Transporting carbon bike

[Stockie]

Just thinking about getting my first carbon bike. However my mate has put some doubts in my mind by saying they cannot be transported on roof bike racks due to the nature of carbon frames.

Any advice.

 

[Dusty Bin]

They are fine to transport on roof racks, providing you use one which is compatible with larger diameter down tubes. Whether you actually want to do that is another matter. As for the front fork clamping style of carrier - these are also fine. The compressive and lateral forces that the combined weight of bike and rider will put through a front fork are far in excess of anything that a roof carrier will put it through...

 

[uclown2002]

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

I use a Inno rack for my Carbon bikes...... Your bike is held in place using two ratchet arms that secure the wheels. The rack never touches the bike frame or cables – making this rack the ideal option for bikes with carbon frames

 

[jowwy]

Here we go again

 

[HLaB]

Just thinking about getting my first carbon bike. However my mate has put some doubts in my mind by saying they cannot be transported on roof bike racks due to the nature of carbon frames.

Any advice.

Never had mine on a roof rack much but I've been given a lift to a TT where its been in a mates roof rack.

 

[Dusty Bin]

[QUOTE 2734398, member: 45"]That's not the case. A car cornering will put sideways force on the bike which will meet the fixed point at the fork. Cornering forces on the same point when riding the bike are very different. Even more leverage is experienced at the dropout point when taking the bike off the rack unless it's properly free.[/quote]

I guess you'd probably need to be cornering at around 100mph+ for such a scenario to cause any problems. I'm not aware of any evidence of frame/fork related issues as a result of using a fork-clamp carrier on a carbon fork. Neither of the two fork-clamp carriers I'm aware of (Atera and Elite San Remo) advise against the use of carbon forks with their carriers.

 

[BimblingBee]

Roof racks are fine. Be careful if you drive in the rain though as the special carbon lacquer on the frame dissolves and all those expensive carbon fibres unravel...

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

[QUOTE 2734448, member: 45"]That's interesting. Never seen one before. What stops the fork turning?[/quote]

The bit the wheel sits at the base in is actually a "V" shape, a little bit like the front wheel stands you can get to use with turbo's

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

[QUOTE 2734448, member: 45"]That's interesting. Never seen one before. What stops the fork turning?[/quote]

This video explain the rack quite well.... All I can say is I've not lost a bike yet.. Lol

 

[Dusty Bin]

[QUOTE 2734525, member: 45"]Thule don't recommend their 561 for forks with carbon dropouts.[/quote]

I can't see any reference to that on the Thule 561 page. In fact, the web page says that the 561 is specifically suitable for bikes with 'sensitive carbon frames', although that is not particularly specific either, to be fair. Nor is there anything mentioned in the user instructions or warranty downloads that I can see. Even if they didn't recommend it for use with carbon forks, there could be any number of reasons for that.

 

[screenman]

Has anyone told the pro teams about not carrying carbon frames on the roof?

 

[amaferanga]

Provided you're not ham fisted and you don't drive into anything then pretty much any bike rack will be fine.

Does anyone have any evidence of bikes being damaged by bike racks other than through driving into something or extreme ham-fistedness?

 

[the_mikey]

I just take the wheels off and dump it in the back of the car.

 

[VamP]

Ha, I take the wheels off and place it tenderly on the back seats making sure its seatbelt is fastened.

I'm not consulting it on the choice of driving music but perhaps I should?