Bikes on top of cars.. Take care!

[Globalti]

TBH now that I think about it, I remember we also removed the seatposts and stood the frames up vertically.

 

[broadway]

Incidentally that bike seems to come off very cleanly, and the holes that the brakes stick into are there before hand. I'm suspicious.

It looks like it is hanging from the right handside of the drop handlbars rather than the brakes. There is lager hole on the right which isn't there at the start, it could be a setup, but apart from the bike coming off cleanly I can't see anything else.

 

[Globalti]

It's not staged; the rack mount actually tears a chunk out of the down tube, leaving the bike bouncing on its top tube. The ped walking away is also a clue that it's not set up.

 

[galaxy]

I have a Volkswagen Transporter, loads of room, happy days.

 

[ColinJ]

We can't say whether or not it was done deliberately, but the bike clearly was ripped off the top of the car.

I have looked at all the frames at double-size in an animated GIF editor and can see some holes in the awning before the bike hits it. Something else had hit it before that bike did!

 

[Profpointy]

I nearly took the roof off a (hired) 7.5 tonner. The insurance specifically did not cover this either, so I'd have had to pay the full cost. I had carefully worked out there were no bridges on my route, so put that particular worry out of my mind whilst I concentrated on driving this huge truck - which us oldies are allowed to drive on our car licences. Unfortunately I took a wrong turn in the fog, and suddenly remembered half way under a low bridge. The label in the cab said 11' 9" or something, and in my mirror, the sign on the bridge said 11' something-inches. Must have been very close !

 

[Donger]

S'easy: for 2 adults + 2 kids you have to fold the 1/3 part of the seat on the left flat, then completely dismantle the bikes stacking the frames in the boot area with blankets between them then stack the wheels anywhere they will fit and the two kids on the 2/3 part of the seat. ..... admittedly it takes time but at least the bikes are safe inside the car.

And there's your answer as to why people put them on the roof. I roof stack mine in a matter of seconds and it is locked, and out of the way. Also takes just seconds to remove it, and you are on your way. Meanwhile there is all the usual room for passengers and luggage inside.

I will admit that I know of someone who sliced his carbon time trial bike in two at Exeter Services (none of his insurance policies would pay out), and that I once parked mine under a tree, and was lucky to get away with it. There have been a few times when it has been a slight inconvenience, but for the most part it is just so quick and easy that I'm not likely to switch to any other way.

 

[Sara_H]

This happened to me once. We went into a museum that had one of those gates designed to stop camper vans going in. ever forget the crunching as the bike hit. It was a crap car anyway!

 

[fossyant]

Dont like bikes on the back of cars. In the way of spray and if someone runs into the back of you, they smash the bikes and cars. Mine go on the roof - all 4.

 

[screenman]

Big loose objects in the back of a car is a no no for me, being as I work loosely with body shops I have seen what happens to them in a crash.

 

[mcshroom]

Another plus for roof mounts is the ability to get bikes on tiny cars. For example, one member here has a two-bike carrier on the top of a Peugeot 107. Fitting two bikes (or even one bike) into one of those would be quite an exercise.

 

[mcshroom]

[QUOTE 3204490, member: 259"]You could get four on a towbar carrier and you'd have room for a lunchbox on the roof. [/QUOTE]
Unless the rules changed recently, The C1/107/Aygo are not approved for towbars so it would be illegal to fit one.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

[QUOTE 3204467, member: 259"]I don't like bikes on roofs. To be honest the spray is no worse on a towbar mount as the car has rear mudguards and I'm terrified of crashing into carpark barriers and low roofs as above. Not that I would ever be daft enough to do such a thing of course.

Anyway, the roof is usually being used for something else, like an expired grandmother rolled into a rug.[/QUOTE]

Oh do you wait until they're dead first?!

 

[screenman]

Death by nodding dog?

Not often I expect but my son's friend sitting in the front seat was killed by a unbelted rear seat passenger.

 

[guitarpete247]

When I was a student a group of us went down to London in college minibus. The guy driving it decided to park it in a multistorey. Didn't realise there was an aerial on the roof till it smashed the first light in the roof. Couldn't reverse because of the angle of the aerial so had to drive all the way round to the exit smashing every light and left the place in darkness. Thankfully this was well before CCTV .

By the way I wasn't the driver. I couldn't drive for at least another 15 years.