Share your horror stories please.....

[nappadang]

Hello everyone.

I'm travelling to Liverpool from Gateshead this weekend and I'm taking the bike (four days apart is too much). I've acquired a secondhand Hollywood F10 rear mounted rack and managed to fit it correctly to my car. I have experience with trailers and roof boxes etc so hopefully I should be ok securing the bike to the rack. The rack is high mounted so my number plates and lights are visible. I have never transported a bike via this method so would appreciate any tips or hints.
what I am hoping is that if people share their own experiences (if it's not too painful) I will be less likely to miss something glaringly obvious or overlook some minor detail that could see my bike bouncing along the M62.

Thanks,

Mick

 

[Tight Git]

Always stop and check everything after a couple of miles,strap tightness, nothing has moved etc (not on the motorway obviously!). Grey pipe lagging round frame tubes is very good protection - get it in any of the DIY sheds. HTH

 

[ColinJ]

Okay ...

A friend had my mountain bike on the back of her car and reversed towards a pile of furniture outside my neighbour's house. What she didn't realise was that my rear wheel was sticking out by about a foot and it caught the furniture. Fortunately, she wasn't going fast and stopped immediately. The wheel was knocked slightly out of true.

The same friend had her bike on the back of some chap's car and he didn't do the clips and straps up properly. The result was that her bike ended up bouncing along a road on the way up to the Lake District!

 

[br5968]

Check the straps, then check the straps again... I've got a Thule tow-bar mounted rack I bought last year to take bikes to the South of France. Got there and back no probs whatsover - over 900 miles each way. Slung the Thule in the cellar over the winter, then got it out at Easter this year to head up the A19 and do a bit of the coast and castles. Strapped it up exactly the same as last year, got a few miles up the A19 and just after a roundabout (Testo's, if anyone knows it?) the bike flew off and bounced down the road. Fortunately I was the last one over the roundabout, so the road was quiet, so I ended up parked on the verge and grabbed it off the road before the lights changed and anything came by. Not sure how I deserved to be that lucky (couple of miles later and I'd have been in the Tyne Tunnel) Bike was surprisingly fine - few scratches, obviously, but only real damage was loss of the end of a brake lever.

Looking at it afterwards, the straps were all open - I think the grippy metal buckles had got a bit damp in the cellar and lost some of their 'springiness' over the winter, and the bike had worked them open very quickly.

Have bought new straps from amazon, and I'm adopting a belt-and-braces approach now - D-locking the bike to the rack (which is a good thing to do anyway if you're going to stop anywhere on your journey) and also backing up the fabric straps with a few chunky cable ties. Also keeping the straps indoors now!

Don't let this put you off - like I say, we did nearly 2000 miles last year with ours on the back, but if you've bought second hand you don't know how they've stored it, so I'd be careful with the straps!

 

[DaveReading]

And, whatever you do, don't put the kids' bikes on your roof-mounted rack to take them to the local BMX park that has a height restriction at the entrance ...

 

[roadrash]

And, whatever you do, don't put the kids' bikes on your roof-mounted rack to take them to the local BMX park that has a height restriction at the entrance ...

hmm i wonder how you know this

 

[Dave 123]

NEVER travel with an empty roof box at speed, in high winds on the A38 near Trago Mills is my only advice......

 

[Gravity Aided]

The grey pipe lagging, tied on with twine, has saved me a few times, mainly around road construction. Always check straps after road construction zones that are truly bumpy.

 

[TonyEnjoyD]

Hello everyone.

I'm travelling to Liverpool from Gateshead this weekend and I'm taking the bike (four days apart is too much). I've acquired a secondhand Hollywood F10 rear mounted rack and managed to fit it correctly to my car. I have experience with trailers and roof boxes etc so hopefully I should be ok securing the bike to the rack. The rack is high mounted so my number plates and lights are visible. I have never transported a bike via this method so would appreciate any tips or hints.
what I am hoping is that if people share their own experiences (if it's not too painful) I will be less likely to miss something glaringly obvious or overlook some minor detail that could see my bike bouncing along the M62.

Thanks,


Mick

Easy way to avoid this.. Take the A69/M6

 

[Supersuperleeds]

And, whatever you do, don't put the kids' bikes on your roof-mounted rack to take them to the local BMX park that has a height restriction at the entrance ...

One night riding home from work I came across a couple just taking a bike off a roof mounted rack, she was all in cycling gear, he wasn't. I noticed the bike had a flat tyre so stopped to see if they needed any help. He politely replied that he had come to collect his wife as she had punctured and they were now on their way home, he had to stop to take the bike off the car so he could go through the height restricted barrier to get out of the car park, he found the funny side when I burst out laughing.

 

[nappadang]

A big thank you to everyone who contributed to this thread. The trip to Liverpool and back passed without incident. This is in no small part due to your advice and tips.

Thanks again,

Mick

 

[Gravity Aided]

Good to hear. You are correct, four days apart is too much. Hope you got some good rides while you were there.

 

[nappadang]

Good to hear. You are correct, four days apart is too much. Hope you got some good rides while you were there.

I was staying in Huyton so I was only a mile or so away from the Trans-Pennine Way. I explored this in both directions and thoroughly enjoyed it. A nice cycling atmosphere with very friendly users.