Oh man!

Get in there!

Bike rack question for car owners: up to how many bikes have you put on your roof top bike rack? I'd love to put 4 ( mine, my wife's road and the kids mountain bike). I know pro teams do a lot more. I have a Subaru Forester. Was also wondering if it affects the gas consumption markedly when empty.

Thanks.

Remy Forgues said:

Bike rack question for car owners: up to how many bikes have you put on your roof top bike rack? I'd love to put 4 ( mine, my wife's road and the kids mountain bike). I know pro teams do a lot more. I have a Subaru Forester. Was also wondering if it affects the gas consumption markedly when empty.

Thanks.

Remy,

I had a 4 bike setup for a long time. I had a Yakima roof basket in the middle with two bikes on top of it and then the other two bikes were outboard of the towers. So the middle ones were higher than the outside ones and I also ran the two middle ones backwards. This way there was never handlebar conflicts.

I think the basket was the biggest mpg hit when no bikes were up top but I'm sure the whole thing had an effect. About 3-4 mpg.

The bikes didn't seem to make that big of a difference beyond the rack and basket. I think it's something to do with how the air is supposed to flow over the top of the vehicle.

But I did the math. It was a Honda CRV that I drove about 5000 miles per year. Without the rack it got about 28 average mpg. With the rack it got about 24 average mpg. So without the rack I would have bought 178 gallons of gas at say $3 = $534. With the rack I had to buy 208 gallons of gas at say $3 = $624. So a yearly $90 cost (or $7.50 per month). It was worth it to me to have the convenience, ability to carry that many bikes and not deal with taking the rack on and off all the time. 

Of course, now I have a truck with a camper so let me know if you want to discuss how far this type of math will take you.

I used to sell and install bike racks years and years ago.

Typically, the limitation on cars is the width of the bars you use for the rack.  And that is strongly informed by the width of the cars.  I bet Rockymounts, Thule, and Yakima websites have a rackfinder app you can input your car and they'll tell you what mounts you need and the width of the bars they recommend.  And probably how many bikes you can fit.

I'd guess the forester would be 48" or 50", and at that width four bikes should be no problem.  You could go wider, but the concern would be hitting your head on the bars.

Kids bikes often have bolt-on front wheels, so they probably are easiest to go with upright mounts.  Grown-up bikes often have quick-releases (provided you don't have rotor-disc brakes) and fork mounts necessitate taking the front wheel off, but there's less to lift and the bikes might be more stable and possibly aero.  

mugwump said:

I'd guess the forester would be 48" or 50", and at that width four bikes should be no problem.  You could go wider, but the concern would be hitting your head on the bars.

This is a concern. On the CRV I had 54" which was pushing it. I think by law you can't go out past your mirrors.

Thanks for all the advice. That answers many questions. I was actually looking for a 60". I guess I must be out of my mind. 

Just so I understand: do all the bikes have to fit within the railing foot or you can have some on the outside of it?

Jim, why would you have two bike racks on top of the basket? Just so you could have a basket if you were only using 2. 

Last question: square bars vs aerobars? It seems like the square bars are a thing of the past. I had them on my old car and never thought they were making so much noise. Maybe cause I was very often blasting music.

Thanks again.

Remy Forgues said:

Thanks for all the advice. That answers many questions. I was actually looking for a 60". I guess I must be out of my mind. 

Just so I understand: do all the bikes have to fit within the railing foot or you can have some on the outside of it?

Jim, why would you have two bike racks on top of the basket? Just so you could have a basket if you were only using 2. 

Last question: square bars vs aerobars? It seems like the square bars are a thing of the past. I had them on my old car and never thought they were making so much noise. Maybe cause I was very often blasting music.

Thanks again.

Remy,
     Maybe not.  60 is possible, but you'll need to check what the width of your roof is.  You'll want to measure, as Jim suggested, from either where the doors meet the roof or the widest point of the sideview mirrors.  And do check with both Thule and Yakima.  They've got pretty big websites and probably your questions have been asked before.

     In my experience, it depends on the design of both the rack's feet and the bike attachments.  

     In my experience, square bars were a Thule thing.  I think they've largely gone by the wayside.

You should be able to fit four bikes on 48-50" bars.  If they were four adult bikes, you'd arrange the trays so that the bikes are alternately facing forward and rearward.  so, from left to right:-forward, rearward, forward, rearward.  With two adult and two kid bikes, it depends on how wide the handlebars are on the various bikes.  I'd probably want to put the kids bikes on the inside with upright racks--I figure that will be easier to secure and remove.  I'd have one facing forward and one rearward.  Then the adult bikes on fork mount trays (assuming they have rim brakes and quick-release front wheels, also one forward and one rearward.

Remy Forgues said:

Thanks for all the advice. That answers many questions. I was actually looking for a 60". I guess I must be out of my mind. 

Just so I understand: do all the bikes have to fit within the railing foot or you can have some on the outside of it?

Jim, why would you have two bike racks on top of the basket? Just so you could have a basket if you were only using 2. 

Last question: square bars vs aerobars? It seems like the square bars are a thing of the past. I had them on my old car and never thought they were making so much noise. Maybe cause I was very often blasting music.

Remy,

I had two bikes outside the foot/tower. Yes, I had the basket to haul other things when there were no bikes up there.

@Remy Forgues don't give up on rear mounted racks. After years of using rooftop Yak racks (The rooftop racks do add a significant amount of road noise even with the wind deflectors) I switched to a Kuat that holds 4. Kuat is super easy to put bikes on and take them off but it sticks out pretty far when loaded so driving up & down steep driveways is a little dicey. My recent favorite are vertical or hanging bike racks that are hitch mounted such as the Alta racks. They can hold five or six mountain bikes, are almost as easy to mount & retrieve bikes.

Happy hunting.

It's on! Those bike racks are my official winter project.Thanks for all the info. 

For years I had a rack mount and still think they are useful, however like Jules have beomce a big fan of my Kia hitch mounted rack. I currently have a Kuat Transport that holds 3 bikes. VERY easy to put on/take off any kind of bike: road, cross, mountain, kids, etc. and the axle type does not matter since the wheels never come off. 

The most recent model comes with an add on that turns the 3 bike mount hitch to a 4 bike hitch. Pretty sure the Transport retails for about $400-500 and the Redbeard can get them for you.

Never fear if your Forester doesn't have a hitch, check out etrailer.com they will help you find the hitch that fits your vehicle. It is possible that you may be able to install it yourself (just don't go and tow a boat with it afterwards)

Maybe this belongs in the CX thread, but did you ever wonder why the Dutch have names like Uittenbroek (as in the Belgian neo-pro just signed to Bora-Hansgrohe) literally means "out of his pants"

Well here is a quick article about it:

Funny Dutch names and the stories behind them

 https://www.expatica.com/nl/moving/society-history/dutch-names-102043/

Definitely better than the Sagan coin but still something a little unsettling about all those abs/belly button. 

They avoided the disc brake argument 

I think the Ronaldo bust forever glued the bar to the floor...

I have mixed feelings about goals.  This year, with racing gone, family around 24/7, I wanted to have some goals, but not be too fixated on them.  

So, it was with some surprise that I realized about a week ago that I could crease 9,500 miles for the year.  The number doesn't have any meaning other than it's a big-seeming round number.  On Sunday, I didn't get in as many miles as I had hoped, so I knew I'd be cutting it close.  With it raining this morning, and hoping to get my kids outside this afternoon, I didn't know if I'd be able to get in the 36 miles I needed to pass this newfound magic number.

I finally got outside at 2:30, and with the rain seemingly not going away, I decided to just do laps in CP.  Six laps would put me two miles over my goal.

After four laps, I wasn't feeling the joy, so I came home, trying to avoid feeing defeated, knowing I was short of my goal.  It wasn't really working.  I had a bit over 11 miles to ride/

When I told my wife, she suggested I go out for more, just to feel the sense of accomplishment

Feeling like I was sitting on a fence, I pondered.  And I realized that if I set up my rollers without the headwind unit, I could probably tap out the final miles in about a half hour, with little stress and tunes in my years.  

20mph without resistance on rollers was too easy.  I upped it to 30mph.  And that was still too easy.  Then 35mph.  Then, for one song, Born To Run, I picked it up to 38mph.  I crossed 9,500 a bit under 20 minutes into the spin.  Born to Run over, I dropped it into the small chainring, and cooled down for the next ten.

Goal accomplished.  Though now I see I should have gone for another 4:08, so I could have 670 hours.

Coming out from under rock. We're in the hunt for a good accountant (with a touch of financial advisor nous). Recommendations?

Now, on to those two thousand unread posts. Is this what a new member sees.

JohnMalcolmson said:

Coming out from under rock. We're in the hunt for a good accountant (with a touch of financial advisor nous). Recommendations?

Now, on to those two thousand unread posts. Is this what a new member sees.

Are you looking for someone who does strict accounting or tax preparing?  

Can't remember where this lived, however another bad day for Richard Freeman.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/gmc-alleges-freeman-worked-with-ex-dopers-when-ordering-banned-testogel/

Another month, another free concert online at Matinee Musicale's youtube channel

Read more about Sean Chen here

If classical piano is your bag, it's worth a look, and also

After shoveling what seems like fruxking acres of snow tonight I swear it is wonder how Canadians have not turned this into an olympic event. Holy schnikes. You know how like cross country skiers and winter sports athletes in general are great at crossing over to cycling? Look out for the neighborhood kid going door to door shoveling snow like nobody's business all day to make that sweet side hustle cash and get them to join Kissena and start racing bikes. I guarantee they'll be pros and win the freaking tour within 2 years.

That's my way of saying shoveling snow iz teh sux.

David Yang said:

After shoveling what seems like fruxking acres of snow tonight I swear it is wonder how Canadians have not turned this into an olympic event. Holy schnikes. You know how like cross country skiers and winter sports athletes in general are great at crossing over to cycling? Look out for the neighborhood kid going door to door shoveling snow like nobody's business all day to make that sweet side hustle cash and get them to join Kissena and start racing bikes. I guarantee they'll be pros and win the freaking tour within 2 years.

That's my way of saying shoveling snow iz teh sux.

Imma gonna gopro the next big one here for you

@David Yang

I assume that Canadians spend more on snow blowers and the like.  

But maybe @Jules or @Myles  can disabuse me of this notion.

LOL Metallica. If stadium sports ever comes back, I hope some pitcher or ace player comes running out of the gate to this version of the song.

https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/20/22292790/metallica-blizzcon-2021-performance-dmca-for-whom-the-bell-tolls

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/feb/22/chris-froome-tour-de-france-israel-start-up-nation-cycling

Froome looks healthy, which is the opposite of how he looked when he was winning TFs...

RichFreeman said:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/feb/22/chris-froome-tour-de-france-israel-start-up-nation-cycling

Froome looks healthy, which is the opposite of how he looked when he was winning TFs...

It's only Feb...