You are hereForums / By Discipline / Mountain (off road) / MTB Gear / Bike rack

Bike rack


mrptl's picture

By mrptl - Posted on 05 March 2012

Hi guys,

Thinking to buy a bike rack to put on my car (Honda H-RV)

The upper part where you attach the straps onto the car is glass… bit worry that it could break it.
See this image: http://image.cellbazaar.com/images/568484ee-0272...
Do you think it's ok?

What do you think of this rack? http://www.cellbikes.com.au/Allen-Folding-2-Bike...

Cheers

Tags
Brian's picture

I can't comment on those but just make sure you don't cover your number plate or lights otherwise you will get booked.

AdrianG's picture

I don't see a problem. I have a Thule system which is very similar.

You're worried about the glass? The weight of the bike will actually be carried by the top straps, not the struts that sit against the window. In fact the struts are just there as a skeleton, givig structure to the whole thing.

It actually looks like a very good (quality) piece of kit, at a very decent price. In your shoes, I'd definitely go have a closer look at it.

Hope this help. Cheers, Adrian.

fastfreddie's picture

Hi I had one years ago,long term it will scratch your bodywork and glass(sand!) and the straps will suffer with exposure to sun and UV.Best is a towball mount.Freddie.

fastfreddie's picture

Hi I had one years ago,long term it will scratch your bodywork and glass(sand!) and the straps will suffer with exposure to sun and UV.Best is a towball mount.Freddie.

fastfreddie's picture

Hi I had one years ago,long term it will scratch your bodywork and glass(sand!) and the straps will suffer with exposure to sun and UV.Best is a towball mount.Freddie.

fastfreddie's picture

Hi I had one years ago,long term it will scratch your bodywork and glass(sand!) and the straps will suffer with exposure to sun and UV.Best is a towball mount.Freddie.

hawkeye's picture

Quadruple post, that's gotta be a record. Smiling Gotta love phones! Eye-wink

pancakes's picture

I'd check with your local Honda dealer or maybe a roof rack/bike rack specialist before I'd attach it to the glass at the top as you say. Can you get the straps onto the frame underneath the glass at the top there somehow?

AdrianG's picture

Attach to/under the glass? No please! Smiling The straps will go over the top and bottom lips of the tailgate frame.

Re the previous comment about the sun perishing straps. That is possible, but never in my experience in years of operating carriers like this, when I only had them out when transporting bikes.

It makes sense never to leave things out in the sun, anyway. The sun will destroy anything, give it enough chance! Smiling

pancakes's picture

Mate, the top lip on the H-RV IS glass.

Fatboy's picture

There's a comparison of bike racks in this months AMB magazine. Maybe worth a read?

AdrianG's picture

The top lip of the Honda is glass? Then it's unlikely this'll be a safe option. You really don't want to test the strength of the bonding of the glass by hanging a bike or two off it.

I'd definitely check with the manufacturer/refer the manual.

I did some googling, and didn't find any dealers with bike carriers for HRVs; lots of roof racks and towbars though.

Alternative; Ask for the version with the v e r y l o n g top straps. The ones that go all the way to the front bumper!

muvro's picture

The glue would definitely hold, however, the localised stress on the glass (from the straps) I dare say will not.

Tow bar mounted rack is the best. Unfortunately, with that brings the extra cost of a tow bar etc. But well worth it imo.

Scratchy's picture

Check the latest AMB magazine for a full review of bike rack carriers. I would also check your local Honda dealer as there is probably honda adapters or racks available across the top. Go to a roof rack specialist, not just a car shop with a couple of racks in the corner and price there version of putting a rack across. (if you don't know I rang the Thule distributor and they told me a couple of shop that they pushed a lot of product through.

Once you have the bars going across you can then mount the racks, once like this are very highly regarded and once you've gotten over the price you'll be using them for years.

http://nolimitswatersports.com.au/thule-roof-rac...

Brian's picture

Get a tow bar and a proper bike rack. I have the old model of the below and love it. I have done some extreme mods to take a 3rd bike but I think if you get the 2 bike one you can now get an adaptor to take a 3rd one. They can be a bit tricky with multiple full suspension bikes to get the perfect mount.

http://www.thule.com.au/details.php?p_id=91&list...

Personally though, if I was to go another rack I would just make one myself.

Scratchy's picture

It might also be worth mentioning that having the bikes on top of the car eats into your fuel economy. I'm guessing it's about 10% maybe higher.

muvro's picture

Yep, I made one myself Brian. Made it to grab the down tube and I can padlock the clamp. Fits all of my bikes bar one.

However, I'm going to make a new one that will grab the bike by the front wheel. Save scratching the frame after a ride.

mrptl's picture

Thanks for all your answers.

Unfortunately, the top of the strap will attach to the (tinted) glass lip on top of the boot.
I doubt the 'v e r y' long straps are the best solution, but nice idea Smiling

I was thinking of buying a roof rack/bike rack, but these a quite pricy!
Towbar since interesting, how much is it in average to install the mounting on a car?

I took a picture of the top view of the boot, sorry for the quality. You can see from the L-R: the grey bit is roof ending of the roof, then the gap, to the dark bit on the right going down, is the tinted glass.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

GiantNut's picture

Get yourself some crossbars then a Thule 591. Exxy at first but then the convenience and you have it for years. Wanna go for a ride then grab the bike and pop on the roof - done - no fiddling about with straps. The one your thinking about will scratch the car. I have used ones like yours, tow bar ones but the Thule 591 beats em.

Everytime i update my car i just get new cross bars sell the old ones on eBay.

The only time a 591 gets real expensive is when you forget your bike and drive into a garage - Nasty. Heard a story about a brand new Pinarello Dogma coming back from the shop where he bought it - might be urban legend but it could happen.

radar36's picture

It depends on what rating of tow bar you want, but I would say it is still at least $4-500 for a towbar fitted to your car, and then you still need to buy the rack. A roof rack will be slightly cheaper, depending on the brand.

I think the one advantage of the roof rack is for transporting things other than the bike, ie kayak, bed, timber or PVC pipe etc.

With the towball at least you can tow a trailer if necessary.

Downside of a towball hitch? I know some people who will not look at a 4 cylinder car that has a towball on it, due to the stress that towing a trailer can put on an engine. If you have one just for a bike rack, people will automatically make the assumption that you have towed a 1 tonne trailer behind it.

Just my 2 cents.

AdrianG's picture

Regarding the price of fitting a tow ball/rack; it depends on whether you want the rack wired up.

Much, much cheaper to just have it mounted, and to forget the electrics. If you're happy to live with the limitation that you can't actually tow anything.

I did this for my first car, and paid around $150, if memory serves.

Simon's picture

To figure out which wire is which and wire the lights yourself.

First of all figure out which wire is ground. This will be the wire that is connect to the car chassis. Set the meter to Ohms, one probe on bare metal on your car chassis. Touch the other probe on the various contacts in junction plug in the rear of the car that branches off your lights. When resistance is practically zero this will be ground.

Next set the meter to read up to 20V DC. Place the black probe on the ground terminal and place the red on the others in succession. When the needle moves in time with the left indicator you have the left indicator pin. Repeat for other indicator, brakes, tail lights etc. Sometimes there may be two pins that provide power for the same function.

Wire the connector plug for the trailer to the correct pins. Often you can buy a plug and kit for your make of car to make this easier.

Done this on a few cars.

mrptl's picture

Just to conclude this topic, I've bought a second hand Thule roof rack on eBay for $60 and who is worth ~$350,
and then a 'fit kit' to match my car (pads and foots), $60 also. Nice deal at the end.
I'm trying to sell the fit kit I took off, not desperate to sell it, but it's there.

Next, find a bike carrier… hopefully cheap also.

> Does anyone use the Thule ProRide 591? http://www.thule.com/en/GB/Products/Bike-Carrier...
> Or the Thule 518? http://www.torpedo7.com.au/products/TUCAONN58/ti...
> Or what about the Torpedo7 at $39? http://www.torpedo7.com.au/products/T7CAON9FR/ti...

Is this last one going to brake while I'm on the highway at 114km/h?
Are these going to fit my GT Sensor (50mm ø lower frame tube)?
Any other roof bike carriers to suggest?

Cheerios

daveh's picture

I have two of the 591s and they are great. Some of the advantages over the others include the ability to move the front and rear wheel clamps without tools (notice that the T7 has holes and assume you need tools to move) so easy to put on different bikes, it has a lock built in (although I add another lock if not in view of the car), no need to take the front wheel off (if you have a through axle you'll need t get a converter as the 518 uses a quick release mechanism). The 591 feels strong and really holds a bike stable where some others just seem a little flimsy. I've had up to 10 different bikes on them, road, mtb, kids, carbon, alu, etc., and never had an issue with any of them not fitting.

mrptl's picture

Cheers thanks.

The 591 sounds nice, but of course it's the most expensive of the lot.
What about the Rhinos?

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Best Mountain Bike