So I found myself idly browsing for easier bike carrying options (currently have a roof carrier and a strap on boot rack, and no towbar fitted) and the (somewhat overpriced) Sea sucker Hornet popped up; 2 suction cups and a Tether to the boot lid, intended for hatchbacks and MPVs, to sling a bike on the boot lid vertically, by its bars. I liked the look of it because it’s simple and doesn’t matter about bike wheels or axles for mounting, every bike I own could fit on it.

Anyone got one? or better yet a cheapo version from AliExpress or the like?

How are they? an effective, easy solution for short to medium journeys (say up to 100ish miles?) without obscuring rear lights…

Or just a generally terrible idea?

I have a Rock Bros knock off and it’s fantastic. When I had an unusual car it was perfect. 5 stars.

I’ve got a Rassine LXB5 which looks like a knockoff of the Seasucker Talon/Treefrog Pro 1 and it’s great. £155 from here.

Driven plenty of miles at normal speeds and it just works. Takes a while to trust it – I still stop every hour or so to check the suckers: they’re always fine. I would have preferred if it came with the suction cup storage protectors like the Seasucker/Treefrog do, but instead it comes with every type of fork adapter needed. Seasucker/Treefrog I think you have to buy the different adapters separately and they’re not particularly cheap.

Here it is mounted side-saddle due to vinyl stripes down the middle of the car, but it holds plenty tight even with the weird lumps and bumps on the roof and boot lid.

If you normally have a roof box they can also be mounted vertically at the back stuck to the rear window/boot lid.

Yeah I looked at the talon, the reason I am drawn to the hornet is that it does the same trick but holds the bike by the bars so a fork adapter isn’t really a concern. The issue is the asking price. Found a pretty affordable twin fork mount jobbie on eBay. But I actually think something ‘hornet style’ would be a better option in many ways.

For reference this is how the hornet works:

There must be a cheaper way of doing it. My only concern with the Hornet would be the plastic ratchet straps holding the handlebars. I’d be too worried about them jolting themselves undone.

If you’re happy using the handlebar mount & straps but don’t fancy spending £200+ then surely you could redneck something together using velcro and these or similar?

I’ve had the Hornet and Talon – both worked absolutely perfectly. The Hornet was great – I just had to sell it as I couldn’t get it to mount on the rear of our new (at the time) car – the rear wheel ended up being a couple of inches off the ground.

Was replaced by the Talon so I could mount on the roof – another great bit of kit. We’ve a panoramic roof (glass) and that seemed to be even better with regards to it sticking down/cleaning the surface and not worrying about any damage to paint etc…

Both systems had multiple London to Lakes trips and always kept vacuum. I don’t recall ever having to re-pump them during the course of a journey.

Yeah I went hunting for something to do the same thing. Then I thought sod it and I’ve just clicked buy on this:

Scary cheap eBay knock off

Doesn’t look like the suckers can be locked (I’m sure I can fashion something to tether a cable lock to if necessary). Cost £45(!) with the 10% discount code, claims to be coming from Portsmouth and would cover me for two bikes (front wheel off unfortunately). I’ll just need to find an axle adapter for the MTB but so far I’m in gift horse Territory it seems…

I wonder if I could mount it on the back edge of the roof and have the rear wheel on the boot lid?

(This is going to be use on my old shitbox C4 pic, nothing precious by the way)

I have a talon for sale see classifieds. Works really well on a Fiat 595 Abath. so able to stick just about anywhere.

Cheers, but I’m already taking a flyer on that knock-off for about 1/3rd the price…

It was a bit of a faff finding it in the (bloody useless) classifieds and I got distracted by the smart Greybeard has up for sale, I had visions of me navigating the country in a little smart car with a chuffing great 29er and a gravel bike stuck to the roof with my new eBay special sucky bike rack…

It’s now mmy mission to find the smallest practicable (cheap) car to stick my bike on e.g.

I used to strap bike upside down straight onto roof bars but the handle bars and seat.
It was totally solid. Used Velcro straps and a couple of heavy duty zip ties for safety.
Cost about £2 per journey.
You could use some ‘u’ bolts but I just used what I had.

It was more the convenience of being able to suction cup something to the back of the car rather than the roof, and have the bike vertical rather than side-on, if I have to fit the roof bars (bolt on rather than rails), it’s already been more faff than I’m after. Plus lofting a bike upside down on the roof?, I’m almost certain to put a dent in it and/or my back out…

Front wheel off wasn’t the preferred solution, hence my interest in the Hornet, but I think I can live with the option I’ve managed to get for relatively little (assuming it’s half decent when it arrives);

4 cup Fork mount near the rear edge of the roof, with the rear wheel resting on the boot lid, should work I think…

I have the Rock bros one. I’ve used it for several years. It’s never let me down. Worst thing is getting the bike on without damaging the car. It really takes two people.

I tended to take the rear wheel off with the hornet (sometimes the front too). Made it much easier to manhandle when mounting it.

I do like Levy’s mini… 😁