Car Rack Recommendations

trailbiker

Would anyone please recommend car racks which they've used. It'd be mostly for road bikes (2/3) but would be handy if it could also carry 2/3 mtbs though not at the same time as the road bikes obvio. The car is a VW Golf, by the way.

Thanks

Captain Havoc

I have this one, I think I paid €80 and I couldn't see why it wouldn't fit a golf.

Deedsie

Which type of carrier is safer, more useful between these two?

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/3332074/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CSports+and+leisure%7C14419152/c_2/3%7C19719011%7CBikes%2C+cycling+and+accessories%7C14419153/c_3/4%7Ccat_14419153%7CCycle+carriers%2C+trailers+and+child+seats%7C14419181.htm


http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/3334182/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CSports+and+leisure%7C14419152/c_2/3%7C19719011%7CBikes%2C+cycling+and+accessories%7C14419153/c_3/4%7Ccat_14419153%7CCycle+carriers%2C+trailers+and+child+seats%7C14419181.htm

I have a roof rack for my car that I don't get much use from.

serendip

If you can remember to avoid going under low barriers, then the roof is a far better option. It keeps the bike away from road dirt and doesn't obscure the license plate.

Also, they're more expensive, but Thule make fabulously-engineered kit.

Lemag

Thanks for the recommendations lads. Anyone have the Hollywood Express ? Wouldn't break the bank and seems to get good reviews Chain Reaction Cycles.

serendip wrote: »

If you can remember to avoid going under low barriers, then the roof is a far better option. It keeps the bike away from road dirt and doesn't obscure the license plate.

I've ruled out a roof rack. Thanks though.

edit -TB, you're some douche!

trailbiker

Woops! Sorry for confusion. Friend already logged in to his account.

cdaly_

I have the Hollywood F1 which has been fine for many years. It doesn't have the rubber cushions for top tubes but looks like it has more in the way of standoff from the car body. It also has IMO a better hinge mechanism. I don't like the plastic hub which, once it breaks, renders the rack useless.

One thing to note when hanging a rack, the bottom cushions put a lot of pressure on the bodywork. I ended up denting a boot lid before realising this. Always place the rack such that the bottom cushion rests on a strong point...

trailbiker

Thanks cdaly_. How would I mount more than one bike on to that and stop them from rubbing or banging off each other?

experimenter

I am going to get the Hollywood Express 3 for my CLK Coupe... I am sick of putting the back seats down and squeezing the bike in the boot..

cdaly_

trailbiker wrote: »

Thanks cdaly_. How would I mount more than one bike on to that and stop them from rubbing or banging off each other?

You'd want a bit of padding between bikes or something. I usually carry just the kids' bikes and I'm not too worried if they make contact. I do, however, use a ratchet luggage strap to clamp them all together when loaded. They'll probably not rub that way.

Diarmuid

serendip wrote: »

If you can remember to avoid going under low barriers, then the roof is a far better option. It keeps the bike away from road dirt and doesn't obscure the license plate.

I totally disagree. You can't discount the risk of low barriers and the increase in fuel consumption with a roof mounted rack is quite significant. The amount of road dirt your bike will pick up is tiny unless the roads are completely muddy, in which case you'll probably pick up the mud while cycling on them... As for the license plate, if you feel it's an issue, a license plate can be printed for a tenner and hung on the rack.

I have used a towbar rack, a boot mounted rack and a roof rack. I'd recommend them in that order.

triggermortis

I have a Saris bones 2 which is good for 2 bikes - they do a 3 bike version, called a bones 3.
Only used it once so far, but it's good. The legs adjust for pretty much any car - I think their site has a menu to check which rack will fit which car

Rew

I've a Hollywood express. Used it for the first time from Dub to Westport and back at the weekend for Gaelforce, 2 bikes. Did the job well, you have to be care full to tighten the straps as much as possible and id recommend tieing them back around them selfs as well. I popped one of the top straps off on the Westport Leenane road and the remaining straps held it but it was a bit scary!! My own fault for not getting it tighter, was rock solid all the way back to Dublin.

doozerie

Diarmuid wrote: »

I totally disagree. You can't discount the risk of low barriers and the increase in fuel consumption with a roof mounted rack is quite significant. The amount of road dirt your bike will pick up is tiny unless the roads are completely muddy, in which case you'll probably pick up the mud while cycling on them... As for the license plate, if you feel it's an issue, a license plate can be printed for a tenner and hung on the rack.

I have used a towbar rack, a boot mounted rack and a roof rack. I'd recommend them in that order.

I don't wish to hijack the thread but I'd be very interested in hearing more of why you rank racks in this order. I changed car recently and I think my old boot-mounted rack won't work on the new car, but I now have the additional options of towbar rack (current car doesn't have a towbar but can take one) or roof rack (would have to buy bars for this). My only real niggles with the boot-mounted rack were that it obscured license plate a little (possibly not enough to make it illegal and in any case easy to tackle as you suggest) and rear lights (not so easy to resolve), it obscured my rear view a little, and I couldn't use the rear windscreen wiper with rack in place. Towbar or roof racks would tackle some or all of these but not having used either I wonder whether I'm simply not thinking of the issues that they themselves might introduce.

@trailbiker, My previous car was a VW Golf and I used a Hollywood rack with it (can't recall the exact model off-hand but I'll check later). It connected via 2 straps at the top and 2 straps at the bottom, which I'd imagine is common enough with a lot of racks of that style. It took two road bikes comfortably enough, though with the bikes butted up against each other so paintwork was liable to minor damage. It could probably take a third road bike, in that the arms were long enough, but I'd wonder whether the straps would take the weight - that concern is not based on anything tangible though, possibly just groundless paranoia on my part. Any time that I mounted two bikes on it I found myself wishing that I had a rack which spaced the bikes apart, such as a Saris Bones - however, I'm not sure how well those racks tackle the issue of preventing the lower halves of the hanging bikes from swinging and knocking against each other (and against the car).

There was a review of various bike racks, of all three types, in a recent edition of Cycling Plus. Think it was the August or July edition. May be worth a look if you can get access to a copy. They usefully included a measure of the additional fuel consumption of each rack tested, though if I remember correctly some of the figures seemed odd.

QueensGael

Totally recommend tow bar mounted racks. You don't have fiddly straps, and I find roof racks really tricky (I'm 5' and change

This Thule is on sale at the moment. Has a place for licence plate and rear lights. It's a gem!

2 Wheels Good

I've a Thule 9103 on my Mk4 Golf. Find it great. Once it's set up it's a max 2 min job to put on or off. Worth the extra couple of € as I'd a Hopkirk one before with straps and it took a lot longer to fit and was less secure.
I've used it for 2 bikes, don't think it'd take 3 too easily. Only other problem was it's a tight fit for my road bike, I've a medium and it only just fits. Not sure anyone else has had problems like that.

Diarmuid

The towbar rack is just a clean, easy to use, solid solution to the problem. You just tighten one bolt to mount the rack. Then there is no contact between the bikes and the car, it doesn't make your car taller or wider than normal, and you can easily open the boot without having to take the bikes off.
I have that Thule rack but I picked it up on sale in Halfords a good while ago. If you don't already have a towbar, then you have to consider if the convenience is worth the investment in a towbar. That's a call only you can make.

cython

Diarmuid wrote: »

The towbar rack is just a clean, easy to use, solid solution to the problem. You just tighten one bolt to mount the rack. Then there is no contact between the bikes and the car, it doesn't make your car taller or wider than normal, and you can easily open the boot without having to take the bikes off.
I have that Thule rack but I picked it up on sale in Halfords a good while ago. If you don't already have a towbar, then you have to consider if the convenience is worth the investment in a towbar. That's a call only you can make.

I wouldn't entirely agree with the wider part of the bolded text, as I think that depends a lot on the car and bike in question. If I put my 60cm frame road bike on a rear-mounted rack, be it boot or towball mounted, it is going to be wider than most cars that said rack will be attached to.

I don't have a rack at the moment, but may well be looking for one in a while, and while I would consider the towball route, the fact of either being limited to cars that have a mount fitted, or having to spend more to get one fitted, when changing car, would be somewhat offputting to me. Having said that, boot mounted racks are the only ones not to require some additional hardware (be it a tow bar or roof bars), and if you are apt to be carrying bikes often enough, then it might be worth it. If you only do it a couple of times a year, then possibly not so much.

Hatcho

I recently picked up one of these from Amazon - Thule towbar rack

Great piece of kit at a reasonable price - and shipping to IRL is free. Very easy to mount/dismount from car and folds up nicely to fit in the boot whilst I'm off cycling the trails.

As with all racks that dont have troughs for the wheels, you need to place padding between the bikes to prevent rubbing - but I'm hoping to find spacer clamps (like the ones on the pricier racks) to keep the bikes separated from each other.

smacl

We've the Hollywood f4 as we need to carry four bikes for family trips. While it does the job, you have to be careful with the pedals of the first bike coming into contact with the pain work, and getting all four bikes on is a bit of a job. Getting four bikes on is about 5-10 mins of a job.

If you've got a tow bar option, I'd reckon a tow bar mounted solution is better. I'm always a bit wary of putting a substantial load on a hatchback door in a way that its not specifically designed for, but that's just my paranoia.

cdaly_

doozerie wrote: »

obscured license plate a little (possibly not enough to make it illegal and in any case easy to tackle as you suggest) and rear lights (not so easy to resolve), it obscured my rear view a little, and I couldn't use the rear windscreen wiper with rack in place.

cython wrote: »

Having said that, boot mounted racks are the only ones not to require some additional hardware (be it a tow bar or roof bars), and if you are apt to be carrying bikes often enough, then it might be worth it. If you only do it a couple of times a year, then possibly not so much.

I ended up (after being done by french police for obscured plate and lights) fitting a trailer socket to the car (no tow hitch) and using a trailer lights bar with the rack. You definately need something like this on the continent where they actually enforce the law. Here in .IE, you can get away with flouting the law with the bike rack...

smacl wrote: »

We've the Hollywood f4 as we need to carry four bikes for family trips. While it does the job, you have to be careful with the pedals of the first bike coming into contact with the pain work, and getting all four bikes on is a bit of a job. Getting four bikes on is about 5-10 mins of a job.

It's not that much of a job to remove a pedal on the innermost bike to clear the paintwork...

Zen0

QueensGael wrote: »

Totally recommend tow bar mounted racks. You don't have fiddly straps, and I find roof racks really tricky (I'm 5' and change

This Thule is on sale at the moment. Has a place for licence plate and rear lights. It's a gem!

+ 1 on this. Really good rack if you have a towbar. Had an old Paddy Hopkirk strap mounted rack previously but it was causing damage to the cars. Have also used a Thule 591 (http://www.thule.com/en/IE/Products/Bike-Carriers/RoofCarriers/Thule-ProRide-591) which is a brilliant piece of kit if you have roof bars. It is more awkward with a high car though, and will increase your fuel consumption.

trailbiker

Thank you everyone for your helpful suggestions. I actually went for the Saris Bones 3 before it was mentioned here so it's reassuring to see that it got a couple of positive mentions afterwards.