Hi, my kids ahve said they want to take there bikes camping. Thing is now i do as well. Only trouble is i've a roof box on the car and towing a trailer with the extra high cover on it. i know you can get the carriers that go above the towbar but just curious if i can put anymore on the roof. the roof box is a biggish one that takes up most of the roof space, it's not a slim one.
------------- "You know, somebody actually complimented me on my driving today. They left a little note on the windscreen, it said 'Parking Fine.'" [Tommy Cooper]
Wow you really have no room,the only way i can see is to get one of those High mount cycle carriers that straps to the back of the car.Importantly the bikes will be held away from the trailer drawbar.
------------- "You know, somebody actually complimented me on my driving today. They left a little note on the windscreen, it said 'Parking Fine.'" [Tommy Cooper]
Be careful when choosing a cycle carrier. I bought one last year thinking we could get our 3 cycles on, as it was advertised as a 3 bike carrier, to discover that there is a weight limit if 45Kg.
I bought the high carrier which hooks on to the car (not having a tow bar). I was a bit worried about the weight of the bikes so I weighed them individually (standing on the kitchen scales). The total weight came to nearly 60Kg.
I rang the manufacturer and they said that the average bike is 15Kg - and they agreed that it is probably more suited to kid's bikes! Consequently, we can't put 3 bikes on it and can only safely carry 2 which is a pain, so we have the dilemma of whether or not to get roof bars.
Incidently, I couldn't find a carrier for our car that would safely take our 3 bikes otherwise I would have taken it back and bought the other one. Not even Thule could help me.
You can get carriers that bolt between the car and the towball on the hithc. You can use these while towing, but have to check the clearance. The weight from this and the bikes should be included when calculating the hitch weight.
On the roof, the roof box does not have to sit central. You can push it right to one side (this makes it easier for loading anyway) and then you might be able to squeeze a carrier up there. They generally need about 30cm on the roof bars. If you use the Thule aero bars and have the right fittings then you don't have the problem of the roofbar feet getting in the way of the u-bolt fixings, and so can use the whole length of the roof bar.
you can get a carrier that bolts on top of the trailer lid also add a roof box too it as well, with your roof box now you should be able to fit one bike rack, take alook at halfords they doing deals on bike carriers.
Hi dont know the size of your trailer but it may be possible to adapt or make bike racks to carry one each side and one on your car roof if you try to fit the three bikes to the roof bars as well as the box you may overstress the roof bar/roof you need to check on the load carrying capicty with the hand book etc best of luck you will find away!! Paul
I took my daughter's bike on a roof carrier with roof box (halfords £65 special) by pushing box to one side as suggested. Just be careful with max weight, I can carry 75 kg on roof (box max 50 Kg) So child's bike and roof bars must be less than 25 Kg (no problem). Carrying three bikes though can be a problem. Good luck.
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Topic: help on cycle carriers
