General Cycling Discussion - 75mph OK with a roof rack?

I'm getting a new car soon and have been thinking about giving a roof rack a try instead of dealing with a trunk rack like I have with my current car (no trailer hitch availible). Is 75mph doable, or is that pushing it? Most of the races I enter during the season are 2 hours or so away, so I'd like to be able to crusie at 70+ since it's a lot of highway driving. I had a thule rack in mind that mounts via the front wheel fwiw, but haven't committed to a particular model yet.

I have the Thule Echelon as a fork mount rack, does fine at 80 mph :)
Fork mounts are more stable than the ones where you have the bike standing up.

I have the Thule Echelon as a fork mount rack, does fine at 80 mph :)
Fork mounts are more stable than the ones where you have the bike standing up.

I agree. However be prepared for bad gas mileage. And for bugs all over your bike:eek:

A fairing on the front of the roof might help some.

I agree. However be prepared for bad gas mileage. And for bugs all over your bike:eek:

Don't forget to take the computer and bottles off the bike.
Must be a pretty small engine to mess up the gas that bad.
I use an Astro Van. the bikes stay clean.
Lots of room for other people.
Lots of room for gear.
Lots of room to sleep if needed.
Better still... American made.

I have the fairing, no bugs here!

Don't forget to take the computer and bottles off the bike.
Must be a pretty small engine to mess up the gas that bad.
I use an Astro Van. the bikes stay clean.
Lots of room for other people.
Lots of room for gear.
Lots of room to sleep if needed.
Better still... American made.
American made - spoken like a true Canukian!

I've hauled canoes at 70+ and wondered if the guy behind questioned my tie down methods!

just where in MD do expect to drive 70+ there is too much trafic on I95 and I70 and I68 have all those hills LOL. bad gas milage and lots of noise. get a fairing.

I agree with BA inside is better unless they don't all fit LOL

Drive I-95 at 70 mph on a weekday, especially at commte time, and you'll get run over. My son had to take a class when he got a speeding ticket and the VA state police said the average speed on I-95 to Washington is 77 mph.

I installed a fairing with my Thule rack and while it reduced the noise, it didn't do anything for the bugs. I use a trunk rack now and no bugs at all.

My car is just big enough to put my bike inside, a Subaru Forester.

My buddys' bikes have to deal with the bugs associated with a roof rack.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

It might be an old wives tale or something that ceased to be a problem a decade or more ago, but the only bad things I've heard about transporting bikes on a roof rack is the 75mph wind can literally blow some grease out of or at least towards the back of a cheap POS loose ball headset. Apart from that, the biggest problem is forgetting about the bikes when you pull into the garage. That's another reason my bike goes inside.

Where on I-95 don't you do 70mph+? southern VA to Georgia it's easily that, and in Florida you'll be barely keeping up at 80! and roadies are the same in cars...you don't like to get dropped.

edit: I said roadies, sorry I thought I was on the road forum. my B.

Better still... American made.

I thought they made them in Oshawa.

I thought they made them in Oshawa.

Baltimore I believe.

Don't forget to take the computer and bottles off the bike.
Must be a pretty small engine to mess up the gas that bad.
I use an Astro Van. the bikes stay clean.
Lots of room for other people.
Lots of room for gear.
Lots of room to sleep if needed.
Better still... American made.

An empty roof rack (http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tech-transport/roof-rack-affect-mgp.html) can decrease gas mileage by 12% at 55 mph. A bike on the rack is a huge sail and can reduce the mileage by 27% at 55. The faster you go, the worse it gets...simple aerodynamics.

Carrying bikes inside is better. Carrying them on the back is less bad than a roof rack.

I'm getting a new car soon and have been thinking about giving a roof rack a try instead of dealing with a trunk rack like I have with my current car (no trailer hitch availible).

Are you sure there are no hitches available for your new car? Just because a car is not rated to tow does not mean it cannot have a hitch installed. Back when I was a starving college student, I had a POS Hyundai Accent econobox, and that is the last car I would expect to be able to put a hitch on. Lo and behold, there is a 1.25" hitch available for it at U-Haul, cost me $160 installed. I've used it for years to lug my bike around until I finally upgraded to a better car.

Especially on a new car, I would avoid a roof rack-- You WILL cause a lot of dings and scratches on your new car while trying to mount and dismount the bikes from the roof.

I thought they made them in Oshawa.

Nope! American made. But the income is going to pay for the roads in the US (Where most of my family lives). I will ride on the roads and bike trails and parks in the U.S. during my vacations.
Very unlikely I will ride on any roads in Aisia.
Keep my money on this side thanks.

I guess you could call me a Camerican. Canuck is fine with me too.

bugs??? hmmm I wonder if the force of a bug, like a bumble bee, when hitting a carbon fork traveling 75+ mph has any effect on the material? do they check that in wind tunnels?

As long as it's a good rack system and it's installed correctly, it will be fine at 75mph. As others have mentioned, the fork mount racks are more stable, and I prefer them myself.

Carrying bikes inside is better. Carrying them on the back is less bad than a roof rack.
One system is not necessarily better than the other. It all depends on your needs. For my needs, carrying the bikes inside or on the back are definitely not better.

do not drive into a parking deck with it on top. i remember this day like it was yesterday. i transferred colleges and it was the first day of class. i had my bike on the roof and forgot. i headed into the parking deck and these two really hot girls were waving at me like crazy. i just began to think about how friendly the girls were at my new school. just about then i heard the a slam, boom, scratch, and bang. i immediately realized what i had done. nothing is more embarrassing on your first day at a new college and having two hot girls helping you load your rack and bike (in pieces) into the back seat of your car. the only good thing was one of the girls turned out to be in my program and always partnered up with me when we needed partners. at least i made a friend that day.

Hey, at least you found a positive aspect to this experience. That's a pretty expensive way to meet girls though.

There is no reason your roof will get dinged up. I can easily lift our tandem onto our roof rack with damaging anything. If I had a tall vehicle I might need a short step stool, bit it is not difficult to be careful. I find my mileage is down about 10% with tandem in place at 70+ mph.

When we go on road trips with the kids, we have four touring kayaks and two mountain bikes up on top of our Honda Odyssey. Full width (78") bars, with the bike racks that grab the downtube. I use a 2' cam strap and a bungee for insurance because the jaws don't grab oversized downtubes all that well. Have driven hundres of miles both at freeway speeds and through the mountains like this and haven't lost a bike or kayak (from this setup anyway!). It looks precarious though, because the bikes are actually on the part of the rack that extends past the edge of the vehicle -- so they sort of tilt to the outside!

Next time we get a new car, I hope to convince my wife that a trailer is a better option though. We only load up this heavily for a couple trips each year, so we could get by with a smaller car most of the time.

When we do have the Ody loaded up like that, we also have the back loaded with camping gear, kayaking gear and paddles, two more bikes, food for 10 days or so, and sometimes a dog crate! We're like the Beverly Hillbillies goign down the road.

. Apart from that, the biggest problem is forgetting about the bikes when you pull into the garage. That's another reason my bike goes inside.

You have to be really lacking in the situational awareness department to do that, sorry. I read of that happening, and the only thing I have to say is to do it you have to be downright clueless.

I run a 4 bike Yakima roof rack on a Ford Focus. It costs 2mpg, and the bikes stay a LOT cleaner on the roof than they do in the rear, where the negative pressure deposits ALL the road crap on the bikes.

I routinely hit 90 when transporting my bike to and from school. Highway 5.

One system is not necessarily better than the other. It all depends on your needs. For my needs, carrying the bikes inside or on the back are definitely not better.

Carrying bikes inside is better for gas mileage. Rear racks are next in terms of gas mileage reduction.

There may be other reasons for carrying the bike on top but I wasn't addressing those...just gas mileage.

Are you sure there are no hitches available for your new car?

When I asked the local dealership about putting a hitch receiver on a Suzuki SX4, they told me they wouldn't honor any part of the drive train warranty because it wasn't rated for towing. Funny thing is it's rated to tow 200 kg. overseas. I guess good old American excess hasn't heard of such a thing. If it can't haul a couple of snowmobiles or a few ATV's, it ain't worth having to the "men" on my street.

After I got rid of my old Hyundai Accent (which served me well with the hitch I had installed), I bought a new Toyota. I also asked the Toyota dealer where I bought it about having a hitch installed, and he told me the same thing-- The warranty won't cover any powertrain damage resulting from towing because my new car isn't rated to tow.

I dug a little deeper and contacted Toyota Customer Care to clarify, and it turns out that installing the aftermarket hitch on my new Toyota in and of itself won't void the warranty-- If there is a problem with the powertrain and they can see it is a result of towing (such as an overheated automatic transmission torque converter) or not adhering to their maintenance recommendations, then they will not cover it.

Reassured, I went and have the hitch installed on my new Toyota. I have no intentions of using it for towing-- It's only for lugging my bikes around.

In your shoes, I'd check with Suzuki to clarify what their policy is. Personally I would have no qualms putting a hitch on your car. :D

I bought a Subaru instead and I'm much happier with it than I thought I'd be.

The Suzuki dealer always said they had one on the way but never did get a stick shift in for me to drive.

I'm kinda funny that way. After driving nothing but sticks for 30 years, automatics seem weird. You can do more hypermiling with a stick too.

I never could get past the first impression that this dealer would do anything in its power to avoid honoring a warranty either.

I drove a subaru outback for 10 years with a roof rack - 27 mpg with and without the bikes on it - yakima, 2 fork mounts, one wheel mount (for the lefty, of course!). After 337,000+ miles and the last kid obtaining his own car & license, I retired the subie. I think the mpg rating for that car is 26/28 without the rack, so.... no dif?

I drove a subaru outback for 10 years with a roof rack - 27 mpg with and without the bikes on it - yakima, 2 fork mounts, one wheel mount (for the lefty, of course!). After 337,000+ miles and the last kid obtaining his own car & license, I retired the subie. I think the mpg rating for that car is 26/28 without the rack, so.... no dif?

Gas mileage is going to depend on a number of factors...not the least of which is speed. You might not notice much decrease in gas mileage at low speeds but increase the speed to the kinds that fuelbymetal is talking about and even an empty rack will have an effect. At 75 mph, a bike on that rack will have a significant impact.

It's fine on a sunny day, but... if it rains, a 75mph jet of water for 2hrs will ruin any bearing's grease in short-order... just think about pressure washing your bicycle headset, front-hub and etc for 2hrs straight, not cool.

Always try to keep your baby inside! Even if it means breaking it down... strangers might steal it, birds and rocks might fly into it, garage doors may try to crush it, etc...

You have to be really lacking in the situational awareness department to do that, sorry. I read of that happening, and the only thing I have to say is to do it you have to be downright clueless.


Nearly everyone I know that has a roof rack has driven into their carport, garage or other low place with the bike on. Personally I transport my bike in the back of my car (small hatchback sedan similar size to Ford Focus) but if I'm going away for a few days I really struggle to fit all my gear in the car - probably because I tend to overpack, a habit I picked up from my mum!

You have to be really lacking in the situational awareness department to do that, sorry. I read of that happening, and the only thing I have to say is to do it you have to be downright clueless.


Boy now you have to be really careful!
I know of people that have used a roof rack for many years stripping the bikes off the top by pulling into the garage or a some other low point.

I work on communication towers as a second job and every now and then I need to slip with a wrench, just to remind me where I am.

Familiarity can build inattentiveness. That is why factories have inspection, news papers have proof readers, and computers have spell checkers. Still complacency lets that error get past.

Carry around a couple of $3000 or whatever price bikes and keeping them out of the elements, away from thieves and low enough to get into the garage becomes a good idea.