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Getting a new car soon (Fiesta Zetec S) and don't fancy scratching up the insides with my bike. Are there any good, sturdy boot-mount options available? The car has a small spoiler and a lot of the boot mounted ones say that they shouldn't be used on spoiler'd cars. The only one that seems like it'll work is the Saris Bones 2. Anyone used it and is it any good for longer distances at motorway speeds?
Other option is just getting a bike bag and put it in that each time I suppose.. Are there any that don't require the bars to be taken off?
there's a review of bike racks in the current edition of singletracks that mmay help you
I went down this road a few years ago, turns out that I can't use a rear carrier because the rear bumper on my car is made out of trifle.
I'd heartily recommend you take a look at roofbox.co.uk - there's a configurator tool thing which will tell you what options are available, they're the cheapest supplier I've found and their service is superlative.
I ended up with a roof carrier but in hindsight I'm glad I did, it's so much better than the rear mount I originally wanted.
Roof carriers seem like a bit of a pain in the arse to mount the bikes (especially with only one person) and don't they reduce the efficiency of your car quite horribly?
Thanks for the link though I'll give it a look 🙂
I thought that at first, but I don't have any problems mounting the bikes on my own (I've owned both Atera and Thule carriers and they're both easy to use).
The big advantage is that you can still get in the boot after you've put the bikes up, and you can leave the carriers on for longer periods rather than have to constantly take it down when you're not using it.
They do reduce fuel efficiency, but I tend to drive more gently with the bikes loaded, so that probably offsets it somewhat. I've never noticed a huge difference, but then I've not sat down and measured it. YMMV. (-:
I'd recommend roof mounted carriers as well. I have previously used boot mounted carriers and they never feel very secure, the bikes get scratched against each other and if you have a spoiler or plastic rear bumper they are almost entirely useless (you can't get the tension on the cords to keep it secure bumper flexes)
I have a polo and have Thule aero bars with mont blank baracuda carriers. For every day city driving i just leve them on and don't really notice any difference in fuel economy however for longet journeys the bars stay on but hte carriers are removed as i have noticed poorer fuel economy if they are not removed.
When they are already on the car it is a 2 minute job to put the bike on which is great for spur of the moment post work biking. I can happily manage to put the bike on by myself and have never scratched or bashed the car with a bike.