Bike damage on bike racks

[eileithyia]

Defo +1 for pipe lagging.

Wrangler-rover I have had estate cars since forever, once I realised the ease for bike transportation, my bikes virtually never go outside the car.

Another way toload them esp if not the seat post is not too tall or can be dropped easily;
Take front wheels out and they can stand on one side of the car usually secured by bungie cords to internal fittings ie the internal roof handle (or whatever it is called), I put an old curtain between them to prevent damage, then all camping gear and bags can also go in the car (or mostly) reducing need for top boxes etc.

[DavidT]

Anyhow it was road-tested from the North-Midlands to Western Scotland and back last year without a hitch.

It's movement of the bikes themselves that concerns me. I had a problem with trying to fit pedals between adjacent frames and with the dropped handlebars generally getting in the way. This year I'm removing all pedals (and hopefully remembering to take them). I'll also use generous amounts of strapping and padding as suggested.

For further reasurance, mine has travelled many, many miles with no problems whatsoever. Of fitting the bikes, MickF mentioned nose to tail which makes things easier, and I do need to position the pedals appropriately to fit between the bikes. However other than those adjustments I don't have problems. Glad you rate the tow bar option overall though. Easily the best, as a number of posters seem to be confirming.

I must get a tow bar fitted & invest in a tow bar mounted bike rack if the roof box and bikes in the back of the car prove to be too much of a squeeze.

You won't regret it!

[patricktaylor]

With any type of rack, pipe lagging is okay except that it can eventually wear through if there's a lot of movement between the bikes, on a long journey especially. I've found the main thing is to prevent this inter-bike movement altogether. It can usually be done with cable ties - crank to crank, saddle rail to handlebar, etc (good and tight but don't forget to take some scissors). If you can grab one of the bikes and shake it firmly, and all the bikes wobble together as one unit fastened together, it's sorted. Where a frame tube touches something else a cable-tied sponge in between provides 100% protection. A decent (dampened) sponge will not wear through like pipe lagging does.

[Tonyf33]

Defo +1 for pipe lagging.

Wrangler-rover I have had estate cars since forever, once I realised the ease for bike transportation, my bikes virtually never go outside the car.

Another way toload them esp if not the seat post is not too tall or can be dropped easily;
Take front wheels out and they can stand on one side of the car usually secured by bungie cords to internal fittings ie the internal roof handle (or whatever it is called), I put an old curtain between them to prevent damage, then all camping gear and bags can also go in the car (or mostly) reducing need for top boxes etc.

Couldn't agree more, buying a car that allows you to have everything inside saves the worry of the bikes being damaged, expense (extra fuel and the rack itself etc) and driving safety is improved also with much easier handling in poor conditions.
I remove both wheels & seatposts completely, for me it takes 2 minutes tops and the luggage keeps the bikes nicely in place but also use luggage straps as they don't stretch like bungee cords so there's zero movement.
Of the high fuel economy cars capable of stowing bikes easily the 1.2TDi Skoda Roomster looks ideal albeit it's gutless in performance it's almost half the new price of a replacement Blue-motion Passat which I was thinking about getting

[patricktaylor]

... buying a car that allows you to have everything inside saves the worry of the bikes being damaged ...

But not the worry of the car's occupants being damaged in a front end collision, unless the bike(s) is very strongly fastened down. This is not easy to do. Wedged behind something is no good.

[Tonyf33]

... buying a car that allows you to have everything inside saves the worry of the bikes being damaged ...

But not the worry of the car's occupants being damaged in a front end collision, unless the bike(s) is very strongly fastened down. This is not easy to do. Wedged behind something is no good.

Sorry but I had to smile, for such infintessimally rare occasions (has there EVER been a recorded incident?) where one could be struck by ones own bike, luggage straps would be fine (hence why I mentioned them), bungee cords are not good enough IMO to keep a bike solidly in place.
I'd venture the damage done by bikes falling off onto carriageways and damage to bikes themselves from other objects & other such mishaps (trailer issues, damage to racks/car, reversing issues etc etc) outweigh incidents of bikes in cars by many thousands

[Malaconotus]

Sorry but I had to smile, for such infintessimally rare occasions (has there EVER been a recorded incident?) where one could be struck by ones own bike, luggage straps would be fine (hence why I mentioned them), bungee cords are not good enough IMO to keep a bike solidly in place.
I'd venture the damage done by bikes falling off onto carriageways and damage to bikes themselves from other objects & other such mishaps (trailer issues, damage to racks/car, reversing issues etc etc) outweigh incidents of bikes in cars by many thousands

I don't understand the smiling and winking. Patrick is absolutely right. A number of fatalities caused by loose computers, suitcases, coolboxes and even pets are documented here... http://www.milfordind.com.au/sendfile.p ... your%20car One unfortunate woman was killed by a flying jar of honey.

Any unsecured item in a vehicle is potentially lethal in the event of an crash. Front seat passengers are often killed by unrestrained rear seat passengers, with the risk of death in an accident being 400% greater if an unbelted passenger is sat behind. Advances in vehicle crumple zones, airbags, and passenger retraint technology make crashing a car in which occupants are secured massively less injurious than was the case in the past, and it's now other things in the car which have the greatest chance of causing injury.

Crash test video here shows what happens... http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=70b_1246313355
Australian safety promotion material... http://www.mynrma.com.au/images/About-P ... Part-1.pdf

Whenever I have carried bikes in a car I have secured them with at least four luggage straps and four bungees, all attached to the anchoring points provided by car manufacturer's, but rarely even noticed by car users. Even then I have driven with extreme care, (and worn a helmet!)

[Tonyf33]

No reported bike related accidents though? So yes the comment made me smile as the chances of it happening are so remote as to not worth worrying about. I drive like I normally would, I see absolutely no reason not too if I know it is a as secure as anything else in the car... a flying atlas maybe?

[patricktaylor]

The video posted by Malaconotus illustrates what happens to unsecured contents when a car has a frontal collision. They fly forward at the speed the car was travelling. I would regard an unsecured bike in the back (bungee cords are no use) as potentially lethal even in low speed accidents. Others will obviously make their own judgements on the level of risk involved but a bike rack reduces it if it doesn't eliminate it altogether.

[Malaconotus]

I see absolutely no reason not too if I know it is a as secure as anything else in the car... a flying atlas maybe?

Correct. A bicycle is no more or less likely than any other object to disobey Newton's first law. My road atlas lives in the passenger door compartment because, as lightweight as it is, I have no wish to be struck in the back of the head by it at 40mph.

None of the objects in the article were bicycles. But Newton's second law also applies equally to all objects, and my bicycle weighs 16Kg, around 50 times more than my atlas. It is also rigid with lots of pointy bits. Being struck by it in a 30mph crash would be equvalent to it being dropped on me from a seventh floor window. Either are quite capable of killing me.

Now that flying through the windscreen and being impaled by the steering column have been largely removed from the equation, being struck by loose objects or other passengers is the most lethal risk in any frontal impact at moderate speeds.