I'm about to take delivery of a pair of bikes and am after suggestions for transporting them. The Megane Sport Tourer (estate, to the rest of us) is not fitted with a tow bar, boot does have roof rails, so I assume a roof rack of some sort is some way to go.
any recommendations, or products/brands to avoid ?
cheers, and Happy New Year
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Well I have had both towbar and roof mounted carriers, my thoughts are:
Towbar
Pros - solid, doesn't affect mpg too much, easy to use, no lifting above head, no worries bout height restrictions in car parks, tunnel, can be as cheap or as dear as you want (you get what you pay for), towbar itself gives car extra protection, usually very quick fitting
Cons - can sometimes interfere with access to boot depending on model, more susceptible to damage eg manoeuvring bumps
Roof
Pros - much cheaper, leaves full access to boot
Cons - hammers fuel consumption, having to get bikes onto roof, risk of damage to car bodywork whilst lifting, much more time consuming fitting roof bars.
My preference was a towbar mounted one on my Scenics as I could get a towbar fitted for about £150 but when I got my Seat the cheapest towbar was over £300 and no one could confirm to me whether it would affect the reversing sensors.
I carry 4 bikes and lifting them onto the roof of the Seat is a challenge in itself, having to take a folding step thingy in the car with me.
If you are keeping the car for a while I would suggest the towbar option.
However if there are only 2 bikes does that mean only 2 people in the car? Will the seats not fold and put the bikes in the back, with or without their front wheels attached?**
** If removing wheels remember to take them with you! My B-I-L set off one weekend for a few climbs up North which involved cycling from road to base of mountain, opened boot and realised that he had left the front wheel in his garage!
Edited by BobbyG on 31/12/2007 at 09:56
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I would agree with you Bobby. Given the choice next time I would probably go for the tow bar option.
I have a 3 bike roof rack for my Mondeo estate TDCI. Bought it off t'interweb including cross bars for about £75 all up. It does work well and the fuel consumption isn't too badly affected if you are just pottering about. We go to a forestry commission place about 20 miles away on a regular basis.
However, on a 2000 mile round trip to southern France last summer, the fuel effect was noticeable when trying to maintain good progress at motorway speeds. To keep it in perspective though, the net effect on fuel cost for that trip was about £80 extra which is still a lot cheaper than having to buy a more expensive rack and tow bar or the cost of hiring bikes during the holiday.
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Another thought on this - Last summer, in the French hypermarkets, bikes were soooo cheap you could almost take the view that you could just buy some while there for holiday use and either dump them at the end or sell them on to a new arriver at a knockdown price !
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Try looking here >> www.pendle-bike.co.uk/ for some info.
I have a tow bar rack that has held 4 bikes (using the longer "prongs" of the 4 bike arms). We only have 3 bikes but had to take our son's friend one day and they worked fine. Pendle can probably make anything special for you as well if you ask. I've been down there and they were most helpful.
The tow bar version suited me OK on the journeys we've made. Occasionally looks a bit hairy as the bar "bounces" in your rearview mirror when going over bumps in the road etc -but at least you know they are still there!
You'll also need . . .
1 Plenty of spongy central heating pipe insulation from your local plumbing supplies shop / B&Q as well before you load up for the first time - they fit round the tubes of the frame to protect them from scratching against each other. Sold in approx 1.5m lengths - go for the wider 22mm / 3/4" ones.
2 Some old tea towels to stuff between the bikes to make them even more secure - and to wipe your frames down too
3 Bungy ties to keep them all together.
4 And a good lock to make sure they are still there after you stop at the services.
Good luck!
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Thanks for the answers so far.
Can't get a towbar fitted as it is a company car.
I had been favouring the roof option because I was convinced the hatch was plastic, but I'be double checked and it isn't, so now I'm thinking that I'm short and light and don't want to spend the best part of £250 on a roof mounted system if I'm going to struggle to lift the bikes on, so I could be heading for a rear mount if I could find a recommended make or somebody with experience of the same car - time to waddle over to the megane owners forum....
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Mr Bora sir....
if you do come up with a decent location to get some megane estate bike bits, could you post it here? According to the wife, one of my 'new year objectives' is to find a way of attaching the bikes to our car....
thanks
pete
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I'd warn you off boot mounted racks whether your lid is plastic or not. They tend to not be very stable, they cover the lights and numberplate, meaning that you need to have a lighting board to stay legal, or they are way up high, which means that you have all the disadvantages of a roofrack without the stability.
You can get roof bars and mounts very cheaply. I've always used Thule, which costs more, but to be honest the main advantage is that the mounts are very quickly adjustable for any bike. If you are always carrying the same bikes then I doubt that this would be a problem. A pair of cheap roof bars from Ikea, plus a Halfords special at £40 for two mounts and you'd be away.
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