Cycling UK Forum

We have been told that we need to get a cover for my wife’s bike when we transport it on a bike rack. Our rack fits a Nissan Juke and is hatchback mounted. I have looked on the web but I haven’t found anything that might be suitable. Ideas please.

Try the motor caravan accessory dealers - I've seen lots of covered bikes on these. We got one for MiL's wheelchair when she came on trips with us.

Fortitude wrote:We have been told that we need to get a cover for my wife’s bike when we transport it on a bike rack.

Been told because....?? You want to keep the bike dry or for legal / insurance reasons?

I would tell you to too.

Rain, spray, muck, winter salt.
All aren't nice for transmission and bearings on an uncovered bike on the hatchback.
Hostile place for a bike.

Bikes are weather proof if prepared to be so. Okay, a cover over the leather saddle is a good idea, but the transmission and the rest should be fine if they are lubed properly. Even at 70mph. Cushy ride for a bike, up there away from the grit and the grime. A bike cover is just a nuisance to catch in the wind and make a lot of noise.

......... but it's not away from the grit and grime, especially on a blunt-ended modern hatchback car.
Dunno about any car other folk have driven, but all the hatchbacks I've ever owned get filthy at the back end, some worse than others. Rest of the car can be reasonable. but the back end really cops it.

If you are going hundreds? of miles on a motorway in wet weather, the back end of any car gets filthy with grime and grit and wet - all fine penetrating particles too.

I would have said a cover was unnecessary and potentially even dangerous.
I've driven all over with bikes on tailgate racks in all weathers since the late 80s and never needed a cover. A plastic bag tightly fastened over the saddle (if leather) is all I've done. Bikes have never been muckier than on a very wet day ride.

If you have a strap on rack which the bikes "hang from" then a cover may be difficult to fit and secure, and could come away at high speed which could endanger other traffic.
Also if you use a trailer board which straps on for lights, that could be difficult to fasten.
Motorhome racks generally are the fiamma type which have rails for tyres, and one could be used, with the obvious caveat of the potential light issue.

Bike in car , wife strapped to roof

Sorted !

I've been transporting my bike on the back of VW vans for over 30 years and never bothered with a cover. As said above, I cover the saddle but not the bike. Even a poly bag on the saddle can get shredded by the wind and turbulence, so make sure any cover is very tightly secured.

Of course, it won't be necessary in the dry, so how often do you go out with bikes when its wet and 'orrible.

I also wonder how good for a bike a poly cover is. In the sun with any damp under the cover, I would think it was ideal conditions for rusting.

Bike shops and even Argos make bike covers, but these are designed for static use.

I too would like to know who told you and why?

One thing I have to say, and I'm on here saying it before, is that there's no way I would put my pride and joy on the back of a car.
Two reasons.

One, the back of every hatchback car we've ever had, has got filthy at the back due to turbulence picking up the grit. Combine that with rain, and it's horrible after going up the motorway.

Two, and this is the most important - and I've resisted saying this so far on this thread - your pride and joy will take the brunt of any rear-end shunt you may have.
This happened to me with my precious Mercian on the back. Going at less than 20mph in traffic and someone stepped out into the road so I stopped quickly. The car behind didn't stop quickly enough and hit the rear rack.
Luckily, it was a two-bike rack and Mercian was on the front part and the rear part unoccupied. The rack was bent, the number plate cracked, and one light was damaged. Mercian was fine .................... but may not have been.

Never ever would I put a bike on the back of a car again.

Fortitude wrote:We have been told that we need to get a cover for my wife’s bike when we transport it on a bike rack. Our rack fits a Nissan Juke and is hatchback mounted. I have looked on the web but I haven’t found anything that might be suitable. Ideas please.

don't bother. In fact, just don't because it will cause trouble.

Fitting a cover will just turn the bike into a sail that will try its best to tear itself and the rack off the car. Bloody dangerous.

cheers

For long trips I put stretch film and some packing tape over the saddle and shifters.

If you spray the bike liberally with car "detailing spray" it will shed the water and associated carp without a problem. As said, a cover will drive you to distraction at best.

Mick F wrote:Two, and this is the most important - and I've resisted saying this so far on this thread - your pride and joy will take the brunt of any rear-end shunt you may have.

Not necessarily true, depending on the rack design. With a good design, the rack frame protrudes further back and forwards than all corners off the bike and will transmit the impact to the bodywork and it'll need to be a really hard shunt or a freakishly-shaped one to harm the bike much... and with a terrible design where the rack rests on the window, the rack will simply smash the rear window and go into the car, throwing the bike over the roof! So the ones to beware are middling designs where the rack rests firmly on the body work but it doesn't extend back further than the bike on some corners, such as those high-mount ones you hang the bikes from the crossbar onto.

In any case, if you're in a car crash, pretty much all bets are off and the result is likely to be awful anyway.

Wanna, wanna know who told you to get a cover.

Don't s'pose we'll ever find out. Joined 6 July at 10 pm-ish. Only other login 7 July 10 pm-ish.