I am going to be driving my tri bikes across the country in a month and am looking for some kind of cover to put over them on the roof rack. Anyone have any suggestions on a cover that works the best? I went to my local tri shop but they did not carry any of those products.
Take the wheels and bars off and stick it in the car.
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Road bike or tri?
I bought covers for my road bike and my wifes, because they have nice paint jobs that I wanted to protect. The covers are from Skinz and are very high quality. Not cheap though. I think they make a version that works with aerobars, but I’m not sure. I ordered direcly from their website.
That being said, they kill your gas mileage. If I were driving with tri bikes on the roof, I wouldn’t bother with a cover. In the car if possible, but I know a lot of times that’s not feasible if you have a full car.
skinz. they are a touch pricey, but solid construction and they do a tt compatible version.
Remember that anything you put on will increase drag. In turn this puts extra pressure on your bike to rack attachment points and your rack to car attachment points.
While I haven’t heard of problems with bikes on roof racks, I wouldn’t be surprised if one popped off. I had an issue with a set of XC skis that I had in a bag mounted on a rack on a hatchback. The bag got enough air that it ripped out the ski mounts and my bag, with skis, went flying off the back, skidding down the road into the ditch - not the kind of protection I had in mind.
This x2. I once had my bike covered with an old Performance Bike cover that covered the whole bike from head tube to the rear wheel. Driving through a high wind rain storm (about 3 miles from a tornado as it turns out), the bike blew out of the fork mount and was dangling along the side of the SUV by the wheel strap. Rear wheel was toast. I don’t use the cover anymore if it’s going to be high wind conditions.
used on frame etc., on last long trip. http://www.uhaul.com/MovingSupplies/Protective-stuff/Movers-Stretch-Plastic-Wrap
then was sure to clean up road dirt on components and lube it up before riding.