Tandems on roof bars

[Bonefish Blues]

That's a wooden version of the Helton carrier.

OP's for it now!

 

[jongooligan]

That's a wooden version of the Helton carrier.

Mine cost less than the p&p on that one.

I've put the extra thickness on now to keep the pedals away from the roof. Means that the toe straps aren't long enough to fasten the tandem to the rack now but I'll sort summat else out. Trial run tomorrow I hope.

 

[jongooligan]

Tandem hung on side of car. Pilots seat/stokers handlebar unit removed and fastened to frame with toestraps. Front wheel also strapped to frame to prevent handlebars banging on the car windscreen

Tandem on the roof rack.

Easy peasy.

 

[jongooligan]

Shake down test this morning had mixed results. The rack is rock solid but the straps that hold the bike to the rack are incredibly noisy. The one you can see in the middle of the pic above vibrates at the same frequency as a hammer drill and is equally as loud at 40 mph. Back to the drawing board - U bolts instead of straps I think.

 

[Oldfentiger]

I hope you get it working satisfactorily.
I weighed up the options and won one of these on Ebay for £32 :

https://winstanleysbikes.co.uk/etc-...OD_M7_FVsbUvQhlMz4civF7Ydg_8X-1gaAn3qEALw_wcB

Ex-display with the end caps missing.
I bought the end caps and the kit for bolting the carrier to aero bars for £20

I'm hatching a cunning plan to help me lift the tandem onto the rack now, which will involve adapting a telescopic brush handle

 

[Alex H]

Shake down test this morning had mixed results. The rack is rock solid but the straps that hold the bike to the rack are incredibly noisy. The one you can see in the middle of the pic above vibrates at the same frequency as a hammer drill and is equally as loud at 40 mph. Back to the drawing board - U bolts instead of straps I think.

That's what the Helton uses, not a full U more like a J. A couple of months down the line and you'll be saying the wood is too heavy and you want to change it to metal tubing

 

[jongooligan]

Bought some 300mm x 6mm stud from a well known DIY with some washers and wing nuts - total cost ~£6. Trapped the stud in a vice alongside a piece of pipe that is roughly the same diameter as the tandem frame tubes. Simply wound the stud around the pipe to form a couple of J bolts and slipped three layers of old inner tube over them to prevent them scratching the frame.
These J bolts now replace the straps that were vibrating so badly before.
They're not perfect as there's still a low frequency hum when the car is travelling over 30 mph. I've added some rubber washers to the set up and if that doesn't eliminate the noise I'm not sure where to go from there.

 

[jongooligan]

Rubber washers worked a treat. Done ~300 miles with the tandem on the roof this week with no problems. So with a very little skill you can have a tandem lifter/carrier for around £20.
Final picture showing hook bolt and rubber washer detail.

 

[Bazzer]

Been thinking about how to get our tandem on the car roof cheaply and easily. Cheap meant it would have to be a home made solution. Easy because we don't want to knack ourselves getting it up there. A bonus would be if we could come up with something that we could use to lift the canoe onto the car roof as well.

Here's a picture of the prototype.
View attachment 404111
The tandem is easily lifted onto the hooks and fastened to the frame using toe straps. It's then it's simply a matter of lifting the ends of the cross members and sliding the frame across the roof. The blue cord looped around the top spars is to prevent the whole thing falling towards you when the tandem is hooked on. There are more elegant ways to do this but I couldn't think of anything simpler.
Once the frame is on the roof it's then strapped to the roof rack using one of our canoe straps and the blue cord is slipped off. I've tried it and it works. It needs some fine tuning though. The pedals are perilously close to the roof and the handlebars are touching the windscreen so I'll need to add some thickness to the longitudinal spars.
I'll post another pic when it's finished.

I am not a tandem owner and have only ever risen one once, many years ago, but one solution to the weight problem might be a pulley or pulleys. (Assuming of course you have a garage with suitable joists you can attach them to.)
I have a car which had as an option a removable hard top.(Which is bloody heavy). Some members of the car club use pulleys to lower the top on to the car. Some have gone stage further and use electrical ones.

 

[jongooligan]

I am not a tandem owner and have only ever risen one once, many years ago, but one solution to the weight problem might be a pulley or pulleys. (Assuming of course you have a garage with suitable joists you can attach them to.)
I have a car which had as an option a removable hard top.(Which is bloody heavy). Some members of the car club use pulleys to lower the top on to the car. Some have gone stage further and use electrical ones.

Thanks for that @Bazzer but your assumption is correct, I don't have room in my garage for the lifting equipment. Apart from that, if I did have such a set up and got the tandem onto the car roof at home how would I get it off again when I got to where I wanted to ride it?

Anyway, if you read the thread you'll see I've got a cheap workable solution.

 

[swansonj]

I did a similar wooden frame to hold the tandem horizontal when we started tandeming (it was a wedding present). Then kids and trailers and further bikes and in due course a second child back tandem were added and alternatives were needed. I have been through three or different DIY solutions. I've just put it on the roof for a trip to the ferry this afternoon so here is my current solution.

It's basically a solo bike rack at the front and a vertical post at the back. The wheel channel of the solo is extended and bolted to a second wheel channel with spare bits of wood. The vertical post is a table leg from B&Q which is useful cos it's welded to a flange. The flange is bolted to a cut up plastic bread board. That is hinged to the rest of the breadboard so it can be folded down when the tandem is off the car. It's held upright by a sash window locking catch.

Fairly obvious tip: don't try to lift the tandem straight into position. Lift it almost horizontal over your head, locate the wheels in the channels, then hinge it up the rest of the way.

 

[srw]

This isn't going to be helpful for anyone in the thread, but it might be for someone else. I can highly recommend the following:

• Buy a tandem with S&S couplings. They are a robust, easy-to-use, reliable, long-lasting way of making a tandem smaller.
• Make your car a Ford C-Max. It's a reliable, economic, good value car with an enormous boot, but it drives like a standard hatchback rather than an estate or a minibus.
• Don't have children.

I realise the last point is a little contentious!

Yes, I know that S&S couplings are expensive. However, given the choice I'd advocate saving money on the car in order to spend on the bike.

One of us can easily load the tandem into the boot on our own. There's then enough room for luggage for a week and both of us. At a pinch you can even get a third person into the car, plus their luggage, in reasonable luggage. If you pack carefully you can even put in a bike for them.

 

[Bazzer]

Thanks for that @Bazzer but your assumption is correct, I don't have room in my garage for the lifting equipment. Apart from that, if I did have such a set up and got the tandem onto the car roof at home how would I get it off again when I got to where I wanted to ride it?

Anyway, if you read the thread you'll see I've got a cheap workable solution.

I saw you had a workable solution, I just offered a potential alternative. And with pulleys from a fiver upward, not breaking the bank if you had somewhere suitable to fit one or more to.
Yes you still have to get it off and back on again when you have finished your ride, but half of the lifting and potential damage to your car would be relieved.

 

[JDR]

It's no more Heath-Robinson than the Helton, it holds the bike lower, it's no more work to make than essential adaptation to the Helton - and it costs a lot less.

 

[VJOCK]

I have the altera tandem lift which does not seem to be available anymore. Roofbox do a tandem roof mounted rack for sub £200.
i can see how you might use som scaffold tube and keyclamp fixings might work too