Roof mounted bike carrier.

Need one (two actually)

What is good without costing a million pounds and what is bobbins and should be avoided?

The configurator at http://www.roofbox.co.uk is a good starting point.

Thule 591s are virtually the defacto standard. Do the job well without costing the earth

ebay buddy, so many in working order on there going for peanuts:)

591s were £50 on ebay recently – I bought two.

and bought some thule aero bars from roofbox, or maybe the other roofxxx site.

if it’s a one off trip you can borrow my rear mount halfords job (cheap and cheerful)

one word of warning, don’t drive through dodgy areas of manchester with bikes on roof, they are scally advertising, you are invariably followed and break-ins follow (happened to a mate in south manchester)

Thanks, but the car is getting ruined and the bikes are getting chipped so I’ll need one every week.

From roofbox, I got whispbar bars which do what they claim to do, and the thule carriers.

Mont Blanc Barraccuda. Excellent quality and hold the bike safely even before everything is tightened and locked down.

Can be found for £100 ish for two if you look round.

If you are interested I am looking to sell a pair of 591s. Moving countries so having a clear out.

I have 1 still boxed and the other is only about 5 trips old.

Dont want to give them away but not too far away from you in Pontefract.

Harry

YGM

591s were £50 on ebay recently – I bought two.

So were Amazon, I bought two too!

Mate of mine raves about the Mont Blanc but he’s a roadie and I don’t see how they can accommodate fat tyres

Got a twin carrier roof rack thingy from The Roof Box Company as above. Went for the Atera as it was cheaper than the Thule and does the same job just as well in my opinion. Excellent service from TRBC too.

I had a pair of 591’s turn up yesterday for £118.88

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-THULE-591-ProRide-Roof-Mount-CYCLE-BIKE-CARRIER-20KG-Model-/160827275210?pt=UK_Car_Accessories_Touring_Travel&hash=item25720d77ca

I got some Atera Giro AF roof carriers and they are ok, but not brilliant.

First problem is that when you close the locking qr that holds the carrier to the rails it sometimes slides as well as rotates which means the locking part wouldn’t release. The second one I bought has a different profile on the locking part, so perhaps they realised it was a problem…

The second problem is that the lock on the downtube clamp doesn’t always engage so the bike isn’t held securely in the jaw. First time this happened it was freezing cold, chucking it down and I had no spare room in the boot to sling the bike in. It took 20 mins of repeated attempts before it engaged, followed by a nervous drive home, frequently stopping to check it was still secure.
I sent that one back & got a replacement which is better, but does occasionally do the same thing. I know use a bunged cord around the clamp, so I don’t have to rely on the lock.

The advantage of the Atera over the Thule one is that the bike is held in a triangular frame, which seems more stable & they were a fair bit cheaper. I think if I bought again, I would opt for something different.