[Closed] Please tell me I'm not the first person to....

NOpe others have done this but not me - I have a tow bar rack as I woudl be one of those who did this sort of thing

I drove into a multi-storey car park with a roof-box on. Had to drive all the way around scraping the roof as I went, as there was no way it was coming off while I was still in there!

Someone I knew who had done these previously, from then on when they had the bikes on the roof, had a big laminated warning sign on a lanyard that hung from the rear view mirror.

those sacrificial pikes did they're job then?
Not sure i would trust the frame to be honest.

Back in 1990,brand new Zaskar on the roof.Scraped the cover from my seat going under a low bridge,no other damage tho! Never done it since thankfully!

My cousin did that driving into the local tip.

Wrecked his works Mondeo roof, they wrote it off. Obliterated his Scott Carbon MTB, I think he salvaged brakes, drivetrain and saddle....the frame, wheels and forks didn't make it.

I remember this happening to a particularly unpleasant customer of mine a few years back, I'd love to tell the story but he posts on here so I won't

I still have a chuckle about it every now and then

Muffin-man - what car was it, i used to be fine in multistorey car parks in my passat with roof box on but now have an Smax so might not manage it??

No.1 cause of warranty claims on road bikes in the states so you're far far from alone.

No.1 cause of warranty claims on road bikes in the states so you're far far from alone.

Please tell me I'm not the first person to... read that post and think: Ey? You what? What sort of warranties to they have over there?

please post some pictures so we can [s]laugh[/s] commiserate 😉

It was a Subaru Forester so a bit taller than normal, but it was a low-ish roofed car park as well!

When I go camping now I always take the roof-box off at the camp-site.

My mate did this on a trip to Wales,calling into a car park for a refreshment stop. Took the roof rack with bikes still on it clean off,only a bit of damage to the bikes but lots to his new Lupo. Spoilt the weekend for him but amused me no end. Had to smirk quietly to myself though cos he's a miserable git. Happy days!

Could you have let some air out of the car tyres?

A mate of mine didnt even need the car park / barrier. He leant his bike on the front of his van, got changed, jumped in, drove off.

Had to jack the van up to get the bike out. Not much survived. Often comes up in conversation though 😀

Was it someone on here who got a new roofbox fitted at Halfords, wife took car to work and hit height restrictor, took car back that night and got new roofbox and then did the same thing the following morning?

I have a tow bar rack as I woudl be one of those who did this sort of thing

So said my work colleague, until he reversed into something with bikes on the back...

I have roof bars on the XC60 (and did on my XC90 I had too) and I too have a laminated warning sheet on the dash covering the rev counter just to remind me.
It's a tall car though, you kind know some carparks will have height restrictions on and you might not be able to enter them..

Someone posted a pic on here of their car under a carpark limit restriction with the bikes on.

Looks so painful, in both angst and damage way.. 😐

it'll polish out;

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I almost did this in the supermarket carpark (the barrier is only supposed to be up at night) cue me holding up along line of traffic whilst I took my bike off the roof and stowed it in the boot before anyone could get in..

So said my work colleague, until he reversed into something with bikes on the back...

I still say it was a stupid place to leave a tree.

I drove under a 2m barrier, had a sign hanging forma chain. The front tyre of the bike hit the sign, it swung up on he chains, cleared the bike, and landed behind it, we drove through unharmed.

Yep me - Pinched the downtube on my GT LTS and crimped the roof of the Vectra.

Got an STS frame as an insurance replacement and the car got wrote off the following week!

[i]we drove through unharmed. [/i]

and then lost the bikes on the concrete lintel 8ft further on 😉

[img] [/img]

Could you have let some air out of the car tyres?

Had about 5 cm of clearance before the fresh tarmac went down (it was a regular delivery). And ended up with about 5 cm of clearance after they'd let all the tyres down. Police weren't too happy, as it was on a mountain pass somewhere in northern Spain. And it takes ages to let down, then pump up all the tyres on an artic.

Turning the truck round really wasn't an option. Never did find out what they did for the next delivery.......

Damage to my bike appears to be limited to this:
[img] [/img]

+ a dented brake hose which might need replacing. Not too bad I guess. Now I have to decide if it is enough of an excuse to get a set of Bos Devilles instead of replacing the Pikes...

Those pictures make me feel ever so slightly better...

This bloke's got more to lose than most;

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the-muffin-man - Member

I drove into a multi-storey car park with a roof-box on. Had to drive all the way around scraping the roof as I went, as there was no way it was coming off while I was still in there!

Girl I used to work with did this with a company car - Ford Galaxy, I think & she worked at Ford for the time. She let the tyres down enough to get back out and all was fine.

Since I'm on the subject, when I change my forks should I not need to remove this bit from them? (with the blue rubber seal on it) - it looks like it is part of the headset but it ain't going anywhere as far as I can tell...

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*wanders off to the headset thread for advice*

It comes off, stanley knife blade hammered in underneath will free it up.

slightly off topic but not entirely unrelated. Heading down the M6 to London for a rowing race. Two boats on the roof of the hired van. Windy day. The boats catch the wind and get ripped off alomng with the rack from the mounting points. I am able to see them in the rear view mirror pirouetting in mid-air scaring the traffic behind us. Thankfully the boats missed everybody and landed still attached to the roof rack the right way up on the central reservation, undamaged until somebody in a Porsche drove past and took about a foot of stern off my boat rather than avoid it. Probably didn't expect it sticking out into the fast lane when he was hammering past at 100mph. My wife's boat was completely unharmed.

andylc - Member

Since I'm on the subject, when I change my forks should I not need to remove this bit from them? (with the blue rubber seal on it) - it looks like it is part of the headset but it ain't going anywhere as far as I can tell...

Yeah, you'll need to remove that bit.
It can be a pain to remove. LBS will probably have a tool to get it off, or just do the above; whack something like a Stanley knife blade into the gap to ease it off.

Or get one of these:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-crown-race-remover/?lang=en&curr=GBP&dest=1&sku=5360596877&ci_src=18615224&ci_sku=5360596877uk&utm_source=google&utm_term&utm_campaign=UK_PLA_Accessories&utm_medium=base&utm_content=sAjSeXsFN_dc%7cpcrid%7c67090793462%7cpkw%7c%7cpmt%7c%7cprd%7c5360596877uk

Ive deffo not done this and when I didn't do it I deffo wasn't lucky enough to hit the bar that hard and fast that the bike and rack came off in once piece and completely unscathed only leaving a small amount of damage to the roof of the car.

I've done it!

Remembered on the way INTO the car park.

Forgot on the way out.

D'oh. Got away with just a front wheel rebuild.

Sold the rack now. I know i'll do it again

(BTW - car's will soon warn you about this by detecting if you've got a roof rack and using a camera to spot low height restrictors)

My parents loaded their car on the drive with bikes on the roof. Mum then had to turn the car round to head off up the drive so drove into the garage to allow room to turn. There went the bikes. Rack and all.

Not bikes, but we had just returned from camping in our T4 with our used-one-time-only Mont Blanc box still attached to the top, when I stopped by work to pick something up.

Between the main building and the mechanical room outside, there is a very low walkway passing over the drive.

You can guess the rest, but the awful crushing sound was in contention with my breaking heart and my potty mouth for the loudest noise. 😳

Mrs Blanklook has...new car roof, new bike rack, but the bikes were fine. I still mention it from time to time.

I have:

Reversed the car out of the garage without the door fully up. Cracking the box the morning we were leaving for hols.

Driven the kids bikes into my garage frontage. I realised straight away and got away with that one with some minor upvc damage

Some people don't even need bikes on the roof:

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I could not be trusted with roof mounted bikes. I did reverse my bike trailer into my wife's car last year. Trailer needed a bit of straightening and some new lights, car cost us £1000 to fix.

Important lesson learned there. Parking sensors don't work through bike trailers 😉

[i]Parking sensors don't work through bike trailers[/i]

Mine switch off when I connect the bike rack electrics.

You get used to listening for the pinging so I've gotten a bit blase about reversing and had a near wall experience the other week when I had bikes loaded up and the sounder didn't go off.

I once asked Wombat Jr (13) to watch me back while I reversed up to a dry stone wall with a loaded towbar mounted rack on....

Me: Am I close to the wall?
W Jr: You can come back a bit more if you like
Me, thinking I was already pretty close: um, OK
Reverse a further 10mm
W Jr (loudly): Stop now!!!!

I got out to look and I recon I could just about have got a sheet of tissue paper between the rack and the wall.

Me: That was a bit closer than I was expecting....
W Jr: Hmm, I suppose so, you didn't actually hit it though

Wombat Jr has now been instructed in the art of guiding a reversing vehicle and informed that an interference fit with the imovable object is not the desired result 😆

Life skill being taught there mr_W

He's pretty reliable for this type of thing now, a lot moreso than a number of adults I've dealt with....