Transporting a Carbon Fibre bike - no roof racks, and no space inside...

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plastik8
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Transporting a Carbon Fibre bike - no roof racks, and no space inside...

Post by plastik8 »

Hi Guys,

I've got a new (2nd hand) car and for whatever f*cked up reason the back seats do not fold down, hence it is difficult for me to fit my carbon fibre road bike inside. I can take the wheel off and squeeze it directly between the front and back seats, but it is quite hard to do it without knocking or scratching the interior.

I do have a tow bar on the car, with a 50mm hitch + tongue & ball (double entendre?).

There are no roof racks, and this is absolutely never in a million years an option.

My mate, who is quite knowledgeable when it comes to cycling, but also seems to have a bottomless wallet, has told me that I should definitely, 100% steer away from all bike racks unless they support the weight of the bike from the wheels. This is because clamping to a carbon frame is a big no no.

With the above in mind, does anyone have any suggestions? Is my mate just being over cautious? Could I wrap the top tube in something soft and then clamp it?

Otherwise, I did find this for about $280 AUD delivered. Ideally I want to spend as LITTLE as possible however:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Towbar-Towba ... 7#shpCntId
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wobblysauce
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Re: Transporting a Carbon Fibre bike - no roof racks, and no space inside...

Post by wobblysauce »

There fine until you tighten it to far/go over a bump in the road.. It is the twisting on tube that can cause micro cracks.. though you can use an extendable link from your head stem to seat tube and attach to that.

For carbon bikes the link is good, or like the Thule Euroway 945/947.
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Re: Transporting a Carbon Fibre bike - no roof racks, and no space inside...

Post by Quincy »

buy a kombi. Should fit!
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Re: Transporting a Carbon Fibre bike - no roof racks, and no space inside...

Post by CLP »

Your friend isn't being overly cautious..

clamping carbon tubes in general is a bad idea; even more so in the middle of a tube section (where a tow ball bike rack rack would clamp) where the carbon is thinner. The potential to crush a carbon fibre tube is a real risk. Secondary to that, bouncing over bumps may snap a tube, once again because it's being suspended by the weakest point on the tubing.

Personally, I go with the roof rack option, but I can appreciate that not everyone likes them! The type you posted a link to is a popular option, especially with multiple bikes, and/or a tall car.

Another potential option is one of these:
http://www.anacondastores.com/cycling/s ... vAod4C8JiQ
which might allow you to use a regular tow ball mount. One downside might be that the bike is slightly lower than usual, so might be susceptible to being damaged by the exhaust (exhaust gasses will happily melt bicycle tyres)
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Re: Transporting a Carbon Fibre bike - no roof racks, and no space inside...

Post by plastik8 »

Cheers everyone for your help. Looks like I'll have to bite the bullet and get something like the tray carrier thing in my link.

CLP - I appreciate your expertise. Now, the link doesn't seem to work... I manually had a quick look and found this: http://www.anacondastores.com/cycling/b ... BP90035633 . Was that what you were referring to?
Last edited by plastik8 on Tue Jul 26, 2016 9:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Transporting a Carbon Fibre bike - no roof racks, and no space inside...

Post by CLP »

plastik8 wrote:Cheers everyone for your help. Looks like I'll have to bite the bullet and get something like the tray carrier thing in my link.

CLP - The link doesn't seem to work. I manually had a quick look and found this: http://www.anacondastores.com/cycling/b ... BP90035633 . Was that what you were referring to?
try this one :)
http://www.pushys.com.au/bike-bar-adaptor.html
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plastik8
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Re: Transporting a Carbon Fibre bike - no roof racks, and no space inside...

Post by plastik8 »

Aaah. Interesting. Does that connect to the seat post and the stem, and then you clamp the bar? What happens if my seat post is carbon too?

Note: I have a cheap bike, and my budget is cheap. So this could potentially be a winner :D

Edit: Google for the win. This looks gold. I wonder how loose it would be, though? I guess some occy straps in the right places might fix anything.

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Re: Transporting a Carbon Fibre bike - no roof racks, and no space inside...

Post by KNAPPO »

Dropping your seat post should gain you some height in the rear wheels proximity to the ground as well. If you are worried about exhaust and tyres you could always remove the wheels if you have enough space in the car for them.
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plastik8
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Re: Transporting a Carbon Fibre bike - no roof racks, and no space inside...

Post by plastik8 »

KNAPPO wrote:Dropping your seat post should gain you some height in the rear wheels proximity to the ground as well. If you are worried about exhaust and tyres you could always remove the wheels if you have enough space in the car for them.
Cheers Knappo, you are a smart fella. :yes: :)
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Re: Transporting a Carbon Fibre bike - no roof racks, and no space inside...

Post by wobblysauce »

Yep, that's the one.
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Re: Transporting a Carbon Fibre bike - no roof racks, and no space inside...

Post by 9ra55h0ppaH »

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Highland-Spo ... SwzJ5Xfu2L

Im thinking about buying one of these... holds bike by the wheels!
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Re: Transporting a Carbon Fibre bike - no roof racks, and no space inside...

Post by markus »

KNAPPO wrote:Dropping your seat post should gain you some height in the rear wheels proximity to the ground as well. If you are worried about exhaust and tyres you could always remove the wheels if you have enough space in the car for them.
Exhaust can destroy the (nice carbon)wheels as well, so it's not only the tires at risk.
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Re: Transporting a Carbon Fibre bike - no roof racks, and no space inside...

Post by norbs »

Sarc ; my second favourite type of gasm.
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