Living Car Free - Portable Car Rack

Seems weird this posting in this category but seems to be the most relevant.

Does anyone know anything about a portable car rack that you can carry around, say, in a trunk bag? Maybe something that folds or relies mainly on straps rather than tubes? I think this would be pretty useful if you find yourself out and about with people who drive and need to follow them somewhere quickly (i.e. needing to change locations quickly on the job, or if you meet a girl at a bar and don't want to sprint five miles and get all sweaty to meet her "somewhere a little quieter.") Basically for impromptu moments when you want to ride somewhere in a car but don't want to leave your bike behind and have to rely on someone to drive you back to your bike later.

I'm considering building something like this, but I'd like to know if there are any commercial products available, either to buy if it's reasonable or just to look at for ideas. I'm thinking something like those canoe/kayak racks that use foam blocks and straps. Basically you just need to get some distance between the bike and the car so the cranks and such don't scratch the car. The weight of the bike would hang in loops made by straps that hook to the lip of the trunk or an existing roof rack, then use more straps to keep the bike tight against the car (with the foam as a buffer). I just tried to draw a picture of what I'm talking about but it's just a garbled mess, so hopefully my description is clear enough. Anyway, just wanted to know if anyone knew of anything or had any ideas.

I think it's hard to accomplish what you want. Not impossible, but hard. A bike isn't shaped like a kayak - specifically, whichever pedal is on the side closest to the car is going to be a challenge for you: the bike won't easily stay put relative to the pedal, making it hard to securely strap the bike to the car. And you might end up wanting to pad pretty much the entire side of the bike, including pedal and handlebar, so that they don't scratch the car.

One possible approach is to bring a lightly padded back that can hold your entire bike, and straps big enough to strap the bag down to the car.

It's starting to sound kind of un-portable though, as far as carrying this stuff on your bike everywhere "just in case".

So here's another approach you could try, or not, whatever you prefer: just use a folding bike.

Y'know, from a mechanical point of view, aerobars kinda resemble some of the minimalist strap-on bike racks. The arm rests could become cushions to mount the rack against the car, the aerobar tubes could become rack tubes, etc. You'd have to be a heck of an engineer to do the detailed design, of course, probably as complicated as designing a folding bike.

I have a folding bike.

out and about with people who drive and need to follow them somewhere quickly

In our city? I find big gears and high cadence is pretty effective. Hell, I usually beat them anyway.

I work in the film/video business, where people don't like to wait for you (unless you're the gorgeous actress). Reporting to shooting locations in the morning is no problem because I can allow whatever time I need to get there, but there are often location changes throughout the day that need to take place on a very tight schedule. Sometimes I can find room for a bike on the trucks that carry the equipment, but sometimes space is too tight.


In our city? I find big gears and high cadence is pretty effective. Hell, I usually beat them anyway.

You're right, I usually beat them too, when it's in the city. But a job I have coming up will require going to Macedon (a little over 20 miles from downtown Rochester). If we're starting there in the morning and spending the whole day, it will be no problem to ride, but if there is a location change during the day, you can see where an issue may arise.

This being said, I haven't had any problems getting around yet, but I haven't had a wide variety of work since going carless. I'm sure I'll figure something out for this job, but the idea of the portable rack still intrigues me for other situations. There will definitely be some engineering involved, but working as a grip on low-budget shoots where we never have the right equipment, I like to think I've gotten good at jerry-rigging contraptions that are at least reasonably safe (if I can trust my rigs to hold a $20,000 camera, something for a $700 bike shouldn't be too big of a leap). I'll update this thread if I end up trying anything out.

Any reason you can't just use a folding bike?

QR's and a multi-tool work for me. My full-sized bike fits in most trunks with the wheels taken off and the seatpost dropped all the way.