This.

Only did it once. Bent the roof rack, put a dent in the car, but miraculously the bike was fine.

You'd thank a tailgate rack would be a lot safer but I managed to put my Phillips 3 speed right through the back window of my wife's minivan. Bike was fine...

You have an awfully long seat post on that bike.

I think you'd be better off by lowering the seat by about 2" :thumb:

I just replaced my pickup with a VW GTI and I have no way to transport bikes. I think I'll go with a hitch mounted rack. It seems safest for both the bikes and the car. I know it will be much easier on my back than a roof rack.

Yes, that bike's a little small for me.
I'm a 6' Clydesdale and it's a 57cm frame.
That's a 24mm x 350mm. The 24mm is hard to find. That one came from Germany.
Maybe because the seat post is extra long and extends deep into the seat tube,
it might have given the frame extra strength to resist damage.

I gave my hatchback a little pat on the dash this morning because of this thread.

You notice my car is a little wagon,
I could've, should've, would've put it the back.

"Don't you hate it when..."
 

...a guy you taught to wrench has way more upscale bikes but is still an average wrench.....
(I think this fits under class envy, and that makes me feel small....)

Swing-away racks only come in 2" mounts. I had to have a friend cut up a standard hitch mount and weld in a 2" receiver for my Subaru because they don't make them (weight limits, liability). I only use it for the swing-away bike rack. It was totally worth it. I'm having one welded up for my Westy.

My buddy measured his dad's van, and the entrance to the underground parking garage. 4" of clearance. What he forgot to take into account was the ramp angle going down and the garage floor being level. Halfway through the opening and the wheelbase took care of that 4" and then some, buckling the roof down in the middle. The van looked like a banana. Totalled.

# 1 I've Never had an apartment or house with a Garage or car port, still Dont..

had a 5 bike load plus some duffle bags on my Roof when I Moved out of California ..

I've only owned 1 payment Cars with rain gutter roof edges .. IE old ones.

Drove trucks and Busses , so mindful of the Overhead.

I'll never put another bike on a car roof ever again. Never never never. Drove into a parking garage in Florida with a Trek 700 Multitrack once. I've installed hitch mounted racks on all my vehicles since. At least you can keep your eyes on the bike on a hitch.

This is why I always chuckle when I hear people worry about putting a rear bike rack on their car - worrying about backing into something or getting rear-ended. I've seen the garage catastrophe many times, but I don't know if I've ever heard of someone trashing a bike that was on a properly installed rear rack.

I've handled a couple of claims where a car/truck/suv was rear-ended while carrying bikes on the back. Generally unfortunate. I did see a Madone launched through the back hatch glass of a 4-Runner, and come out fairly well.

But at least being rear ended, it's a good chance you can blame it on someone else! 8-)

When having a roof rack is its own punishment: You and the fiance' go riding, she's got the Raleigh Sports, you're riding a DL-1 Tourist.

I've seen a few cases where a wheel of a bike on a rear rack dragged on the pavement as the car backed over a low driveway cut. Bent rim. Then there was the time I sold a bike to a guy who put it on rear rack. The whole rack, bike and all, fell off going up the street, before he was even out of sight of the house. That's why you shouldn't help them fasten it on - if anything happens, it wasn't your fault.

In whitewater kayaking we tied kayaks onto the roof of cars and vans, sometimes lots of kayaks on one vehicle. I always tried to make sure the person tying knew his knots and rigged things in such a way that more than one fastening would have to fail before things started hitting the road. Which they sometimes did.

Rocky, awesome pic! Talk about period correct...

Gotta love the HUGE Buick, complete with whitewall tires and fake wire wheels. Not shown in the pic, but I can remember the crushed velvet upholstery that came in those things. Can't tell how many bikes are on top, but it's a lot. Strong roof!

And of course the shirtless guy wearing clogs.

- John

I think the driver of that Buick is busy rolling something.