Bikes on cars fill me with horror. I refuse to drive behind any vehicle bearing bikes on a motorway, as I fear a bike through the windscreen at any moment.
Any experience/advice?
Lastly, there's always the "ride there" option.
I started taking my bike abroad with me about 5 years ago, and at first used the "Heath Robinson designed" strapped version you referred to. I had very few problems with it (other than its untidiness),and still use it as a wall mounting for my No.2 bike in the garage. I did, however, once end up having to hold the tailgate up while a very slow and methodical customs officer searched through my boot at the Channel Tunnel, and I never fancied repeating the weightlifting experience.
Like you, I think the "tow bar for the sake of it" idea does not make much sense, given the price. I just use
Halfords bike racks on Thule roof bars. They creak and wobble a little bit, but so long as they are locked, I am confident they are very secure. The added bonus is the flexibility you have in adding 1, 2, 3 or even 4 racks to the roof, or, like me, a combination of bike racks and half-width top box.
The potential down side that you do have to watch out for is low height restrictions. My wife and I had to do a 20 mile detour in the Alps last year when the main road suddenly announced a low tunnel and I heard the hanging chains on the overhead height tester hitting the bike. Worse still, a friend of a friend once sliced his £2,000 carbon bike in half at a service station car park that had a height limit (Not covered by any of his insurance). With that in mind, I have had a few dodgy moments going under barriers and suddenly trying to remember whether the bike is on top or not! I even had one hairy moment suddenly discovering that the carpark for the Bristol/Bath Railway Path at Warmley even had a height restriction. As a result, I do not feel able to take my bike by car into any big cities to start urban rides because I don't know whether the car parks will be suitable.
We have also had a few incidents of automated French motorway toll booths that keep reading us as a lorry when they detect the load height, and dispensing the ticket way out of my wife's reach, forcing me to get out and walk round the car to collect the ticket.
All the above sounds like I'm trying to talk you
out of roof bars, but I honestly think they are the best and the easiest option, and I plan to carry on with them.The ones that really freak me out are the ones that mount end-on at 90 degrees on the back of the car, apparently suspended by the wheels. (I'd want to know my wheels were on tight!).
