[Closed] Bike rack recommendations

Look at Sea Sucker. A hard concept to get your head round but I've got two and they are bloody fantastic. Expensive but transfer from car to car so stops the need to change fittings when you change cars. We've used them on Audi TTs, Alfas, BMW coupes, Minis and VW Transporters. CANNOT RECOMMEND STRONGLY ENOUGH.

Holy shit, those are expensive, but to be fair they do look quality. Quality costs.
If I can be cheeky, which model did you choose, and why did you go for this option? If I'm reading this right, these things use high power vaccuum suction to secure to the car, yes? Do you need a vacuum pump or do you rotate that thing that looks like a handle to expel the air from the rubber cup? Interesting solution and I can see how it could very useful due to its adjustability but man, I wasnt expecting about £300.

Does this system have any negatives that you have experienced, other than cost? The racks are obviously secured to the car frame in some other way other than just vacuum otherwise someone could just nick the rack , bikes and all quite easily with a cordless drill, I'd imagine. How secure would you say that connection was? Its not nylon webbing is it? The photos I looked at arent very clear on this asoect of the system.

If you have a towbar, those racks are generally the best.
Or a roofrack is quite good, but a bit of hassle lifting the bikes up/not driving into carparks etc

+1 for towbar racks. Not cheap if you don't already have a towbar obviously but the best rack type for me. Very wide range of rack costs but have a look at roofrack.co.uk.

We've a combination of towbar and roof racks, on two cars.

Towbar: easiest to use, most stable, barely any impact on fuel economy, bikes do get mucky/I've had a couple of issues of greasy rotors after long journeys.

Roof: cheaper, hassle to lift bikes on, as stable as the towbar usually, big impact on mpg, bikes stay cleaner but after MTB your roof does get muddy.

Both are best imo in Thule flavour, both usually available on Gumtree or Faceache marketplace within a couple of weeks for a lot less than new.

We're completely Thule and some bits are 20 years old now, some 15, a couple of new bits. We've one set of Atera aero bars that are new to us, bit seem ok.

I can have no issues with the Sea Sucker. You just pump by pressing the button with your thumb until the white line goes. You need to see it in real life to appreciate it. You can see how strong they are by the way you pull on the bike and the car moves! I have one for three bikes and one for one. If you leave the car you can chain the bikes to a clip that fits over the edge of a window. You just take the suckers off and dump them in the car when you go for a ride. If you are near Milton Keynes you're welcome to come and look at ours. Its expensive but when you think of the cost of a tow bar on several cars it starts to make sense.

Thule. Towbar.

Those Sea Sucker things look great, they must put a fair load on the car body though. Presumably the car needs to be clean too, which means I'm out as mine is usually filthy 🙂

I've quite liked the idea of a towbar rack for a while now but don't really have the space to store it when it's off the car, and don't have a tow bar. I've always used Thule bars and racks but when I changed the car last time I got some Yakima bars and am considering changing my Thule racks to Yakima Highroad. I get annoyed with the Thule's when mounting 4 bikes as you have to mess about with nuts and bolts to adjust them just so, remember which one goes where, and which one is set up for which bike (first world problem I know). The Yakima look much easier in that respect.

OP - if you decide to go roof mounted, and fancy some older Thule, I have some Pro-Ride 591s that I might part with on the cheap. I also have Thule roof bars and footpacks that will probably work with your car if you have roof rails. PM me if you are interested.

Had a tow-bar, and they're great, but can be expensive to fit professionally, and storing them when they're off the car can be a PITA if you're short on space. I've got roof racks and a bike rack, all Thule, and it's not let me down yet. I think nearly everything (including shoving it all in the boot if the car's big enough) has pros and cons. Choose accordingly really.

I've got some basic roofbars with some cheapo bike carriers, If the car is loaded up with people and luggage for a bit of a trip then that setup gets fitted. Sea suckers are a relatively pricey (but almost infinitely compatible) alternative, but basic roof bars will work if you've got some way of mounting them to the car (mounting points/roof rails/gutters/etc).

It's far from ideal, but it only covers infrequent use, if it's just me I'll fold seats and throw the bike in the boot.

In an ideal world I'd have a towbar mounted rack with a lighting board and electrics, but that is a bit spendy relative to it's likely frequency of use and the fact that I have something for the job already.

I've used a Strap-on (fnar) rack in the past on other cars, they're not totally trustworthy IMO (straps can loosen over long journeys, they can rub body work, etc) and you still run the risk of being pulled by the rozzers if it obscures lights/Reg plate and you haven't sorted a lighting board out.

I've had BMW branded roof bars with Thule 591 carriers, bit of a faff as i had to get special adapters in order to use the two together.

Was always a bit skeptical that the bikes were stable on the roof, but never had any issues at speeds of 70mph when transporting a Transition Patrol or Giant Reign, you just need to make sure that the clamp has a good grip on the downtube.

i guess fuel consumption goes up a bit if your bothered about that.

Now using a Saris Bones 2 rack on the back of a Fiesta, not caused me any issues and is definitely secure, it does obviously limit access to your boot though.

The main issue for me with any kind of rack is security, its hard to leave the car/bike unattended for longer than 5/10 mins with all the light-fingered scum bags around, suppose an extra d-lock/cable lock could sort that out.

Roof: cheaper, hassle to lift bikes on, as stable as the towbar usually, big impact on mpg, bikes stay cleaner but after MTB your roof does get muddy.

I used to use a roofrack bike carrier in winter but I found I was getting a lot of salt spray in the headset / front fork (Cannondale Heakshok), so stopped using it for that reason.