For the bikers here - roof rack question

[drbru]

OK im planning my next trip to France this summer and will be taking the RS4 avant

However, this time round I want to put at least one of the bikes on the roof to free up more space inside. (Ideally 2 bikes though)

Problem is, the roof rack needs to be able to securely hold a fairly heavy downhill bike...

The majority of roof racks that Ive seen dont recommend carrying bikes of 20Kg and I think my bike comes in around 25Kg...

Can anyone recommend something decent...It has to be safe and secure so for this reason im happy to spend whatever to ensure that

a) the bike does not fall off the car when I am enjoying those mountain roads

and

b) Damage the car when it falls off!

Any help much appreciated...From what Ive searched most people recommend Thule but then again I have the weight issue which I m trying to address here

Cheers as always!

[Iain_S4]

Are you sure your bike weighs as much as 25kg? Thats about 55lbs which even for a downhill bike is extremely heavy. I use a Thule Outride 561 although for an all mountain rather than a downhill bike.

Its rated at 17kg which is about 37.5lbs - remember the front wheel will have to come off and go inside the car which on a downhill bike will be a chunk of weight.

The front fork mount can be changed to take a 20mm through axle which most downhill bikes have. The only other issue is that the fork lock doesn't work with the through axle mount although with my bike you'd need an allen key to get the axle out and the bike off.

http://www.thule.com/en-GB/GB/Products/ ... 20561.aspx

I think this will do the job no problems

[Rick_RS4]

i thave the thule roor rack with the aero bars and the thule 591 bike rack, i have had 2 biles on the roof and all felt secure and they were still on the roof when i got to my destination.

(not my car/or picture)

[Rick_RS4]

all lockable too

[sidzz]

Thule 591 is a good choice... just don't drive under a car port whilst the bikes on the rack... the sound of bike grinding on roof will haunt you forever!

[fataitch]

Have you bought your roof bars yet ?

I've got a set of Whispbars for sale. Very flush and very quiet. Can't find the weight limit of their bike racks but worth investigating.

Hayden

[drbru]

roof bars have not been bought yet but I was under the impression that Thule were the way to go?

[Steve_C]

AFAIK, Whispbars are a good quality alternative, but I'd recommend staying with the same manufacturer for everything (so get a Whispar cycle carrier if one exists). I bought some Audi roof bars for my avant and my Thule cycle carrier wouldn't fit on the unique shape of the audi bars. So I sold them and bought Thule roof bars which fitted perfectly.

A friend of mine has the Thule set up also and forgot they were on his car and accelerated up to c.100 mph! They wobbled a bit but everything was still in one piece at the end of the journey.

[RSKiwi]

Hi, first post here as I have just joined the RS club as of Saturday and this site has offered brilliant advice.

Time to give a little back.

I had the Whispbars on my old 3.0 A4 sport. I can tell you that they are much much quieter than standard and they do fit Thule racks(Assuming they havent changed in 3 years). I had three Thule 591's mounted to these with no problems, I have had three mountain bikes on the roof and these things never moved in the slightest. One tip, like the long review said on the other website you do need the foam inserts to cover the adjustment slots.

Best thing is that with new adaptors these now fit perfectly on my RS4 Avant.

Hope that helps.

Cheers

[Rick_RS4]

Hi, first post here as I have just joined the RS club as of Saturday and this site has offered brilliant advice.

Time to give a little back.

I had the Whispbars on my old 3.0 A4 sport. I can tell you that they are much much quieter than standard and they do fit Thule racks(Assuming they havent changed in 3 years). I had three Thule 591's mounted to these with no problems, I have had three mountain bikes on the roof and these things never moved in the slightest. One tip, like the long review said on the other website you do need the foam inserts to cover the adjustment slots.

Best thing is that with new adaptors these now fit perfectly on my RS4 Avant.

Hope that helps.

Cheers

thanks for that i have the 591s and was searching to see if they fitted the whispbars,

would you say the whispbars are better than thule?

[RSKiwi]

The way to be sure they will fit is if the mounting 'bolt' in the base of the bike racks is roughly square, this then slides down the groove in the Whispbars. If this is the case then they are the same mounting system as mine and will fit with no issues.

Oh and they are definitely quieter than the Thules and I would say about the same in quality.