Mayonnaise

Part of my research on buying a tandem includes a roof rack system. We plan on doing lots of traveling with the bike and our Ford Taurus.

A quick look around shows a system price at nearly $600. Man, that seems like a lot of money to get a tandem on the roof of the car.

I’m still young and able and don’t need something fancy; meaning, I can lift the thing on the roof just fine with a wife and a step ladder.

Is there something about a tandem that it requires a special system? I know the bike is longer. Can’t I just get a basic system with a longer tray?

Is there a cheaper alternative?

Hermes

I experienced similar issues shopping for a roof rack. In my opinion, one needs a Thule or Yakima rack connected directly to the car with their connection system. It is not a good idea to use any rack that might be supplied from the auto manufacturer. The problem is the tandem is long and the wind force over the long bike will tend to rip the bike and rack off the car. So one needs a tandem specific design. Both Thule and Yakima make a pivoting design but if you can lift the tandem on the car you can special order from Thule a tandem carrier that is cheaper and does not pivot. But yes, it is a couple of hundred dollars for a rack and another couple of hundred for a tandem specific carrier.

I did find one that was $100 less than the name brands but for the money invested in the bike, I preferred going with the name brand.

TandemGeek

For shorter roof lines, something longer than a standard bike mount is usually required. However, before launching into a description of the roof-mount alternatives I should mention that a tandem-specific mount is not essential.

A standard, two-arm trunk mount or rear receiver bike rack is all that's really necessary. I always suggest that for anything other than a very short trip at least the front wheel be removed to reduce the width and/or increase stability. For longer trips, the back wheel should logically be removed as well. The upside of the rear bike mount is that they make wheel removal quite easy since the tandem is held by the rack with both front and rear wheels off the ground.

The rear receiver mounts are a bit easier to work with, but if you don't already have a receiver hitch on your car the added expense defeats a good deal of the savings vs a roof mounted system. But, as an example of how far down the food chain you can go, here's a link to a trunk mount at REI that costs $39 and has a 105lb capacity: https://www.rei.com/product/48019565.htm. I doubt your tandem will exceed the rated capacity, with or without the wheels attached.

Back to roof mounted systems, you can usually find all the bits and pieces needed (towers, crossbars, and even tandem mounts) second hand on Ebay, Craigslist, tandemmag.com/classifieds, or by posting wanted to buy adds. Also, REI usually has its rack systems on sale for 20% off around this time of year. Short of fabricating your own extended wheel tray from steel, the least expensive tandem-mount is probably the Rocky Mounts [sp] stuff. However, careful "shopping" can usually yield a second hand Yakima mount for about the same cost. The Thule / Atoc systems are the Cadillacs and have some of the better, well-thought out features, such as removable rear wheel tray extensions for when you're not hauling around the tandem.

FWIW, over the years I've used both a tandem-specific mount (older non-pivoting Yakima with boom support) as well as standard Yakima bike mounts to haul our tandems. However, you have to have a vehicle with a very long roofline that can accommodate three cross bars to make it work, e.g., a single fork mount sits on the very front bar with a standard single bike mount & long tray sitting between the two, normally spaced towers such that the tandem's rear wheel lands on the back of the single bike mount's tray. In all of our travels with as many as three road tandems on fork and rear wheel strap single bike mounts, or two mountain tandems and two single bikes up top, nothing ever failed or came loose. However, you need to make sure that your hardware remains in good shape. The stock stuff that came with my earlier Yakima stuff would always start showing signs of rust and corrode within a few years, at which point it would be replaced.

dbg

So I've been building my own roof racks that fasten directly to the current rack system on my Dodge Minivan. Some years back, on a couple of trips I looked at some other Thule and Yakima systems others were using (grabbing the crossbars and yanking them around to get a feel for how sturdy to seemed to be) and decided my stock crossbar was just as firmly attached. I'm on generation 3 of design improvements and am happy with the results. I carry 4 bikes on top and 4 on a rear hitch, including a recumbent on top with never a hint of problems.

The last set I included one channel long enough to carry a tandem. I had to mount it backwards because the rear end hung out over the hatch and prevented full opening. I haven't yet carried a tandem anywhere, but it mounted nice and seemed very sturdy.

I've been meaning to photo-document the design and post to my web site, but haven't yet.

K&M

We recently got rid of our truck (which had made tandem transport easy) and replaced it with a Honda Civic Coupe. After researching the various rack options, I decided on a trunk mounted Saris Bones rack. By taking off the front wheel, the tandem only sticks out a few inches on each side of the car. This weekend we used it to take the tandem around 300 miles round trip to the Davis 12 Hour Challenge and it worked great. That's the extent of our experience with it so far, but as of now I would highly recommend it. The rack only takes a few minutes to put on or take off the car. You don't have to drive around with it on the car when you're not using it. It seems very solid. And it costs less than $150.00!!!

zonatandem

How cheap you want to get for a roof mounted tandem 'rack'?
Get a car/truck innertube. Inflate it and put it on roof of Taurus. Secure with some tie downs/bungee cords/old bike innertubes.
Lay tandem flat on the inflated car/truck innertube and secure with tie down straps/old innertubes/what ever!
Check out the English tandem club or the Dutch tandem club's websites for photos or DIY ideas.

sch

If using the inner tube approach, a spare tube and plug in inflator would be a good idea
as well as an appropriate patch kit for the tube. Bike pumps ain't going to cut it. Lots
of tie down straps and some experimentation are in order. It helps to be able to dead
lift 80# or so so you can maneuver it all in place. A Taurus wagon is not too high for most
to reach, but an additional 8" of tube height would be a challenge to wrestle the bike
over without some assistance from the other side. Lifting a tandem with the bike vertical
is one thing, with the bike horizontal cantilevered over the car top another.
I had two Taurus wagons, and greatly regret no longer having them. It is not easy to
find a vehicle that will take an LWB bent inside. OTOH replacing the transmission on
one at 52Kmi and having the engine trouble lite read out "transmission shaky" on the
other was more than a little bummer.

zonatandem

Did not say utilizing/lifting tandem on inflated car/truck tube was 'easy', but it is 'cheap'!
We carry our tandem inside a '97 Accord Station Wagon.

cgallagh

I use the receiver mount on my 4runner. It is convenient, fast, and efficient. Tandemgeek said it all. When we go on long trips we usually have a couple of half bikes on it as well. On the 4runner it is best to take off both wheels but that is pretty easy. It also keeps the bike out of the wind stream, saving on drag and gasoline.

JanMM

Had a Mitsubishi Expo when we got our tandem - no room inside. Got a Thule tandem mount to attach to our Performance Xport roof rack system. Worked well. Then got a Mazda minivan with a factory rack. Bought some Yakima towers and bars to attach to the siderails, so we could attach the Thule mount to that. Works well, too....the pivoting feature is needed to get a tandem up that high. However.......haven't used it for several years since I realized that putting the bike inside works very well, is much easier, and protects the bike from my driving into the garage with it on top.

NewbieIATandem

Depends on what you feel comfortable with. We went with the Thule towers and crossbars that connect to the factory roof rack sliders (Ford Windstar). Then for the bikes themselves we went with Rockymounts tandem carrier (older, non pivoting) and Rockymounts single carriers.

After a little trip into the garage with the tandem on top (ouch) here were the results.

Rockymounts singles racks: a little bent but still quite usable.
Thule crossbars: no damage at all
Thule towers: one small in one of the towers. No noticeable change in functioning.
Rockmounts tandem rack: no damage at all (did have to replace the ubolts used for mounting)

Factory rails: bent up like pretzels, pulled right out of the van roof
Van: major roof damage and major dent in rear door

$160 damage to bike (new fork)
$1800 damage to van

I guess I just want to say, be careful of factory equipment rack. They put those racks on vehicles at the factory to *look* like you can haul things on top. Spending $X on a tandem but skimping on a rack doesn't make sense.

So I guess my two cents is. Just make sure you protect your new bike. Make sure it is secure, and sometimes that is more than you anticipated on spending. Our thought was, if we were going to be using our tandem for more than little 1-2 mile trips around the neighborhood we needed to make the investment in the roof rack that was almost the same price as our tandem. It's worked for us so far.

counselguy

Okay - time to embarass myself but hopefully save someone a wrecked tandem.

This weekend I was bringing my 3 week old new Calfee Tetra Tetra home from the LBS and was talking on the cell phone. I have a Yakima Rack with a Thule mount which allows the bike to pivot onto the roof and puts the front fork into a tightened down bracket that holds the bike quite well.

As I was talking on the phone, with my wife watching me in the front seat, we drive onto the driveway and head towards the garage at around 6-7 mph. We have often said in the past - "we sure need to remind ourselves that this is on the top of the car," but also thought those who did this must surely be daydreaming. Well, they are now us and the roof of our sedan is dented with over $1500 damage. The Calfee, which is what I was most scared about? Thanks to the Bike Gods that the Dura Ace shifters hit the stone facade first, literally knocking the roof rack off the car and leaving the rack in the driveway on its sides with the bike on its side still attached. We had not locked the rack onto the car - if so we believe the bike would have been destroyed as it would have taken much of the energy of the crash.

Damage to the bike: Dura-Ace shift levers are now souvenirs. Wound up fork had two small cracks in it and will now be a wall ornament. There are two small hairline cracks in it..... I am not going down a hill at 55mph with that kind of risk. Also, two very small spots where paint is missing on the head tube.

I alternated between almost crying and calling myself the biggest jerk to hit the Tandem world.

I decided to bring my shame out in public so that I can save you this kind of agony:

This happens more frequently than you know. So..... either put a bike glove over your garage door opener (Diane Lee's suggestion), or take the garage door opener out of the car so you have to get out to open the door. Or, put a sticky note on your dash. I have also heard several who have damaged their bikes by low hanging tree limbs and frequently, Restaurant DRIVE THROUGH HEIGHT SIGNS.

The Racks - incredibly, barely a scratch. If you are interested in them, I will sell them at a great price, and they are locking.

Now I am housebound for at least two weeks while waiting to get a new fork made and painted by Craig. Makes that $20,000 van seem like not such a bad idea. However, our bike is coupled so we are going to just break it down when we need to travel.

TandemGeek

A gentleman recently asked if I'd add a link for his new product that addresses this problem to our Web site: https://www.bikebouncer.com/



I have no affiliation nor do I know what these cost; however, something to consider if you cartop... at least to address the home front.

Really sorry to hear about the incident. Are you sending the front 1/3 of your tandem to Craig so that he can inspect headtube for damage or was it decided that the impact wasn't severe enough to do any harm?

zonatandem

Yes, garages, low overhangs at some drive-in restaurants/motels/old gas stations/trees can be detrimental to the bikes on top scenario!
'Stuff' can be replaced; sometimes insurance can cover part of the cost (if you're lucky!).
A great warning . . . now heed it!

djembob02

I also had this issue. My total cost was about $200 if I remember correctly to mount our triplet on my Honda CRV

I first purchased the Yakima cross bars which are so simple to put on. I almost decided to create my own cross pieces and I still think I could have but they would have been very permanent pieces. I only have the crossbars on when I'm hauling the bike which not very often. I then home made a roof rack out of a square steel tubing, a fork mount, a few brackets, and U-bolts. I also added a diagonal support made out electrical conduit. It is amazing sturdy and total cost for the non-yakima stuff was close to $80. I posted more instructions on a previous thread. Here's some pics.

cgallagh

All the above are all the more reason to use a rear mount. No roof top worries for me, no sir. With the wheels off, it does not stick out further than the mirrors and is secure in the rack.

NewbieIATandem

But have you ever backed your bike into something?

masiman

I don't think there is much to complain about with the factory roof racks. I have not heard of someone saying there factory rack failed driving down the road. It's a shame that you have to buy all sorts of adapters and systems to satisfactorily mount a bike but I prefer what they have currently to rain gutter and door tower solutions.

With the cost of bikes that many seem to have the impact failures seem to be the best result one could hope for. The factory rack fails after some damage to the bike. It (some, most) cases the bike is salvageable and the car takes the majority of the damage. Insurance covers the car damage. But I would guess everyone is out of pocket on the bike repairs. Has anyone or does anyone know of a way to make a claim on bike damage? Anything special one needs to do insurance wise to make this possible?

The one person I know of that has done the embed the bike in the house routine ended up with a totaled Ti bike. Creased down and top tube. Roof rack did not fail quick enough or the bike got caught up when the rack was coming off.

Buckshot77

I would think you'd be able to claim the damage on your home owners policy if the cars comprehensive insurance didn't cover the bike damage. I think a lot of people opt not to use their home owner's though if the claim is under $1000 since many people have that as their deductible. In any case, it would be a good question to bring up at your next insurance review.

Rick

masiman

Has anyone made a claim against their car policy? I would think most policies would not cover it.

cgallagh

"But have you ever backed your bike into something?"

No. I always look over my shoulder and use all my mirrors when backing up. I guess you are ultimately exposed to fools running into your bikes when on the back.

Retro Grouch 

Since I normally drive around with the garage door opener clipped to the sun visor, it works for me to just move it, maybe to the glove compartment.

dbg

Whe I have bikes on top, I take a patio chair and plop it in the garage space where the van goes.

TandemGeek

If you don't have a vehicle with the "Homelink" system it's a very good technique... As the story goes, "what ever works... works, until it doesn't. Then you fix it."

R900

We have a Thule rack on our Sienna Minivan, but use a Yakima tandem carrier as it's much shorter, and lifts the rear wheels a bit so we can still access the rear hatch. Even the carrier is to tall to pull in the garage so I take it on and off all the time. It's worked great. Pivots, and holds the bike very secure.