Just sold my travel trailer and now have some money to upgrade my
transportation to events.  Looking at a roof rack but several
concerngs:

1.  Heard the cruch once years ago: had a rack on top of full-size van
and forgot the bikes were there.  With a mini-van or car, will you
usually clear overhead obstacles?  Any fool proof ideas as to
reminding you the bikes are up there?
2.  What type mount is best for road bikes with Carbon forks?
3.  What is the best alternative to roof rack?

Thanks for your help!
Glen

I have a Toyota Corolla, and no rack. The bike goes in the car (it's
complicated, due to the fenders). If I had to carry the bike outside
the car, I'd think about a hitch rack.

Dave

Hi Glen,

My 60cm randonneuse goes into my '97 Honda Civic HX when I take the
front wheel out.  It just barely makes it, but I can get it in by
myself.  Better gas milage with the bicycle in the car.  I also use a
Saris rack that goes on the back of the car.  It is very convenient,
but hurts gas milage and I always look in the mirror when I stop and
there is traffic behind me.  I have the three bike model and it
carries two bike easily.  If I carry three, I take the wheels off to
lighten the load even though I doubt that is necessary.  I have a
Yakima roof rack, but I don't have the attachments to use it for
bicycles.  With fenders, it doesn't look like the hot set up for me
anyway.

Regards, Chuck Lathe
Franklinville, NC

On Jun 30, 3:12 pm, Butch <hout...@aol.com> wrote:

Toss the garage door remote in the back of the vehicle.

Foolproof?  In the saddlebag.  Commercial parking garages probably more
of a problem.

I have a Yakima rack that was originally bought for my Toyota Tercel
but now can sit on top of either my CR/V or Grand Voyager.  Even with
no bikes on it, it barely clears parking garages, and even then I had
to remove part of the tandem rack to make it clear in one parking
garage.  Plus, it's a real pain to bikes up and down from such a
height -- I carry a small ladder in the back of the car.

So I'd only go with a top rack if you have a small car, and otherwise
go with a rack on the back of the car.  Though that might not work so
well with a tandem.  I carry my bike in the back of the car, which is
fine when there are one or two of use, but of course if you're being
energy efficient and carpooling with as many people as possible to
brevets, that might not be an option.

As to remembering that stuff is on top of the car ... just putting the
garage door remote in the back of the car won't help when you're
driving into a parking garage on a long trip.  Crunch.  Yakima used to
sell a magnetic thing that sat on the hood and blew closed with wind
pressure when driving, but when you slowed down then it popped up.  I
wish I'd have bought one, but can't find it anywhere.  I tried to make
a homemade version using an aluminum pop can glued to a strip magnet,
but it didn't work well.  However, putting that ugly piece of aluminum
glued to a magnet up on the dashboard did help me remember :-)

Even so, eventually one of my family members forgot that we had a
"Rocket Box" on top of the car and drove into a parking garage and
partially crushed it.  It's been sitting in the basement for three
years waiting for me to repair it with fiberglass repair tape.

On Jun 30, 5:40 pm, Don Perley <per...@comcast.net> wrote:

Fool Proof?  Well maybe:
We had a little catastrophy at home over the winter and as a result we
raised our house (and the garage) a couple feet, and what do you know,
the Subaru with the tandem (or the single bikes up top) now fits in
the garage.  I guess that is fool proof but only for the garage and
believe me, a little spendy.

Perhaps the best prevention is the lesson learned after you have run
into a drive through at a motel or fast food joint, or sure, the
garage at home.

As for the efficacy of a bike on top:  Generally, I'll just say, every
system has it's pluses and minuses, or to put it coloquially:
'There's something wrong with everything'.  It is a challenge getting
the tandem up on top of the Subee, but I'd rather have it there than
anywehre else on that car.  I did get it inside the car once, but that
was partially dissasembled and even then the fork/bars were almost
touching the dash between the drivers and passenger's seat.  My wife
spent the two hour drive pressed up against the passenger door and the
dashboard.

I got a Rocky Mounts tandem carrier for the Yakima cross bars, (my
wife helped me to conclude that this would be an improvement). It's a
nice combination which made getting the long bike up pretty easy
(realtively).

Yr Pal Dr Codfish

Although I don't currently use a roof rack, when I did, I would clip a
cloth streamer to the garage door handle when I left for the ride.
Upon returning, if I saw the orange streamer hanging down as I remotely
opened the garage door, I generally quickly figured out why it was
there.

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Is this post by the same Bill O who just completed Cascade1200?!
Congratulations, Bill! Two extremely tough 1200s in one month.. wow!
My chapeau had been doffed in your general direction.

Branson

On Jul 2, 5:03 pm, William Olsen <wmol...@hotmail.com> wrote: