Conference terri::cars_uk

    My advice is to go for the rack specifically designed for your car.
    
    I had the rather nasty experience of using one of those roof-racks sold
    at Halfords which was meant to fit any one of about a dozen cars... I
    was never convinced that it fitted my car properly (Peugeot 205... no roof
    gutters).
    
    This was finally proven to me when I was carrying a windsurfer rig on
    top of my car. At roughly 40mph the whole kit and caboodle took off
    from thr roof of my car whilst travelling on a dual carriageway near
    Chichester. (Fortunately for me and everyone behind me the wind blew
    everything onto the soft grass verge.)
    
    I pulled over and got out of my  car expecting to find the roof
    scratched to bits... I was amazed to find no damage whatsoever to my
    car. I then suspected that the rack was at fault. On contacting
    Halfords to relay the above story I was given my money back (a full
    month after buying the thing) and I gave them the bits back.
    
    Makes me think I wasn't the first punter that this had happened to as
    Halfords agreed to give me my money back without seeing the state of
    the roof-rack !
    
    Once again... my advice is to buy the rack specifically designed for
    your car.
    
    Regards,
    
    Stephen

    
    In Reading the only decent cycle shop I've come across is the new one
    oppposite the Butts Centre. They have both roof and tail gaite racks
    which they claim are multi-purpose, ie. fit nearly all cards. 
    
    I've been thinking of one of these carriers myself as I run a hatchback
    and don't much like the idea of using the roof (RE: -1s' experience). If
    you do buy one of these please give us your thoughts after a few uses.
    
    Ian

    As an addendum to reply 1...
    
    After my experience with the ol' Halfords special I then went out and
    bought the proper Peugeot roof bars for the 205 model.
    
    Basically the Peugeot bars were twice the price of the Halfords rack,
    and once I bought my cycle attachments the cost was more or less 100
    pounds. However I say the extra cost is worth the piece of mind.
    
    I have successfully carried the windsurfer rig on my 205 roof bars; my
    car also carries two mountain bikes with relative ease although loading
    and unloading can be a bit of a problem.
    
    Regards,
    
    Stephen.
    
    
    Ps. And no, the bikes won't fit on if the windsurfer rig is already on
    the roof !!

I bought one of those universal cycle carriers ... I want to carry the bikes
on the BMW and R5 ... boot and hatch, and this thing works on both.

Because the bikes are carried behind the car and out of the air flow, the
fuel consumption doesn't change too much either.

Obviously not the best solution of you want something to carry bikes,
windsurfers, skis etc etc, but for bikes alone it's great.

    I was in a bike shop in Harrogate asking about cycle carriers the other
    day. The helpful gentleman said that the police are now starting to
    prosecute people using boot carriers without a "trailer board" when the
    rear lights/number plate are obscured. I'd never really considered this
    but looking at some cars since this conversation it is certainly
    impossible to see the number plate and lights can be significantly
    hidden.I suspect that this will vary from area to area but may be worth
    thinking about. 
    
    Andrew

    Thanks for all the answers so far......
    
    Auxiliary question (finger on the buzzer!).....
    
    Can these universal racks carry more than one bike?
    
    JK

    
    I've got a roof set-up for carrying our bikes (attaches to ordinary
    roof bars). I never had any problems with bikes on the roof (although,
    I'm not sure I'd fancy hulking a couple of Mountain bikes onto the rood
    of a Renault 5!) and of course they don't affect the rear visbility,
    unlike the tailgate version (which, in answer to .8, can carry 2
    bikes).
    
    As yet I've not got around to buying roof bars for the Calibra or
    Mandy's FIAT (shows how often we carry the bikes around I suppose),
    but with the roof bar setup all I'll need to buy are new bars, which
    are reasonably cheap.
    
    Mark

>
>    Can these universal racks carry more than one bike?
>

Yes, the one I've got is a PADDY HOPKIRK Automotive Accessories System 90
(I knew it was some old racing driver!!). They reckon that you can carry up to
three bikes at once. I've only carried two but have seen the same model with
three ATBs and a kiddy cycle!

As to number plates etc. I've been informed by a. n. other travel agent that
the continental police (esp. Netherlands) are keen on pulling you up for this.
Mind you the French police took absolutely no notice

	Ian.

    
    So if...
    
    The rear lights must be visible
    The rear number palte must be visible
    
    then it appears that the only way for this to be the case is to
    have a trailer board with lights and number plate attached.
    
    Now if you've got a trailer board then surely you need two-bar type
    electrics for the board to plug into. So surely then the only
    type of bike rack thats effective is the type that drops over the
    tow ball. 
    
    Unless you can have the electrics without the tow hook.
    
    Rich
    

    I have a tow-ball, and the electrics. The tailgate fitting carrier goes
    nowhere near the tow-ball. It's even possible to open the tailgate a
    bit (a lot if the bikes are properly secured) to get to the inside.
    
    Does that help?
    
    Laurie.

    I have a 'Hollywood' rack that straps to the back of the tailgate. Had
    no problems with it. For more than one bike you need extra straps, and
    I would recommend some padding to go between the bikes to protect the
    paint. It will take upto three bikes, fits in a minute (loading takes
    longer). If mounted high it leaves the lights and number plate clear on 
    the back an escort estate.
    
    Brian

    I'm glad you mentioned tailgates, cos my car doesn't have one. It has a
    boot, so does that put a whole new kettle of fish in the fire?
    
    JK

Re: 1573.15
>
>    I'm glad you mentioned tailgates, cos my car doesn't have one. It has a
>    boot, so does that put a whole new kettle of fish in the fire?
>
	Me again... I was driving a Renault 19 Chamade i.e. 19 with a boot...
	same kettle, same fish.

	The only difference is the angle of the dangle depending on whether
	I was driving the Renault 19 or the Golf or the Rover 218.

	Back a few someone mentioned ferries... with a boot the bikes sit
	higher so ground clearance isn't a problem.

	 	Ian.

    Re several back....
    
    no problem with having the electrics without the towball or hitch etc.
    All you have to do is to find an innocuous bit of panel to mount the
    sockets on. If you can do away with (I think) reversing lights on th
    elighting board, then all you need is the primary socket.

    
>    no problem with having the electrics without the towball or hitch etc.
>    All you have to do is to find an innocuous bit of panel to mount the
>    sockets on. 


If your's is a lease car...don't follow this advice...they object to 
miscallaneous holes in their cars' panels...don't know why ;-)

    Re base note.
    
    Well JK did you bite the bullet and make a purchase? If so can you give
    us the benefit of your experience. What you bought..was it the right
    decision..price..where purchased etc?
    
    Can anyone tell me if these bike carriers are capable of carrying 4
    ATB's + kiddie cycle?
    
    Thanks in advance
    
    Dave                

    I bit the bullet and bought a boot rack - in fact we tried three
    different models. None of them really seemed happy on the Peugot 309
    Gti, the problem was getting them to "bridge" over the boot spoiler.
    Also the bikes never seemed terribly secure.
    So we bought the roof bars and bike racks, after an hour setting them
    up it worked fine, and we felt a lot happier with them up there than
    hanging off the back. The only bit we haven't solved is how to lock the
    bikes to the car. With a boot rack one can take a chain through the tow
    hitch - but a roof rack?
    Answers on a post card please...
    
    Andrew

    
     Get a  roofrack which locks onto the car.......
    
     (Thule supply lockable fittings for their roofrack, so the rack can
    not be removed from the car - you can then fasten  your bycycle/windsurfer
    to the roofrack - the determined thief will still be able to cut through 
    the locking cable etc, but it will at least deter the casual tee-leaf!)
                                                       

    Can anybody recommend a cycle carrier for the Cavalier saloon?  (aka
    square ugly thing with a boot)
    
    There seems to be a bunch of new models about, all expensive all funny
    shapes, all look like they'll drop mountain bikes all over the
    carraigeway at the slightest provocation.
    
    R. Michael (with boringly fit kids)

    This month's WHICH magazine has a report on testing out cycle-carriers.
    If you can get a copy of that, it might help you to decide which rack
    to get.
    
    From memory they recommended whenever possible to carry the bike(s)
    inside the vehicle, but that if this was not possible, carrying bikes 
    on roof-bars was their second choice. WHICH also warned against using
    the rear mounted type carriers, unless the latter could be mounted
    (somehow) on a tow-bar. (WHICH claimed that with rear mounted carriers
    it was very easy for the bike(s) or the carrier itself to damage the
    car.)
    
    WHICH also stated that they carried out tests on the carriers on
    various types (hatch, saloon, estate, people-carrier) of vehicle.
    
    My own personal recommendation is to ensure that the roof bars (or
    whatever) that you use on your car are specifically designed for use
    with your car. (This is from a grim experience I had with a windsurfer
    on one of those general fit roof rack thingies. And I'm sure there will
    be many, many people in this 'ere conference that have had no
    complaints from using general fit roof-racks... It only has to go wrong
    once though.)
    
    Reargards,
    
    Stephen
    
    
    
    

    I use Thule bars with Thule bike attachments, which means I have to
    remove my front wheels. I've carried 2 bikes and 2 windsurfers on top
    like this.
    
    However the Thule gear isn't cheap, but the flimsy up-side down
    carriers looked very dodgy to me, and the cheap 'boot' carriers are
    going to bang your bike around, and you also need light boards
    including your reg, as it is ILLEGAL to cover them up with a bike
    carrier (not many people realise this).
    
    Greg
    
    Try looking in movies::uk_biking note 15.

    >>I use Thule bars with Thule bike attachments, which means I have to
    remove my front wheels. I've carried 2 bikes and 2 windsurfers on
    top like this.<<
    
    Seems a bit drastic having to remove the front wheels of your car !!
    
    Did the windsurfers enjoy the ride, btw ??
    
    Jonathan ;-)

    I've used a rear-mounted bike-carrier many times, and taken bikes from
    Ipswich to Brussels, and from Brussels to Oundle with no problems. Of
    course, I have estate cars, which may help. If one takes care, they're
    perfectly safe.
    
    Laurie.

The Thule bike racks we use didn't require the removal of any wheels 
(car or bike :-)  )   The bikes are the right way up, (ie not held
by the seat as some are)  with the wheels in  a channel, and then a bar swings
up and clamps around the cross bar of the bike, as far as I can remember - it's
ages since we last used them.