roof or towbar carrier ?

[999gsi]

just looking for peoples experienced opinion.. I do a lot of mountain biking... I've always had estate cars so just put them in the back... I now have a Mondeo hatch, its fitted with a tow bar so should I go for a rear carrier or splash out on roof bars? Just to add the max number of cycle I may carry would be 1 adult and 2 childs (aged 8 and 10).. thanks Phil

Edited by 999gsi on Monday 24th November 18:03

[Watchman]

I've got both and prefer each for different occasions.

Roof rails for shorter journeys, and for just chucking the bikes on top. I leave the roof carriers on the car so they're always available.

But for longer journeys, and for when we use the truck (we have an ML) which is too tall for me to put a bike on the roof, we use the towbar carrier. The bikes are shielded from the elements and road debris, being behind the car.

You're in less danger of accidentally knocking the car by putting the bikes on the towbar but the towbars carrier is bloody heavy and having to drag it out of the garage, through the house and to put on the car is not something you can do spontaneously. If we didn't have the ML, I'd probably be happy with the convenience of the roof rack and carriers.

[adamInca]

Roof fixings are great - the ones I had (Thule) meant all you had to do was put the bike up there and lock in the hinged arm. Having said that, you have to lift the bikes up there at the end of a long ride and you have added drag which will make it a noisier drive and probably knock your mpg down a little. Oh and remember there might be places you can't go with that extra height.
Tow mounts are a bit more fiddly (mine doesn't have a locking arm like my roof mount so I have to use straps and locks) but much nicer to drive with. Depending on the car and bracket you might have trouble accessing the boot with it on though so buy carefully.

So, roof bars for local trips, tow bar for longer ones as long as you get one which lets you access your luggage space.

[Barchettaman]

You can get a tailgate carrier too, on the photo below it's on the Zafira but it works equally well on the Vectra:



The Mont Blanc carrier above cost €1, local eBay pickup only!

[richardxjr]

Towbar

As well as the heavy 4-bike carrier, I've a light simple cheap folding 2-bike towball carrier, perfect for chucking the muddy mtb on (can fit 2 on just)

[anonymous-user]

I have just been through the same thing. 1 Series BMW after an estate car. Settled upon a Thule 9502




I almost went with the roof rack but I saw the downsides of a roofrack as;

Worse fuel consumption
Bike gets battered in the elements
Muddy MTB would shed mud onto the roof
Fork mounting roof rack requires pissing about for axles vs QR
Roof rack bars noisy
Much more expensive

So.

£130 for the Thule and job jobbed.

[chrislusty]

Having gone through the same, with the same car, I went for the tow bar option, and went Thule too.

I am short, so didn't want to lift Tue bikes up onto the roof being one reason.
When I looked into it, the Mondeo hatch (mk4) cannot have a normal carrier as its all on the glass.

The bike rack is brilliant, very stable, the bikes are protected, do not move around. My only regret is, I went for 3bikes, should have purchased one for 4bikes, as I have two girls now, so will need to upgrade in future.

[5potTurbo]

Always used hatch or towbar carriers.
Currently have a 3 bike carrier from Decathlon that's tow bar mounted and tilts away from the hatch so it can be opened even with the bikes on.

[Kell]

The only extra consideration with a towbar mounted one is having the correct lighting board and number plate holder.

But if you have the towbar already fitted then it should have the correct lighting pin too.

I remember Top Gear did a (not very scientific) test where they worked out it was cheaper to courier your bike to the other end of the country than you'd lose in fuel with the added drag.

[ndg]

Towbar mount here - seen too many mangled bikes at the bike shop after they were driven into barriers/low carparks/trees........

[Amateurish]

Towbar carrier every time.

[JaseB]

Popped to Afan at the weekend, 3 blokes, 3 full sussers on the 3 bike Thule tow bar carrier on the back of the A6 at appropriate M4 speeds, couldn't have worked better. Gets my vote.

[JaseB]

Popped to Afan at the weekend, 3 blokes, 3 full sussers on the 3 bike Thule tow bar carrier on the back of the A6 at appropriate M4 speeds, couldn't have worked better. Gets my vote.

[tjdixon911]

I've just started using a tow bar mounted carrier after years of using Roof Racks / Rear Hatch Carriers - As careful as I was, all my previous cars have suffered some form of damage from the installation of these - a slip of the roof rack when putting the bars on, dropping the front wheel to the roof when holding the bike up etc. With the rear mount I tried to protect my rear tailgate with clear protection tape with the rear mounted rack but still managed to damage the paint work / rear screen where the mounts sit (Saris Bones).

The tow mounted one is completely off the car so damage from rack to car is out of the question - admittedly the bike could slip off the rack and hit the car if your not paying attention when loading up but your not having to stretch to load them on - some racks are better than others in this respect, I have the Thule 9502, its good value but as there are no "frame clamps" it relies on straps to hold the bikes, these can be a little fiddly when loading (this is the time where the bike may slip) - the Thule 941 has clamps so I can see these being easier to load but are almost £100 more..

[numtumfutunch]

Have used both extensively

Roof:

Convenient and easy but bloody noisy and even without bikes loaded knocks your mpg significantly
In addition you are marked to the local scrotes as someone who may have tasty bikes in the garage if you park on a driveway

Towbar:

Minimal noise and mpg penalty, bikes feel much safer too
Only con is less spontaneous (takes me 5-10 mins to get out of garage and fit bikes) plus you need somewhere to store it
And a towbar too which is £££ if not fitted

Towbar every time for me though

Cheers

[IroningMan]

Atera Strada towbar mount: time-consuming to adjust for each bike the first time, but the car behaves as if it's not there.

I've seen too many hatch mounted racks lying on the hard shoulders of Autoroutes to use anything else - and the roof is really too high to be practical.

[999gsi]

Thanks for the replies. Will get a towbar mounted..my next question is.. hanger or platform ? can I fit an 8 yr old's bmx on a hanger ?..