I have a Trek 5500 and I'd like to take it to a few different areas occasionally to ride. I've been looking at Saris Bones racks and wanted to know if anyone has any reason I shouldn't use this type of rack with a carbon frame? I suppose I could add some cushion material to the rack to protect the tubes.

I'm not about to spend $300 for a roof rack and I don't have a hitch on my commuter car. I'd like a 3 bike rack as my kids like to ride with me at a local park.

Any suggestions or comments?


Danke

I personally wouldn't do it. But since you have a trek with a lifelong frame warranty, then if anything happens you get a new frame.

Does that warranty cover stuff like the trunk rack hurting the frame??

I can't remeber. I used to bmx and i had a trek frame. When I bought it the lbs informed me that all trek bikes have a lifetime frame waranty. I remember reading a thread where a guy cracked his frame and he had to bring it to the lbs, and then it was deemed unrepairable so they had it shipped to trek. He walked out with a brand new frame a few weeks later. I would assume that it covers all kinds of damage, but i would double check. Hope this helps.

Is this the rack?



If so, there is no way you could ever, EVER hurt your frame with that rack, unless you intend to back into something with it or get read-ended.

A carbon fiber frame isn't made out of egg shells, so there's no reason to treat it like it is.

I personally HATE trunk racks...Id always feel like I would get rear ended...also, they could eventually wear paint on the underside of your toptube, id imagine. also I noticed the pressure on my back brack cable(running under the top tube) was loosened significantly by just a 15 miles ride on the trunk.

Yep..that's the one...Saris 801 3 bike rack. I haven't seen one in person, but it looks like I could pad the tube holders to make it even gentler on the paint and such. I will probably use this 4-5 times a year so I'm reluctant to spend a lot of $$ on a rack. I have a pickup that can carry the bikes for the longer trips.

Thanks

If you put more than one bike on this, be very careful how you pad between the bikes as they are prone to rubbing the paint off of each other. That is why I got rid of my trunk rack.

How old are your kids? You might consider picking up a used hybrid or mtn bike for family rides and save your 5500 for serious road riding.....just a thought.

I have a Trek 7000 that I usually take with them, but we have this one park nearby where I can zip around the big oval while they just ride, stop, play on the swings, etc. It's the perfect ego booster for an old fat guy....

I have one of those racks, use it on a mini cooper.
Great rack, never done any damage to the bikes I've carried with it.

You had this rack and had that experience?

No, It was a Thule, don't know the exact model, but no matter how I tied the bikes in, after a few miles they were rubbing. Are those downtube clamps on that rack? Mine didn't have those and maybe that is the difference? Anyway, I switched to a Hollywood hitch rack with fork clamps and have never looked back.

The straps and all the attachment stuff is just plastic and/or rubber. If you're worried about the paint during a loooong trip where the bike movement might cause scuffing, that's understandable, but that's an issue with any painted frame and not specific to carbon.

My trunk-mount rack is waaay cheaper than that one, and has yet to leave a mark on any of my bikes. If you need something cheap to put between the bikes, or between the bikes and the car, check out some pool noodles, like the ones in the pic below.



They can be sandwiched between the bikes using bungee cords.

LOL!!!

Pool noodles are the padding of choice for many camping issues...we use them to pad the sides of our slide out, the fifth wheel pinbox...etc...

I have one of the early Saris Bones Racks. My straps are not padded, but I think the ones in the picture are. It works fine; I don't use it much.

For padding I prefer foam pipe insulation. It is already slit down one side and wraps nicely around forks, tubes etc. at any potential contact points between bikes. I routinely carry 4 mountain bikes on a hitch rack and it works great. I haven't tried it with the roadie yet though. Too chicken with a beer can Cannondale frame.

Just never put anything hard against the frame like a bungee cord to hold it on better that has those coated wire ends or plastic ends that can press into your frame. They will cause damage if pressure is enough.

I have that rack and never had any problems with the bikes on it. Mounting it to my minivan is a problem though because the top part doesn't rest on the rear properly as it is meant to rest on the trunk. The weight of the bikes makes it sag. It also gets in the way of the rear wiper.

I have one of these Saris trunk racks and have been using it for about a year with out any real problems. I did get some little foam pads from the hardware store that have a sticky backing and put them on the straps to help protect the paint on the bikes. I have notices some light rub marks where the straps go on the frame but I use this rack every time I ride so the bike must have been on and off of there 100 times by now. I am thinking of getting a hitch rack soon as much as I use this thing.

my goodness you guys are wimps, i've been using the same old trunk rack for years, this year the rubber on the rack was starting to crack a little so i wrapped both bike support bars with some old bar tape, soft as ever I tie my bikes down with bungies, 2 on the top tube, one around each wheel to keep the bike from swinging a bit, and to keep the wheels from spinning. I also put an old firewood mit over the pedal that's touching the trunk to protect the pedal and my trunk.

If you ever got rear ended i think your bike would be the least of your worries and it would be completely covered by the other guy's insurance.

As for the brake cable, flip the quick release lever on the brakes to losen the cable tension.. DUH...

Derek: Just the idea I was looking for. Yay! Thank you.

Isn't carbon fiber supposed to be stronger than steel? I don't have any trouble with my steel bikes on trunk racks...

Then you have yourself a good warning. There's far less tension on a brake cable when the bike is on a rack than when you actually use your brakes. The cable is normally in tension anyways so that shouldn't be an issue. Unless the cable is so tight in the rack that it's tighter than when you normally slam the brakes you'd better look over all of your connections.

Anyone else find they have to flip their bike upside down (gripped by the downtube) on a trunk rack? I have a Thule, and the rubber holders are too far apart to work on the toptube.