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I need to transport a tandem from SF to LA. I have a 3 series BMW sedan with fold down seats. Does anyone know if it will fit inside the car? Alternatively, I have a thule roof rack. The cheapest tandem mount I could find was rocky mounts for ~$200. Does anyone have experience with this rack or similar roof attachments on a sedan? I guess another possiblity is shipping it. Anyone ship a tandem recently and can ballpark a cost? I figure it would probably be around $100. If that is the case, I might as well buy the rack- assuming it is any good so I can have it for future use. Gas and time driving are negligible since I travel btw the cities frequently. thanks.
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Roof rack & tandem carrier. Tadem might get partway in if you take the wheels off. Try it. Do you want to try driving with the trunk open...love those fumes!
I always transport the tandem flat on a roof rack. All i do is take the wheels off, tie the front forks to stop them moving,(tied at full lock to stop bars digging in the roof) and turn stokers bars to 90 degrees. Tied on with Bungies, neber had any problems, but do tie the front forks securely before putting on the rack.
For a temporary roof mount, bolt your regular mount and tray to a wood 2x4 and purchase 4 U-bolts that will go around your cross-bars and reach through the 2x4 to secure it to your rack.
Take the wheels and fork off and it should fit inside or take the peddles of one side and strap the frame flat on the racks.
We've been coast to coast with our tandem on this car and our Honda Accord. With no problems at all. It's a Thule roof rack with a tandem mount that I purchased through Colorado Cycle.
Cheers
Anyone ship a tandem recently and can ballpark a cost? I figure it would probably be around $100.
We shipped a tandem from Denver -> Minneapolis 3 months ago for $64 on a corporate account. If you have to ship the bike more than once, I'd buy a roof rack.
We've been coast to coast with our tandem on this car and our Honda Accord. With no problems at all. It's a Thule roof rack with a tandem mount that I purchased through Colorado Cycle.
Cheers
Nice setup. And with a sedan, you don't have to lift the tandem so high! (I have a minivan).
Fold seats, open trunk. Remove wheels, maybe take off pilot's seatpost with stoker bars attached. Load in back end first, put some padding on top of bike between car trunklid and bike, pull trunk shut as far as possible and attach bungee or use an old inner tube. Go!
If you are going to be transporting the tandem regularly, then you should probably bite the bullet and buy a roof rack. I like the Yakima Sidewinder tandem rack (in theory; I've not seen a current version) and will probably end up buying one despite the high price. It will fit on most rack builders rails.
Doc
Hello, I just happen to have a thule tandem swivel carrier for sale. It was used this last summer and is like new will let it go for 150.00 dollars including shipping if you live in the lowe states
Here's our T2000 on my Honda Civic (the night we picked it up). I use a fork mount Thule system, with the (longer) trays from a stand-up Thule rack. The trays are joined by 3 wheel straps and shimmed slightly to allow clearance at the captains bottom bracket.
http://www.sheepcamp.com/images/t2koncar.jpg
Here's a bit of a close-up. The silver you see is the tray on the other side of the car.
http://www.sheepcamp.com/images/t2koncardetail.jpg
I hate to even admit it, but I use a trunk rack on my Acura TSX (a European Honda Accord) to transport our Burley Rumba. I ussually take the wheels off if we go more than 15 miles or so.
dcdavis- I sent you a pm re the thule rack. I am interested! thanks
well if this is a one time thing, just load it on a normal trunk rack and drive carefully. i took my tandem from cleveland to columbus on the back of my crx, which believe it or not, is significantly narrower than your bimmer. didnt even take off the wheels. as long as you remain aware of the wheels sticking out on either side of the car, you'll be fine.
Just bought a Rocky Mounts carrier awhile ago and works great! Looked at the others by Yakima, ATOC, and Thule but for the price and how often we use it, the Rocky Mounts carrier can't be beat. We too live in the S.F. Bay area and have no problem going down Highway 280 in the wind without the bike even moving. I would recommend the Yakima universal locking skewer as the Rocky Mounts locking skewer is not recommended for their carrier. By the way, we have it mounted on our Honda Civic sedan.
I just use a trunk rack and sometimes take off the front wheel. It sticks out a bit on the sides (Toyota Corolla) - but has worked just fine for drives of up to 2 hours or so. Contemplating taking it to Florida in the AM, but that is a >8 hour drive - so might not be the smartest thing to do.
This could give you some ideas...
http://www.tandemclub.be/Tandemtransport/Tandemtransport.html
Especially the last setup is kind of interesting :D
Cheers,
TT
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