Cycle on roof carrier.

[simmi]

I am going to visit some family next week and am thinking of taking my road bike on my roof carrier.
The chance to explore some new roads (in and around Bath) seems just too good to miss.
It's a 200 mile trip (mainly motorway) and was wondering if I should do anything to the bike in way of preparation like remove the mud guards.
I'm sorry if this sounds a bit vague or naive but don't want to get there and find my pride and joy damaged or worse still missing.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Just remember some entrances to car parks have a height barrier which you won't be under anymore. there are plenty of those tales on here about what happens to the bikes!
Seriously, it is the last place I would want to put any of my bikes, such to the point that I have had a tow bar fitted to all of my cars and use a tow bar mounted bike rack where the bikes stand on the rack rather than being 'hooked on' but then I am just paranoid...
What to do to the bike in preparation? make very sure it is well anchored to the roof and if possibled locked there - assuming you may need a motorway services break... You have not mentioned what type of roof mounted bike rack it is, is the bike upright or upside down? Some tyres require the front wheel removing, guessing it is not that tyre.. Does the bike face forwards? I ask because today I saw someone with an expensive mountain bike on their roof and the front wheel was not anchored firmly and was flapping around left and right and all I could think of, was the damage it must be doing to that bike - if you had seen it you would understand, the front wheel was constantly being whipped left and right with huge tugs and looked seriously unstable.
My personal preference is that my bike is in the car with me, if it can't be locked onto my towbar mounted bike rack...

 

[simmi]

Hi SatNav thanks for your response, the carrier is like this one, make is Fapa, have only used it for my mtb before and only then for very short distances.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

It will go without saying to make sure that everything is tight and secure. On the bright side of things, you should at least be able to stop at a services for a short period of time because this model appears to lock onto the bike. A lot of the ones I have seen don't even lock the bike to the roof, though the rack itself does not appear to lock onto the roof bars.

As a rule we always take the seat post out and store it in the car - more for want of protecting a saddle than anything else - rain gets in everywhere when thrown at a bike at 70 mph.

At the services - I'm assuming you stop for a 200 mile journey, I would, double check all the straps and anchor points between the roof bars and the bike rack and the bike rack to the bike. If the weather is windy, you may have to slow down a touch to keep the handling on the car and prevent stress fractures to the frame.

Otherwise just remember your height is no longer a car and enjoy your rides.

 

[SpareSprocket]

Further to the point about locking the bike, there's no point locking the bike to the rack and that to the roof bars if the roof bars aren't themselves locked to the car.

I use a Thule rack which attaches to the roofbars and, as any experiment, tried to remove the bars and rack together. It was surprisingly easy. If you've got some tasty bikes on the roof and a thief has a van they can take the bikes, bike carrier and roofbars off in one piece, load them in and break the locks at their leisure.

I don't know what make of roof bars you have but the Paddy Hopkirk sell locks which you can fit so that the roof bars can't be lifted off the car. Whilst the locks aren't great quality, they are better than nothing and will at least persuade a thief to try something slightly easier. Might be worth looking around on the web to see what you can find.

Other than that, keep your speed down. With a bike on the roof, you'll burn more fuel and going 10 mph slower will offset that. If it's been cold and the roads have been gritted then your pride and joy will end up with a thin covering of salt on it and salt corrodes aluminium. Even if you've got a steel bike it'll have aluminium components which will suffer. As a previous poster said, inside the car is the best place for the bike if it's possible.

 

[400bhp]

They look almost identical to the Decathlon £15 jobbies

 

[fossyant]

I regularly transport 4 bikes on top of the car to the coast. Only thing I notice is increased wind noise, and a rapidly vanishing fuel tank ! Keep the speed down to 60ish - doing 70 to 80 will eat fuel.