[BBC] Bike racks

[Arvind Raman]

I had been to RR cycles to check out bike racks for my Hyundai Santro. Even though everything seemed well - The Thule 968 rack fit nicely and my bike too fit nicely, I decided against buying it, at least for now.

The rear wheel of my bike was jutting out about 9" to a feet on the right hand side of the car (The front wheel was concealed behind the car). It would have been better had the protrusions been evenly spread on both sides. This oddity was probably because of my bike's frame. How far out do your bikes come?

While the guys at RR helping me fit the rack assured me that this would not be an issue, I was not so sure and hence this email.

• Have guys here with a rear mounted bike rack faced issues with cops on the street, assuming that the cycle does jut out from the car?
• Has anyone banged into your rear mounted bike and held you responsible for that? I imagine this can become a pretty ugly scene more because bike racks are definitely not a common sight in Bangalore.

~ Arvind

--
biking conversations on the world famous "Bangalore Bikers Club" :)
 
are you a part of the bicycle racing scene?
Visit www.bangalorebicyclechampionships.com for more details

[Parag Dubey]

While you are looking around, I will suggest looking at roof
racks. I have used both rear mounted and roof racks and find
the roof racks more convenient.

Regards,
Parag

On Sat, May 01, 2010 at 10:27:53PM +0530 Arvind Raman wrote...

> I had been to RR cycles to check out bike racks for my Hyundai Santro. Even
> though everything seemed well - The Thule 968 rack fit nicely and my bike
> too fit nicely, I decided against buying it, at least for now.
>
> The rear wheel of my bike was jutting out about 9" to a feet on the right
> hand side of the car (The front wheel was concealed behind the car). It
> would have been better had the protrusions been evenly spread on both sides.
> This oddity was probably because of my bike's frame. How far out do your
> bikes come?
>
> While the guys at RR helping me fit the rack assured me that this would not
> be an issue, I was not so sure and hence this email.
>

> -
> - Have guys here with a rear mounted bike rack faced issues with cops on

> the street, assuming that the cycle does jut out from the car?

> - Has anyone banged into your rear mounted bike and held you responsible

[SreeHarsha .H .Srinivas]

Arvind

I own a rear rack, and haven't faced any issues so far.

Most of the times, three bikes mounted on the rack. As you mentioned, even on Swift, the rear wheel protrudes by 8-9 inches.

Mine is a Thule 9107 (I suppose).

Used it to ride to western ghats in excess of 150 kmph, the racks are sturdy.

About Cops, havent faced any issues. About somebody crashing from behind, i am so far lucky about this.

You need to be a bit careful while driving, i normally keep the rear wheels on the right side (driver side), so that I have better view of them through rear mirror.

But, I have heard from people that the roof mounted racks are better and less headache. I dont think they are very costly, KYNKYNY racks are pretty popular and are reliable from what I have heard, pretty satisfied customers out there. Another advantage with roof top is that you have access to the Boot even when bikes are mounted (this is one issue we face in the rear rack).

Check it out, talk to people who own roof top and check the cost before making a decision.

-Harsha

[Yogesh N. Rao]

What if you were to remove the front wheel? Wouldn't it protrude less?

[Chidambaran Subramanian]

If your aim were to conserve your bootspace, what is the point of keeping the racks?

[Dileep]

Hi,

I had inquired about KynKyNy racks sometime back. They do not have any
racks for old Santro models (Mine is a zip drive).

So, you might end up with only the rear racks.

I am also planning to buy one. I saw one Thule 9106 at Wheelsports. I
have not yet checked it on my car.

I heard from Rohan that he has used Thule rear rack on Santro without
much problems.

Roof top ones from Thule are pretty expensive (above 20K).

Regards,
Dileep

[Yogesh N. Rao]

Well, it is not just conservation of boot space alone. You cannot fit 3 bicycles inside a car with 5 people seated inside (esp. an i10). So, the bike rack comes in handy when you want to do that. The front tires take very little space. 3 front tires don't take that much space in the boot.

[Arvind]

Hi Arvind,

A friend of mine got into trouble with a couple bikes on the rear bike racks. On his way back from the cyclothon a motorist got hit from the bike and fell down and broke his collar bone. My friend ended up booting the hospital charges and got into a police case too. Quite a harrowing experience.

We still don't know what exactly happened, but our theory is that at the signal the motorist must have stood really close to the car. On green, while pulling away the cycles might have hit the motorists handle bar. The motorist would have been blind-sighted as the cycles would have come from behind and hit his handle bar as the car was accelerating faster. This could happen to anyone and it makes overtaking motorbikes tricky (from the side the car where your bike is jutting out).

I would anyday prefer a rack mounted on top of the car.

- Arvind

On Sun, May 2, 2010 at 9:14 AM, SreeHarsha .H .Srinivas <sreeha...@gmail.com> wrote:

--

[meetbadri]

I feel rear bike racks are for places where people respect and abide
to what is known as " Lane driving"

You cannot share a single lane with an auto-rikshaw on left and a 2
wheeler on right. If you live in a place which has comparatively less
traffic like Sarjapur Road or Bannerghatta where you don't need to
travel into the city much, it's OK to have a rear mounted bike rack
and still drive without any scare of being hit.

A roof mounted rack should always be a good option in a traffic hit
city like bangalore as you don't need to worry about someone rubbing
your bike around.

Personally, I don't feel like carrying my bike in any state that would
demand my constant monitoring on top of driving in this madness.
Roof rack has been a matter of boot space savings, additional space to
seat 3 more and on top of all PEACE of MIND for me. It has been a risk
free affair so far.

@Arvind,

I got a pair made for my TATA vehicle as the original ones were not
fit for my car. Am sure, Vivek would like to take it up and have a
nice pair of roof racks fitted on your Santro :)

@Vivek,

Take this as my referral :))

[Dileep]

Hi,

@Vivek,

Let us know if you are planning to make roof top racks for Santro.

Regards,
Dileep

[meetbadri]

Vivek the 69 is busy riding in Thailand as of now..
We shoul here some good news once he is back :)