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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.
What’s the supposed problem?
OP mounts expensive bikes on cheap shite, cheap shite fails, quality of fitting unknown, OP wants cheap shite seller to fix car, and buy a new frame, possibly two.
Just about covers it? 🙂
Flipping heck! I’m glad my little 1 series has 4 bolts that go through the feet straight into the roof.
me too!! I bought Thule, they're a market leader for a reason.
No Nobeerinthefridge, the point is that no matter how expensive the item, it should be fit for purpose, end of!!
If I buy an SLX mech instead of an XTR one, it will still do the job it's intended to do and advertised to do!!
One 'failure' doesn't prove it's not fit for purpose IMO, Any comms back from Micks garage yet?
Edit to your edit - It's not the same as your analogy is it? both XT and SLX are quality components, from a known brand, with a proven track record, the only difference being weight.
Your comparison would be better described by buying a chinese no name from alibaba, and comparing that to a Shimano mech tbh.
They've asked the weights of the bikes and how it's fitted so far. As it's through the Amazon portal I expect it to be a very long and drawn out process.
One interesting thing though, the bars have disappeared from their site to be replaced by a 404!! Luckily I screenshotted them.
One interesting thing though, the bars have disappeared from their site to be replaced by a 404!! Luckily I screenshotted them.
That is a good sign, IMHO. A responsible retailer would certainly stop selling something when they've had reports of it failing in use, at least until they've had chance to investigate it properly.
Your comparison would be better described by buying a chinese no name from alibaba, and comparing that to a Shimano mech tbh.
And it's funny, because I have a friend who insists on buying cheap "XT" cranks from China that are, at a glance, obviously not genuine. So far, he's had two crank arms fail on him and I can't remember the last time a genuine Shimano crank snapped on me! (that's not an invitation to start that conversation again BTW!)
No Nobeerinthefridge, the point is that no matter how expensive the item, it should be fit for purpose, end of!!
This is true. At the very least they should be safe to use.
That said, and as others have alluded to and I have experience of, cheap roof bars and cycle carriers are often utterly rubbish quality (as with many other products in life now that we buy online for the cheapest price possible). Cheap is different from good value and all that.
I hope the Micks place do keep responding well - pulling a product from their site may be a good sign.
Passed a rack with two bikes still attached, upright and looking ok in the middle lane of the M60 a few weeks ago. It could have only just happened as the driver and passenger were running a short distance down the hard shoulder and looked like they were thinking of running on the motorway to drag the rack and bikes back. Rather them than me, I would have called the police and hoped the bikes did not get run over before the boys in blue could help out.
I’ve used roof racks of varying qualities and cost through the years. The only time I’ve seen one come off was a colleage rear ending another car. The racks were carrying two sets of 3 stage ladders which then embedded in the poor car in front, the gutters on the mk4 Escort had bent.
I hate roof racks and ladders. Any ladders I carry fit inside the vehicle strapped down, same with bikes.
worth noting my GFs Astra estate started leaking water where the roof gutter seam sealer had split, by coincidence the previous owner who I know used the roof rails and rack a lot. Possibly linked possibly not, took ages to find the water leak.
Sorry for the roof rack rant, on topic regardless of cost the rack needs to be fit for purpose.
I carry ladders on a rack & on one occasion 4 years ago the rack did come off,luckily no-one else involved just slightly scuffed roof but it's a work van, it touched my bonnet seesaw effect 😮 as Id applied the brakes near home !
Just before this happened I'd reversed & not realised after touching the open garage door,this had slid one foot out of its fixing point this was on a Citroen Berlingo.
After this I refitted it & saw that the foot pack doesn't fit that well into the roof fittings,I aligned it all & pulled the bars to bring/pull the feet closer,before tightening fully it seemed more secure after.
I use a Rhino rack on my latest van much more secure than Thule offerings,my bikes fit into the van,but if I had a car I'd prefer a towbar mounted rack though.
Its easy to not realise somethings amiss don't take it for granted its ok,reason we have an mot.