look like they offer much purchase!
Not sure how I can prove if they were installed correctly but what can you do apart from following the instructions to the letter!
Can they prove that they were not installed correctly?
Not sure if that’s a good idea but never had any issues thus far.
It's really not a good idea, torque figures aren't just made up for no reason.
It will be up to them to prove that the manufacturer has specced them for the car.
Are you actually gonna try and pin this on the place you bought them from? isn't it our responsibility to check from the manufacturer that they are suitable?.
Can they prove that they were not installed correctly?
I'd say the onus is on the guy with the mangled bikes to prove anything tbh, though all the best, I hope you get some joy with this.
I would be claiming on the home insurance for new bikes and def not be riding them
Can they prove that they were not installed correctly?
They can point to rigorous testing & approval and selling xx number of units without issue. So likely more than you can unfortunately.
Fancy telling us the car-rack combo?
They are the recommended bars by the seller when my reg number is put into their site.
As a retailer, they are the ones whose responsibility it is that they are selling the correct products for the right vehicles.
I do have 2 witnesses to the torquing up of the clamps and subsequent testing for security!!
DT78 has a good option there, claim you and your mates bikes.
An old pal of mine lost his Cannondale Jekkyl after a similar incident on the M74 a few years back, guy refused to claim his insurance, my mate was far too soft on him, was the guys fault for the state of his attaching bolts.
Great, now have you been onto the manufacturer website to confirm the shop's? You could get the question out the way in seconds.
the seller
?
I can accept that if you're on holiday with kids, the bikes need to go outside but I often see people alone or just two people in a car with bikes displayed like a trophy on roof or boot. I've even seen vans, FFS, with bikes on a towbar rack. Madness. My bike goes inside the car and we can easily fit 3 adults + 3 bikes and have even had 4+ 4 when two were kids.
The bars were XT branded and sold by Micks Garage on Amazon.
The car is a Kia Optima Sportage.
They were outside because there were 3 of us and only 2 racks!
We did manage to get the 3 in afterwards though.
Happened to a good friend of mine earlier this year. I think it was one of those systems where the roof bar's feet clamp onto a gutter in the roof of the car? Our car has fitted rails, so I'm not sure how the gutter one's work. Anyway the whole lot was ripped off my friend's car on the motorway. Both bikes, racks and bars strewn across the lanes. I still shudder inside when I think what might have happened if anything had gone through someone's windscreen.
What I've wondered though was that my mate did catch a sleeping policeman at a really bad angle as we entered the car park before we went riding. The car did a really big side to side waggle with the bikes still on top and I wonder if this might have shifted something and led to the bars and rack coming loose on the motorway as we headed home.
I can accept that if you’re on holiday with kids, the bikes need to go outside but I often see people alone or just two people in a car with bikes displayed like a trophy on roof or boot. I’ve even seen vans, FFS, with bikes on a towbar rack. Madness. My bike goes inside the car and we can easily fit 3 adults + 3 bikes and have even had 4+ 4 when two were kids.
Nice if you only ever do clean rides, but there ain't no way that I'm loading up a car full of filthy bikes after a winter CX race or MTB event. I did it when I was a kid, but I don't need to do it now. The bikes go on the roof, end of! It's also way more practical - I can load 4 bikes and be out of the car park before most people have got the wheels off the first and squeezed it into the boot.
I appreciate that there are limits (security, for one), but I only ever put bikes inside the car in extreme situations now.
They are the recommended bars by the seller when my reg number is put into their site.
Ah well so long as some seller was recommending to sell you something, I mean they had no ulterior motive eh.
Those bars and rack combo look flimsy as ****.
Were you honestly not exceeding the recommended top speed? Easily done, I did it all the time when I had roof rack on, except it was all Thule so didn't crumble into bits.
So, what will you be asking the seller for?...
With the group I used to go riding with it happened twice, once the whole lot went bouncing down the M6, another time the bike just fell sideways and crashed against the side of the car scaring the beejeezus out of all of us.
Always carry bikes in the car - as above, you can get 3 bikes and 3 people in even a medium sized car with not much effort.
I can only go by what they recommend for my car, the same as if you went to Halfords etc.
No speeding, was doing 70, cruise control on!! The actual black bike rack is TUV rated to 80mph and that definitely didn't fall apart!
Going for car repair and the frame. Seems fair enough to me.
And yes, lesson learnt with the bikes in the car.
Funnily enough, thats how we always used to travel but I got the roof bars for a trip to Cornwall I've got coming up where I needed a roof box so thought I'd try the bike racks on top as it came with one and my mate had a spare Thule one.
Hmm ,I can't find an actual manufacturer website for those roof bars, I suspect theyre cheap Chinese imports, I suspect this is a case of buying something not fit for purpose - not your fault op.
I'd be going after the seller for selling you sub standard goods, but I don't think you'll get anywhere, they will probably offer to give you another set of roof bars to replace the ones that failed.
And yes, lesson learnt with the bikes in the car.
Honestly, I'm not sure what lesson is to be learned here, other than one about buying cheap racks from Amazon. I've been using roof bars for > 20 years now and have never even come close to losing a bike from the top, nor smashing them into a garage or driving into a multi-storey car park. There's absolutely nowt wrong with roof racks for carrying bikes.
I did look at the Amazon link you posted and, while the roof bars themselves look OK at a glance, frankly the bike carrier itself looks a pretty nasty thing so I'd be tempted to assume that the bars follow the same pattern. Also, that price is the same as what Thule charge for just one bike carrier and probably less than half what you'd pay for a carrier + bars + feet. I know that everyone likes a bargain, but it's definitely possible for something to be cheap for a reason - because it's an inferior product - and this might well be one of those times.
Hope you get this all sorted soon!
Wow, now you've linked to the actual bars, there's no way in a million years I'd use those. Look horribly designed and flimsy as anything.
Can't see you'll have a joy with the seller. Can't see in what situation they wouldn't say it was user error.
Claim on your house or bike insurance, be glad you didn't kill anyone on the motorway and don't buy total crap next time.
By the way, their website is not accurate for whether the rack fits the car. I put my car details in , I know for a fact my car can't take a roof rack of any kind,but their website recommends one to me, a different roof rack model to yours,but it still recommended me one all the same.
Good luck op, I think the lesson to be learned here is that for safety critical items only buy reputable/known brands.
Claim on your house or bike insurance
This.
You have absolutely zero chance of getting a top end frame and a car repair from a company selling such shite on amazon.
Honestly, I’m not sure what lesson is to be learned here
Maybe putting pretty expensive bikes onto cheap pig iron racks?....
Always carry bikes in the car – as above, you can get 3 bikes and 3 people in even a medium sized car with not much effort.
Well all except it’s a squeeze in reality and requires a significant amount of dismantling of the bikes and careful insertion into the car making sure you don’t dirty up or damage the interior and careful stacking of bikes and bike bits as well as all the other stuff. And if you have a crash you have a pretty dangerous situation inside the car with significant risk of gruesome injuries with bits of bikes flying about inside. No thank you.
By contrast I always put my bikes on the outside of my car or van, load them up in 30 seconds, if you buy decent racks they’ye secure and if i’m staying anywhere overnight the bikes come inside with me... they’re no more secure in a car, or if i’m on an after work ride they’ll go in the van pre ride and externally post ride.
I can guarentee that those bars will not have been tested with your car.
There is a reason Thule have a different specific fitting kit for every vehicle on the road that can take a rack - even cars with similar looking solid roofrails. There is also a reason why they are more expensive - because they test each and every combination and if they don't work properly they don't sell a rack for that car.
Having said they are more expensive, actually they aren't considering the quality. A basic rack, footpack and fitting kit for an Optima comes in at £160 Yes, you need to buy a bike carrier on top of that but you can get Thule 591 (old stock but still good) for around £60 each these day
Yes, i see that one poster above had her Thule rack break but even that 1 instance suprises me. Thule do sell 100's of 1000's of these and that is pretty good odds. How many of these cheap chinese racks have been sold, not nearly so many - compared to the number that fail.
There is several thousand quids worth of bike perched on some crappy generic fitting made from the cheapest mild steel worth 50p - why would you do that!!!!
EDIT I just chucked my reg in to that amazon site and the same racks where thrown up for my Toyota Auris estate, my work mate's Kia Ceed estate and our company BMW 3 estate. Yet, they all have Thule racks on right now with different fitting kits and the rails are clearly different profiles
it’s a squeeze in reality and requires a significant amount of dismantling of the bikes
2 bikes go in with only one front wheel off. Three bikes go in with 3 front wheels off and one rear.
careful insertion into the car making sure you don’t dirty up or damage the interior
Old curtain on the floor
careful stacking of bikes and bike bits as well as all the other stuff.
Yeah, you do have to have a little bit of common sense, but it's not rocket science
And if you have a crash you have a pretty dangerous situation inside the car with significant risk of gruesome injuries with bits of bikes flying about inside.
Don't know if this is a real or imaginary risk, as above stuff is packed quite snugly so probably little chance. It might be a valid point, I don't know.
You make your choice and take your chances. For me the little bit of extra hassle in putting the bikes inside is more than worth it for the security (Mate has had a scrote trying to rip his bike off the a towbar mounted rack ) the lower mpg costs and the lack of advertising to everyone what bikes I own and where I live. Not even mentioning the risk of them falling off.
You make your choice and take your chances. For me the little bit of extra hassle in putting the bikes inside is more than worth it for the security (Mate has had a scrote trying to rip his bike off the a towbar mounted rack ) the lower mpg costs and the lack of advertising to everyone what bikes I own and where I live. Not even mentioning the risk of them falling off.
Don't get too complacent with security there, BTW. Plenty of bikes are pinched from inside cars (and vans) and while racks aren't as secure, people generally know this so take precautions (in my case, they are *never* left unattended on the rack, even for a minute!). Lower MPG is fair, but a drop in the ocean compared to my total annual cycling budget! As for advertising, that's not a problem where I live, but I can't speak for everyone.
Oh, and they really don't fall off when properly fastened on, but I think this thread has already covered that 😉
OOI, what do you do after a properly filthy ride / race? I know some people who carry portable washers, but I've not yet ponied up for one...just one more thing to clutter the garage in the summer!
I've never had the rails come off the car but I had a bike fly out of the Thule 591 carrier and into a field on a bend. The carrier was over ten years old and on inspection the ratchet strap teeth had rounded and offered very little security. Once they worked loose the design of the 591, with the open jaw that clamps the downtube, couldn't hold the frame on it's own. I have bought new 598's and this have a wrap-around jaw and better ratchet straps compared to the 591.
For anyone with a 591, I would recommend checking the straps and making sure you have an "edge" on the teeth to prevent the same happening to you. As I could see the reason for the failure it doesn't concern me carrying bikes on the roof, I just check everything is in good condition more often.
The bike was a Bird Zero and the damage was a cracked carbon handlebar, a bent reverb and torn seat. I got off lightly due to it landing in a field upside down. Ally bars and seat from the parts drawer, a brand x dropper and I was riding it at the weekend with no issues.
Interesting point on security...
Getting a bike nicked from a roof rack is far from hard but then neither is smashing the rear window of an estate car and dragging the thing out causing many hundreds of £ of car insurance claim type damage.
If someone's determined they're going to have it then some glass and an alarm is not that much deterent imo.
One is slightly noisier but it's not monstrously different (unfortunately).
Had the front Thule one ripped off an A3 but that was by a pheasant- at 70mph.
Landed in the central reservation with not a mark on it or the car.
watched the pheasant land in the outside lane.
In half.
Although didn’t realise the bar had gone until I pulled into the services literally 500yds down the road to check if there were bits of it left behind....to see the bar was missing!
We need updates on the impending court battle, maybe some artists impressions of the accused, and the victim.
"It’s really not a good idea, torque figures aren’t just made up for no reason."
Except when they are ... See handlebars with torque limits for stem bolts as a prime example.
stem bolts
Would sir like them greased or loctited? Or are we going in dry today?
Never had a problem, but mine are bolts that screw into hidden moves noting points, onto which the footpads are added. Good for four bikes at 130 km/h over 1000s of miles through France and back multiple times.
Sadly, I suspect user error I’m afraid. The maximum weight and engineering tolerance for this weight will be such that it was not over loaded. Perhaps not all pads had locked down tightly, the resistance caused some small movement and that dislodged the rack? Car insurance claim?
My 2015 kia's roof rails had a hole to help position/hold the bars. I noticed that the newer models have no positioning holes on the rails so you rely on the clamp holding the rail on its own but the rail is fairly smooth with not much of a lip for the clamps to hold on to.
Flipping heck! I'm glad my little 1 series has 4 bolts that go through the feet straight into the roof. I'm even more glad I put a towbar on my wifes 3 series so I can use the towbar rack once again.
These smooth little-lipped roof rails seem like a stupid idea. I just assumed you could "get under" all roof rails and properly clamp stuff to them. Funnily enough a friend of friend had bikes fly off the roof of their car recently.. newish Audi estate which looks to have these type of rails.
I was concerned about carrying three fatties on the roof so went for Thule Aero bars & their full wrap around clamps for our new Tiguan. Thule every time for me. Not had a problem with cheap(er) ones though, I carried three fatties all over the country & France, on my Galaxy. 6Nm is nowhere near enough for the forces at play on the roof of a car at 70mph.
They don't look like great bars OP.
Our Seat has those closed rails, and I too am not a fan. Style over practicality imo.
As with others - 25 years of canoes, bikes, kayaks, dinghies, DIY materials and a sofa on the roof, from Scotland to south of France. Never had an issue. I do buy Thule though.
I drive thousands of miles each year with 6 bikes on a Thule roofbar/rack combination. So do my colleagues. Fast roads, bumpy roads, twisty roads, even unmade roads sometimes. What's the supposed problem?
I’ve never liked the idea of roof-mounted bike carriers, I don’t really know why though - back in the day I drove all over Britain with a roof mounted dog sled and rig on an airportable Land Rover.
I only did that, in preference to using a trailer, because it was cheaper on the boat crossings. After that, I started using a van and a trailer but at least I could sleep in the van if I had to.
I never really thought about the whole lot coming off on the M6 or somewhere though and there was a lot more wind loading on what I was carrying than on a couple of bikes. Everything about the carrying rack was pretty overbuilt however....
I, briefly, had one of the bike racks you bought and if the roof bars are anything like it then I'm not surprised they ripped off. They won't be a quality product.
I was driving near Chatsworth and the top security bolt popped out and the bike fell sideways into the other lane, hanging horizontally with the tyres still strapped on.
I learnt my lesson and bought a quality Thule bike rack after that. I'd only had it a couple of weeks. The bars I'd attached the bike to were Cruz ones which are a midway offering between Amazon tat and Thule and they're very good.