Car roof cycle carriers

[Spartak]

Can anyone recommend me a roof bar system ?


I own a 2005 VW Golf & require to fit a roofbox on one side & a single bike carrier on the other.
Due to an increasing family our boot is now full of kiddies stuff

 

[Kies]

You just develop an involuntary flinch when passing under 'surprise' bridges and barriers

Where do you people live?????
We in laandun have these things called trucks ... So cars with bikes are good to go

 

[Crackle]

Excellent info re size of carriers. Thanks

Further to this, I recall I had some pictures which I took to illustrate for a similar thread.

You can see below my car has four carriers on the roof but quite a narrow roofline. As such the bars stick out either side and I have used that to mount the outside carriers outside of the foot (see 2nd picture). This works for the 531's but the 591 mount isn't wide enough to go either side of the foot, though is wider overall once the ratchet mechanism is included. I'd be pushing it to mount 4 inside of the rails, space for bikes would be getting pretty tight and would depend on height of bars and making sure saddles were dropped etc... Nothing insurmountable but keep it all under consideration whichever options you go for.

 

[fossyant]

Here is our 'Team Car'

Nissan (Thule) Aero bars, Halfords Advanced Racks (Thule 531)

 

[fossyant]

Same issue as Crackle - the outer two racks are at the widest point, both fitted each side of the 'leg'. Two person job to fit though = heavy.

 

[PpPete]

Can anyone recommend me a roof bar system ?


I own a 2005 VW Golf & require to fit a roofbox on one side & a single bike carrier on the other.
Due to an increasing family our boot is now full of kiddies stuff

Thule is def. the market leader.
Couldn't tell you what "feet" you need for your car, but you can work that on roofbox.co.uk
AFAIK you can get a slightly longer than normal set of bars to give you a bit more width for multiple items.

We've just invested in new feet and a set of "wing" bars so as to fit already-owned roofbox on to the "new" (2004 vintage) car.
Whether the caimed aerodynamic benefit of the wing bar is worth the extra cost over the regular bar I'm not sure, but 5 up and heavily loaded in both boot and top box we still returned 40mpg on recent trip to Alps and back.... which is only about 5 mpg less than I can do on a long trip solo at similar speeds and with no gubbins on the top.

 

[Deleted member 23692]

I've just had a timely email from roofracks.co.uk, and they're offering free Thule luggage with every 2 or more 591 ProRides
http://www.roofracks.co.uk/Thule-Products/Roof-Mounted/Bike-Cycle-Carriers/591-ProRide/

 

[Peteaud]

Here is our 'Team Car'

Nissan (Thule) Aero bars, Halfords Advanced Racks (Thule 531)

View attachment 19655

Do the Halfords ones you have use a funny u shaped bolt retainer?

They look very like my halfords ones.
Cant fault them either.

 

[fossyant]

You mean that hooks under the bars and is locked one side, as one side slots in.

 

[Peteaud]

You mean that hooks under the bars and is locked one side, as one side slots in.

yes.

 

[Kies]

I have zeroed in on used Thule roof bars for my car - the cost of 2nd hand 591 pro rode carriers isn't that much cheaper than web stockist so we have decided to buy a brand new pair.
This roof bar thing has opened up all sorts of possibilities .... Bike and a roof box could carry all my bike kit (and then some), i may never have to sit bored out of my mind at the inlaws over a weekend ..... Where is Kies .... OUT RIDING NEW PLACES!!!!

 

[EltonFrog]

This is what I have and I can't speak highly enough of them. Model number is 591.
View attachment 19512

For what it's worth I have two of these, and I use them a lot on my MINI. They are excellent, driven thousands of miles with two bikes on at normal speeds.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

if anyone is after some of the Thule locking knobs, PM me. I have 4 unused all on the same key... (We needed 9, but turned out that 2 of the existing knobs are a different size, so we just have the locks towbar to car & the locks holding the bikes as different keys). The locking knobs are all the same.
If we are leaving the bikes of the rack, we also tend to add the usual bike locks when we stop at a service station. (don't leave them on whilst in transit because there is the potential for them to rub up & down on the bike frame...and don't ask me how I know... )