roof carriers (help)

[Rob Jones]

With family growing I now need some kind of roof carrier for holiday. Have a focus and complete ly ignorant on what I need/ options etc. Think what I am after is ability to put a roof box and bike on the roof. All I have is the car and bike... What do I need, what products are recommended, where from and are these things designed specifically for car models or universal? Any tipsvand recommendations much appreciated. Thanks Rob

[Steven]

I'd only agree to take the kids once the bike was in the car!

[Andy H]

Thule highly recommended but as you'd expect expensive. Bought mine online but have seen in Halfords.

You need fitting specific to your car, the bars and then racks.

I have a roof box you can borrow anytime I'm not using it

[Mark Pope]

I've got the Halfords own brand roof bars that can carry two road or mountain bikes. They cost a couple of hundred quid and were easy and very quick to fit (by Halford's staff not me!). They leave the car free for kids, dogs etc. They've been great for me and if you just need to carry one bike they're even cheaper. I'd not have anything else now but there are two caveats, I'm 6 ft 2 ins and it can be a bit of a stretch to put the bikes on the roof and secondly it is easy to forget they're on top of the car, which can be very inconvenient when trying to drive straight into my remotely operated garage

I'll be on the club run this Sunday if you'd like to have a look.

Mark P   

[Rob Jones]

So can I get a box and a bike on top of the car?

[Andy H]

Yes, as long as you don't get a box that's too wide.

[RichardB]

I'd stick with bars from your own car manufacturer for fit. Bars for my car weren't much more than the Thule ones and look much better. And then I've picked the bike carriers up half price on e-bay. Should be able to get full size box/ half box and 2 bikes/ 4 bikes on the car.

[Rob Jones]

Looks like this has dried up now, so thanks all for comments.

[Rob Jones]

Still don't fully get all this and why its so expensive
...difference between rails, bars, mounts, racks..whether you can get a rack capable of fixing bike and/ or box directly to etc. Going to Halfords today to see what they can offer. No doubt I will confuse them too.

[Jason T]

What about a SeaSucker, I notice Neil at Forza now has them and they are supposed to be pretty good as well as being able to mount them on the back of the car..... not that I would trust my bikes on them though;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBK8pUPWu2A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbvIswtDxWo

Mounting to the boot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDzY27hdVJY

[Rob Jones]

I got Exodus aero bars, feet and fitting kit plus Exodus bike carrier, all for under £200 from Halfords (after my BC 10% discount). Unfortunately will have to pay Ford to fit them as my fixing points are plugged with some kind of silicon. Another £35 for that.

Andy is your roof box a full size one or might it fit alongside my bike carrier...if latter can I borrow from 12th - 19th July? Ta

[Andy H]

My roof box is a ski roof carrier, long and narrow, so ideal for fitting alongside a bike carrier but has reasonable amount of space.

No problem having it for those dates but I'm away in France from Sunday 7th to Thursday 10th next week. Do you want to come over some time this week to check it out?
Just thinking that if you left it until next week, there's would only be Friday to sort it out.

Give me a ring or txt to arrange something

[Rob Jones]

you're ski roof carrier did a great job for our family holiday Andy, alongside my bike carrier - Many thanks. Will look to get the box back to you asap. I'm moving out of the house this week (will be worse than homeless for a while!) so don't want it mistakenly ending up in storage!

[Andy H]

I'll be at chaingang and 10 this week if either is an option for you.

[Rob Jones]

Will try and make it Thurs Andy. Ta