TOUR test editor Jens Klötzer whizzes back and forth between Munich and Leipzig almost every weekend in his three-seater BMW. His constant companion: a Simplon "Pride", which travels on the back seat with the wheels removed, wrapped in blankets and strapped on. Dry, safe and fast. On Easter Saturday, however, the racer had to make way. The plan was a trip to the Sachsenring race with friends Nico and Marek. Three friends, three bikes - space was running out in the car. Where to take the racers?
Theoretically, cars offer up to four options for bike transport: inside, on the roof and piggybacked on the tailgate or on the trailer coupling - if available. The interior is certainly the most comfortable and safest place; the driving characteristics and fuel consumption of the car remain unchanged, nothing protrudes, can get stuck or fall off. There is also little risk of scratching the paintwork or denting the bodywork when loading. And the racer is usually clean and undamaged at the start after the journey. Only the view through the rear-view mirror may be restricted by handlebars, seat posts or saddles.
Transport on the roof offers fewer advantages. Although the seats and boot remain free, loading the roof rack alone becomes a hurdle if, for example, small people want to reach the loading height, which is around 1.60 metres in a normal car, but can quickly increase to 1.80 metres or more in a van or off-road vehicle. If the racer slips out of your hand, scratches or dents quickly appear on the wheel and car. In addition, the racers on the roof generate annoying wind noise, get wet and dirty in the rain - and fuel consumption increases by 15 to 20 per cent even when driving moderately. There are no speed limits for cars with roof racks, but the rack manufacturers have agreed to recommend a speed of around 120 to 130 km/h in their operating instructions. The manufacturers themselves test their carriers when loaded at speeds of up to 250 km/h. However, you can also cause bicycle scrap and damage to the car at walking pace - for example if you forget the roof structure and want to drive into an underground car park or your own garage.
The market offers two systems for the rear. One is the tailgate carrier, which is mounted with folding brackets, mainly on vans or minibuses. The advantage: the bikes travel in the slipstream of the car and the additional fuel consumption is limited. Even with this variant, the wheels can get quite dirty because they are positioned directly in the dirt trail of the vehicle; in addition, visibility to the rear is restricted and the greater vehicle length must be taken into account when parking. As the rear lights on the car must not be covered, the rack may also have to be mounted so high that it protrudes well above the roof. However, the biggest disadvantage of this system is that the tailgate can hardly be opened without help when fully loaded, which makes it difficult to access the luggage. In a nutshell The choice of bike carrier systems for cars is huge, and at first glance the solutions from the manufacturers hardly differ. However, the choice is shrinking rapidly, especially for owners of thin-walled carbon frames. The products presented here from Atera, Bikeinside, Thule and RadFazz are all suitable for carbon frames.
SHORT & SHORT
The choice of bike carrier systems for cars is huge, and at first glance the solutions offered by manufacturers hardly differ. However, the choice is shrinking rapidly, especially for owners of thin-walled carbon frames. The products presented here from Atera, Bikeinside, Thule and RadFazz are all suitable for carbon frames.
The test results of the above-mentioned transport systems can be found below as a PDF download.
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Jens Klötzer
Editor
