Having driven into my garage forgetting I had a bike top, that is 1 possible reason why...

My take:

• High probability you're going to destroy one or more bikes by driving under low clearance forgetting you have bikes on your roof.
• Can't park in parking garages with bike (seen that at Madison and Chicago)
• It's got to take a toll on your back

Have you looked at a Seasucker?

Have you checked out Stealth Hitch? I don’t know what car you have, obviously, but the have some good designs and I’m thinking about getting one for my X5M.

I have a Merc EQB. That Stealth brand does sell a hitch but the installation instructions look horrifying to pop that much apart on a luxury suv. Even excluding any optional tow wiring you don’t do.

In my time carrying my bike I have not owned a garage nor ever been in a parking garage.

Subtle flex. Couldn’t afford a Cayenne Turbo?

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MS: Exercise Science
Your speed matters a lot, sometimes you need to be very fast, where sometimes you need to breakdown your speed.

I very recently switched to a 1UP hitch mount and love it so far, but I've been on a roof mount for decade. So far I've found the hitch far more convenient from a usability perspective (no need to put the front wheel in the car, no need to lift the bike up to the top (far more annoying with MTBs), etc. But yeah, for a light road/tri bike, and if you're tall, roofs are fine. All things considered, I'm preferring my hitch now though.

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JustinDoesTriathlon

Owner, FuelRodz Endurance.

We mainly use our car for very long drives and my extensive highway testing seemed to indicate higher fuel usage with a roof rack than a hitch for some reason. I question my own results given the weight of the hitch rack, but there's one completely arbitrary data point.

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Lamborghini Urus, go big or go home……Until the Ferrari Purosangue is available!

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Let food be thy medicine...

Gotcha.

Fork drops aren't great at absorbing lateral loads the way they are produced by a roof rack. To some extent this is true when the bike is installed on the rack, and it gets buffeted by the large sidewind forces that can occur in fairly typical driving conditions.
Mostly though, people generally aren't tall enough to put their bikes on/remove their bikes from a roof rack correctly. When you continually clamp the fork mount down on the fork drops at an angle, eventually you damage the drop. When you loosen the fork mount and the bike flops a tiny bit to the side, eventually you damage the drop.

The easy solution to this part of the problem is to keep a small folding step in the back of your car.

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/

M----n wrote:

We mainly use our car for very long drives and my extensive highway testing seemed to indicate higher fuel usage with a roof rack than a hitch for some reason. I question my own results given the weight of the hitch rack, but there's one completely arbitrary data point.

Not arbitrary at all. Roof racks significantly increase gas mileage. In fact, there have been many tests/articles about how much gas/money is wasted in the U.S. not just from roof racks, but from empty roof rails and mounts.

Here's a recent one that claimed a 3 mpg savings from removing their roof rails.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a42596866/tested-roof-rails-affect-gas-mileage/

EV and I charge for free at work. Haven’t used juice from home in 2000 miles.

+1 on Seasucker or equivalent. I DIY'd my own version of one (similar to the Hornet model) for the back of my Golf for under $100. Works great for my road or MTB. Doesn't fit the best with the TT bike though.

But I was replying to... not you?

Lol, I was just being a turd on purpose. ;-p