Roof mounted carriers – Halfords advanced vs. Thule Freeride

I have some Halfords vouchers that I’m looking to spend on a roof mounted carrier so that I can avoid the annoyance of having to collapse my seats and rearrange my boot if I want to take my bike somewhere, also with the wet and muddy weather approaching it should help me avoid getting the inside of my car too muddy.

Previously I had one of the basic Halfords roof carriers which met its demise at the hands of a carwash after I forgot it was mounted. That was just about OK with my old 456450b, but my deedar is longer and with bigger tyres I doubt it would fit it.

I had a look at their website and have narrowed it down to the Halfords advanced or the Thule Freeride, unfortunately neither one specifies the max wheelbase they can carry.

Has anyone got any real world experience of wither one and if they can hold a long(ish) wheelbase bike? even the Thule website doesn’t shed much light on it and the reviews on Halfords aren’t that informative for either, although the Thule does have significantly better reviews.

If it’s the free ride 532 I’m pretty sure I have 2 of those in the garage. They will hold a bike but they’re a fiddle to lock round a big downtube and are a bit clunky.

Worth paying the extra for the Thule 598 – you get a simple dial to tighten round the downtube and the straps for the wheels have ratchets on them so they’re easier to tighten down than the 532.

I use my 598 now – the 532’s only come out if I have more than one bike to transport.

I actually have a hankering for a Yakima Highroad – but they’re even more expensive so that idea is on the back burner at the moment!