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Of to the alps on saturday and was planning to put the rack on but i could fit the bike in the car but it will need partially stripping and it will be a squeeze.
The thing that could swing it would be fuel, would the rack add anything significant to my fuel bill??
ta
a fair bit more on the roof, not much more on the back.
might be worth considerign how much longer it makes the car - might end up costing you more on the ferry/chunnel too.
The thing that could swing it would be fuel, would the rack add anything significant to my fuel bill??
Depends on a lot of things, but a roof mounted one will add at least 10% and possibly up to 25% to your fuel bill IME
I would def put in the car if at all possible - not just for fuel saving reasons though; just like everything nicely stored away....
I still get mileage in the 40s in our diesel 407 but having the bikes on a tow bar mounted rack does reduce the fuel efficiency, albeit only a small amount.
As stated above, if you can get the bike in the car I'd go that way. Cheaper on the crossing and much more secure when you have to leave the car at services etc.
thanks, it's a rear tow bar mounted one, no extra charge on the ferries.
I'll see if i can fit it in
At a guess I'd say my towbar rack adds about 15%, heavy Thule one usually with at least one heavy bike though.
Interesting as my Octavia does around 50mpg normally and on the trip to the alps it did 40mpg with 4 people and all the gear with the bikes on the roof. I was thinking of getting a toe bar mounted thule one but i'm not so sure whether its worth it.
No effect on mine if it's just me and one bike - I think the extra weight of additional bikes and passengers has more effect than the drag on the back of the car.
Not much difference on ours on a long run. We set off to Verbier next Thursday with four on the back. The suspension onthe back of the car self levels when the engine is running so you dont notice the bikes are on.
[img] http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=ytz2sb&outx=600&quality=70 [/img]
Have a great time
Tracey
could have done with self leveling suspension on mine last week on the trip to the alps, some fatties in the back 😉
often a big hole in the air behind a car anyhow unless you have a super dooper car, so should effect much at all - unlike a roof mounted version
3 bikes on the rear mounted carrier & 3 people in the car or just me with my bike in the car = indentical MPG over the same trip to Afan recently but I used the aircon for half an hour the other day & it took nearly 4 MPG!
There was a claim at the end of [url= http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/tow-bar-bike-racks ]this thread[/url] that there is 'palpable' difference between roof and towbar mounted - I didn't care to argue at the time, but did some brief research and strongly disagree.
As rootes1 says, as a car moves it leaves a 'big hole' in the air behind it - as indeed the air behind a car is in a low pressure zone. Air over the roof is a high pressure zone, thus creates far more drag.
I found that it made a big difference with a rear mounted rack - like 20-30% more - that said, it was with a Clio which is relatively small - it may be that bigger cars have less of an effect.
it's a newer model passat estate so not exactly streamlined