dh bike on my car roof

are car roof racks strong and sturdy enough to carry a 40 lbs dh bike?
just got a new car, and my old boot rack will not fit.
its a honda accord and the boot racks ive looked at have not impresed.
so gonna have a look at roof racks, has anyone used one with a big heavy dh bike? cheers

Well i've got a van but you do see loads at uplift/race days? Better make it a sturdy/dear one rather than Halfords cheapest number.

I've put 35lb bikes on a roof rack with no issues, extra few pounds shouldn't make too much of a difference.

You'll be fine. Think about all those cars with huge, fully loaded roof boxes, or three+ bikes on the roof. Your 40 lb bike won't be a problem.

I looked it up for you. Max roof load limit on a Honda Accord is 80kg (as quoted by Honda).

Actually this is a problem I had to resolve with some certainty a few years back. I ended up talking to Thule Head Office and they categorically stated that the maximum weight limit for any of their roof racks is 17.5kg, which is 38.5lbs. When I asked what the margin of error was they said there wasn't any and under no circumstancs should I put a bike on their roof racks that weighed more than this, not even by a pound or two.

I ended up solving the issue by using a rack which allowed the front wheel to be removed and clamped through the 20mm forks. The net weight of the front wheel was around 3-4lbs so that made a 40lb bike work on the roof rack.

The only Thule racks you can use without any worry are the towbar mounted ones, which aren't cheap (especially if you've not got a towbar fitted) but which do work extremely well.

blimey didnt even think about a max roof load limit!

geetee, are you talking specifically about the bike attachments or the roof bars themselves? My brothers Thule bars have 75Kg written on the box, we regularly carry two heavy canoes on them, so I can only assume you mean the bike clamping section? Standard roof loading limits are 70-80kgs.

Thule load limits

Fit a towbar?

I put it off for years but when I did I wished I had done it years ago. Such a handy thing. And towball mount racks are ace. I even have one for sale…

Coffeeking – yes, it's the bike carrier itself, not the roof bars that are the issue.

Another vote for the towbar rack. If you already had the roof stuff then fair enough, but unless cost really is a big issue, a towbar rack is the obvious choice.

fork mount racks used to void your fork warranty on some forks – it certainly puts side loads on the drop-outs that you wouldn't get with a wheel in there.

towbar mounted every time.

think ill look in to the cost of fitting a tow bar. sounds like a better choice than either racks.
or i could always trade the car in for a van!

Whenever you change cars – if you buy new (or from a dealer) haggle a towbar as a part of the deal, otherwise just budget for one.

£200-300 give-or-take for Witter ones.

got the car off my wife so dont think she would be happy if i haggled for a tow bar!

I bought a towbar kit including electrics for £110 posted for my Audi – it's a Witter kit and very good. I would think you can get the same for your car for the same or less. My local mechanic fitted the whole lot for £80. Saved me a lot of hassle. Well worth the investment as now I use a trailer for the motocross bike, rack for the bikes and a trailer too.

Once you have a trailer you are king of the street lol. All your matesd will ask you to do favours for them. Can be a nice little earner in beer tokens….

I've had two dh bikes thickly covered with mud on my thule racks coming home from Bucknell today. Must've been 50lbs each with all the mud. No worries but make sure, as with any bike, that you add an extra strap in case the clamp fails (this note in case you didn't see the my bike just fell of the roof thread the other day).

toe ball if you can mate best way. or the bones rack is pretty cool. max weight for 3 bikes on it is 105 lbs. and they come in pink, mmmmmmm

http://www.saris.com/p-299-bones-3-bike.aspx have a gander

Make sure you don't have a spoiler when using things like the bones though and also it can be akward to use with some fs frames, especially small ones or any design that clutters up the front triangle or top tube.

true true but it comes in pink. thats got to be worth something. there is a thingy on the saris site telling you what cars it will fit.

Or put it in the car.

How about a thule roof rack and straps one either side of the handle bar and hooked up to the roof bars? Got to help with the stability and strength?

yes you can

I carried a 45lb Demo on mine, you just need the thule bike mount that clamps the front forks, the rack comes with adapters for 20mm bolt through, and goes rock solid.

I've carried my almost 40lb DH bike loads on the roof with a Thule 591 and haven't had any problems. It's over the stated weight for the 591 but then if it can handle my other bikes in 70mph side-winds (which it has, without problems) then I think the safety margin must be good enough.

I think about going around corners a little more gently with the DH bike up there, I don't even think about it with other bikes.

I've never had a problem with it and I've done lots of miles with the DH bike up there.

We do the roof and tow bar with DH bikes all the time, though we do try build lighter DH bikes. I just make sure on both that all is tight and properly set up, we use the Thule 591s, some bikes will only go on one side, so racks need setting up for that. Once on we use toe straps to double up on the wheels, (they twist if you don't) and toe straps to double up on the downtube grip, (DH bikes have bid downtubes so a big-ish gap here, up we have had one grip undo from time to time). On the tow bar ones (which don't grip at the top as well), we some times strap from the top tube, to outside of the rack to triangulate it. Anyway, take care and it all works fine!

cheers for all the advice. looked at the saris bones in wheelbase today and think i would have trouble getting my small 224 on there. and my ironhorse mk3 would really struggle. gonna give a mechanic i know a ring and price up a tow bar. not sure ill feel safe with the bikes on the roof!

having just put 2 new Thule 591 cardboard boxes in the recycling bin 20 mins ago, I can report that they say on them max load, per bike carrier, is 17.5kg, which is 38.5lbs

And again for the benefit of those peeps who have been carrying 45lb+ bikes on their Thule roof racks – call Thule Head Office and ask them yourself what the margin of error is. Don't assume that because you've done it once or a hundred times that therefore it isn't going to fail!

geetee1972 – yes I did cut and paste your conversion 😆

the last car I used for carrrying bikes had fixpoints – I always worried about the whole lot being held onto the car by those 4 small bolts…..

now I have roof rails – not sure if they are fastened on any better though. where is the weakest link ?..

I doubt that the 17.5kg limit is due to the vertical load on the bike rack.

Much more likely its taking the lateral load into account during cornering/crosswinds.

Lionhearts suggestion about a toestrap round the downtube is a sensible precaution.

I also use two ratchet tie-downs. Fit an exhaust clamp to the centre of the roofbar (2x8mm holes needed) and you can secure the other end to the outside of the roofbar. The top end of the tiedowns should be attached to the frame above the level of the hubs. Most bikes will have something you can hook them on to.

Dont forget to drill the holes horizontally through the roofbar or it will get in the way next time your getting plywood at B&Q !

Using this method the bike will be very stable laterally, and dont forget to lock your fork out if you can.

Of course it does take a minute or two more to load the bike but better that than it falling off.