Can we really take a chance in choosing a bike rack ??

[Balu]

Hello,

when one think of buying a bike rack, usually he/she will opt for rear rack, as this is a cheaper option and easy to fix & remove. But, have you ever thought that rear rack can be a costly affair too ?? You can lose your bike !!

Let me highlight an incident that occurred in last December, during Blue mountains Bicycle tour.

Mark (MDA) and his wife had to travel by car to Mysore, as they decided to join the tour a day later. Unfortunately, their car met with a high speed accident involving multiple cars. Luckily, all the people involved in this accident escaped without any injuries, although front and back portions of all the cars damaged completely.

I want to emphasize the fact that, nothing happened to their bikes since they were mounted on roof rack. Imagine what would have happened to their carbon bikes if they were mounted on a rear rack !! Thanks to Arvind Ganesh (Happy Earth Enterprises LLP) for lending us the Sea sucker bike rack.

My review on Sea Sucker bike rack:

It is very easy to fix and remove, Suction works really well : It has sustained an accident, Path holes, off roads.

Attached some pictures of Sea sucker bike rack with bikes mounted, also find picasa link for more pics.
https://picasaweb.google.com/114420270938118830658/SeaSuckerBikeRack02?authuser=0&feat=directlink

-Balu

[Opendro]

How much do they cost?

[modi]

While these are good.

 

Just a word of caution if the rack doesn't hold the frame properly then with the current setup the fork might get damaged if the cars swerves often and if you are passing through ghats then you are sure to damage your forks. If the frame is not rigidly supported then the high stress points for the fork is at the point where you have your quick release and the fork might bend without an option to repair.

 

Why am saying this, we had a similar experience with a roof rack on TFN. Hope it helps.     

 

-modi

-Balu

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[Vijay]

20 K for one bike 30k for 2 bikes and 40 K for 3 bikes

http://happyearth.in/store/category.php?id_category=34
Sent from my iPhone

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[Rajanikanth Puttabuddi]

Modi, Chances are very low for such things to happen. But what balu said about accidents that is true. High chance of bikes getting damaged if they are in the rear rack. Also in traffic signals i have seen people playing with the pedals and tires.
We used 2 Sea sucker racks and they are really awesome. Not just while carrying bikes, but the racks itself occupy such a small place
that spare racks can be easily taken along with other luggage in a car..

rk

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Regards,
RajaniKanth.P

[Arvind Ganesh]

Yes, roof racks are the way to go if you don't want to risk damage to your bikes. I've had two wheelers bang into the back of my car more than once, always thankful that I didn't have the bike on the back. 

One disadvantage with roof racks and covered parking is that if you forget that there's a bike on top, you can bring major damage to your bike. I drove into my underground parking once, forgetting about my bike on top. Luckily for me, as I was going in, the handlebar caught an edge and I froze. Got off with minor damage to the handlebar. And yes, roof racks are generally more expensive.

Thanks Veloscope crew for the feedback. I don't want to go overly commercial in this group discussion, so will just say this about the SeaSucker racks - I've started renting them out for money so anyone that wants to try one can rent from me.

Cheers, 

Arvind 

[Vasu]

On a lighter note if you use roof racks remember to drive in 3D!

You will need to be careful about the X, Y and the Z axes :)

V

[deepakvrao]

Safest way to carry bikes is inside the car of course ;-)

On Friday, January 4, 2013 4:56:18 PM UTC+5:30, Balu wrote:

[Vijay]

+1 for carrying it inside 

Sent from my iPhone

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[Banibrata Dutta]

On a lighter vein... sea sucker, is so darn good, it sucks your pocket dry too !!

On a more serious note, I'm yet to come accross a bike carriage mechanism that looks cooler, and definitely seems pretty strong, but yeah, they demand their pound of flesh (or your dough).

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regards,
Banibrata
http://www.linkedin.com/in/bdutta
http://twitter.com/edgeliving

[Shankar Shastry]

Yup. Best thing is to get a car that can carry bikes inside it :D

On Sat, Jan 5, 2013 at 7:38 AM, Vijay <vija...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Balu]

I do agree, Carrying bikes inside car is always better than any racks, but not everyone has that luxury..

-Balu

[Shreedhar Ramachandra]

Safest way to carry is inside the car. Safest way to park is inside the house :)

All the bike locks and bike carriers are not needed if everyone had this luxury.