Carrying my mountain bike?

[DavidIF]

How are people doing this? I am not planning on a tow bar and instead favour carrying my bike on the roof,does anybody do this? And if so what roof bars/carriers are people using?

Sorry for so many questions.

[Professor]

I have the Thule roof bars and bike carrier. When i see how much road grime is sucked onto the back of the car, I'd freak out if my bike was back there.

The Thule system has excellent fit and build. It's easy to fit and the big rubber pads mean my paint work is untouched.

The bars are lockable and the bike carrier bit is also lockable.  The clamp for the bike frame is very good/strong and highly adjustable and the wheel straps can easily accommodate big wheels (I have very high profile aero wheels on my road bike and the straps fits with plenty to spare, so mountain bike wheels should be no problem).

Extra bonus if you have a sunroof is that you can look up and check on the bike! (and yes you can still open the sunroof with the bars in place).

If your mountain bike is heavy, Thule also do roof bars that actually slide out from the side of the car so you're not reaching over to put the bike on.  I had these on my Superb and they were amazing.

[DavidIF]

Thanks for that prof

[chris c]

How do the bars fit to the car? When the door is open on my 3dr I can see a threaded hole in the roof. The user manual shows a mounting hole at the rear of the car but I can't see this on my car?

[Professor]

Hi Chris C

Sorry, I can't answer that for the 3 door, mines a 5 door.  The hole in the front door-top is threaded, but on the Thule, the hole is just used to locate a pin (non threaded) so there's nothing to screw-in.  You just locate the pin on the underside of the clamp and then tighten using the handles on the sides of the bars.  On the 5 door, there is no locating pin (as I recall) on the rear doors, the clamp is flat and just hooks under the upper lip of the rear door aperture.  Perhaps this is how the 3 door works, you just pop-open the rear windows and slide the clamps in…  Maybe someone with a 3 door and Thule system can answer this for sure...

[scgf]

Is it easy to remove the Thule bars when not needed? I would only use them to carry my bike.

[Professor]

I usually remove the bars between races too.  

Yes, removal (and installation) is very quick and easy (3 or 4 minutes tops) - it can be done on your own although it is easier (and less worrying for your paintwork) to have two people to take the bars off - assuming you do what I do and leave the bars/bike carrier all bolted together and remove it as one complete unit...

I went to B&Q and bought a couple of wall-mounted 'ladder hooks' and store my bars hanging on the wall in my garage when not on the car.