Roof box with bike carriers?

Just waiting in a new company car and thinking about what will fit on the bars. Got a baby on the way and hoping to be able to take a lot of stuff away for a week in Salcombe next summer – but still be able to take my bike.

Instead of getting a nice practical estate I went for a Jaguar XE which is a saloon. Doh.

The only roof bars you can get for it are from Jag – basically they’re Thule wing bars (like the ones I have already) but Jag / Thule won’t sell the feet separately. So I have to sell my current ones and buy the ones from Jag. Not annoying at all.

My question is does anyone have the same bars with a roof box also on it – if so how many bikes do you fit next to the box? Thinking I’ll get a long but narrow box like the Kamei Huski. Will just 2 bikes fit next to it, or is there a fighting chance of fitting 3?

2. One either side.
No chance of 3.

Fair enough. I’d assumed the box would go on one side, then the bikes together on the other side. Any reason why you put the box in the middle?

Load the box first, then a bike either side. It’s much harder to get a bike on the rack when it’s further inboard. Also, you might only want to take one bike off and leave the other on.

I have the same set-up (not same car) and also use a ‘seasucker’ rack for more bikes on the rear window/boot. I can get 5 bikes and a roof box on.

Easier to load bikes as above. Tbh, I had never tried 2 side by side to see if they fit. You might get handlebar/saddle clashes.

Ah ok. I was thinking the box would be easier to load when close to one edge. Then I’d slide the middle bike carrier to the edge to put the bike on – then slide it back to the middle and lock it down. Obviously I don’t know if this is do- able as never tried it!

If not then it’s box in the middle as suggested above. Thanks for the feedback. I may have to think about a seperate boot mounted bike rack when said baby grows up enough to ride a bike. If we have a 2nd baby then god knows where the dog is going to go!

Also look at the max load for the bar fixings on the roof – two racks plus bikes may take a up a fair proportion of it so you’ll have to take care when loading the box.

I’d get a towbar fitted if I were you. You can load bikes on it or use it for overflow storage with one of those ‘boxes on a rack’ things.

I think the max weight is 80kg for the roof bars. So assuming bikes are say 13kgs each that leaves about 50kgs for the box and it’s contents. Will have to check the weight of the box and then load accordingly. Probably just soft bags forClothrs that would go up there. Hard stuff like buggys etc would go in the boot.

Not allowed to fit a towbar to the car as it’s a company car.

If there’s not enough room after a few trips then the wife will have to swap her Mini Countryman for a Nissan Qashqai or something!

Are the wing bars this kind of thing;

or this;

If it’s the former you loose a lot of space and you might not even get a box + even one carrier.

I think it’s the 2nd of the 2 options you posted up. At least that’s my understanding of what Jaguar are providing.

Aye, make sure it’s the ones in the second pic. I’ve got the ones in the first pic and you do lose a LOT of space as noted. On my 1 series I think even 3 bike carriers and no box would be tight (even with the middle one pointing backwards). I’ve got two carriers on there and it’s spot on for what I need.

If you flip one carrier so that the bike is mounted facing the rear then you’ll get two quite close together. We manage 6 bike racks on the roof of a Ford Tourneo.

6 bikes on one vehicle – I’m impressed! Must be a pain to load – looks like a ladder job…..

A folding ladder/platform thing. We often have 4 on a towbar rack and I’ve had 10 inside.

http://www.jaguar.co.uk/jaguar-range/xe/accessories/index.html

This shows the bars as wingbars like the wider ones.

Bear in mind that you need to leave a bit of room between the bike and the box, or you won’t be able to open the lid.

I did consider leaving space to open the lid. I did see a front opening narrow box and wondered what that’d be like. Can’t remember what make that box was now.