So I’ll be heading to a race next month that’s a few hours away and will be going in a friends car. They have your standard back of the car bike rack (Thule, Yakima, Saris, etc) that has the arms with rubber grommets you clamp the bike to at the top tube/down tube etc. (not the wheel mount type). With my old aluminum bike I wouldn’t have a second thought but with my new Slice I worry. I know you shouldn’t clamp a carbon bike on a repair stand but theoretically a repair stand would have more torque than the bike rack.
So should I worry, not do it, go for it? Survey says?
My bike has seen many a car trip on a Saris trunk rack. It’s not ideal, but it’s no huge concern.
I’ve moved on to a roof rack, but have traveled many hundreds of miles with the bike on the trunk, often with a few other bikes keeping it company.
A few tips:
Put a few strips of old rag or old socks around the top tube before you clamp.
Don’t crank the clamp down as tight as you can go. Just enough that the bike won’t be bouncing around.
Put rags between spots where your bike will contact other bikes. Spokes, pedals, seatposts, quick releases, etc. Minimizes scratching.
Bungee all of the bikes together, to minimize movement & banging while driving.
Stop every hour or so & check out the setup, retighten, etc.
Be prepared for a few scrapes. It’s only a bike, after all.
My bike has seen many a car trip on a Saris trunk rack. It’s not ideal, but it’s no huge concern.
I’ve moved on to a roof rack, but have traveled many hundreds of miles with the bike on the trunk, often with a few other bikes keeping it company.
A few tips:
Put a few strips of old rag or old socks around the top tube before you clamp.
Don’t crank the clamp down as tight as you can go. Just enough that the bike won’t be bouncing around.
Put rags between spots where your bike will contact other bikes. Spokes, pedals, seatposts, quick releases, etc. Minimizes scratching.
Bungee all of the bikes together, to minimize movement & banging while driving.
Stop every hour or so & check out the setup, retighten, etc.
Be prepared for a few scrapes. It’s only a bike, after all.
I bought a wheel mount Saris because I just didn’t trust clamping anything onto the top tube. Regardless of how you go, follow the above advice about checking every hour. Also, when you mount your bike on a trailer hitch rack, verify the clearance of the wheels with respect to the road thinking of the extreme road to parking lot angles you may encounter. I once pretzelled a rear wheel because it was too low and when I left a parking lot it hit the road, sideways - wheel bent out of shape. Also, check exhaust versus tires / bike - exhaust is hot and too close to tires or carbon is not good. Don’t ask me how I know.
My bike has about 4000 miles on a Saris trunk mount behind my Passat. I bought cold water pipe insulation from Home Depo that I put over the top tube, but I’m not sure it’s needed, probaby just makes me feel better.
I’ve got a wheel-tray style hitch rack now (1-up USA) but before that had one that held the bikes by the top tube (Yakima Bighorn). Biggest reason I switched was because it was too much of a PITA to thread the rack arms through the tiny mutant triangles on the kids bikes or a FS MTB; not having the new one touch a carbon Road/Tri frame was just a bonus, but I used the old one for years without issue in that regard.
Not sure what specific model you’re looking at, but my old Yak had notched rubber straps that wrapped around some plastic brackets to hold the tubes from shifting & swaying too much. It really wasn’t a “clamp” per se, since you only had the tension from however tight you pulled on the straps + their degree of elasticity; it’s nothing at all like my workstand clamp in which the handle arm multiplies the leverage on the hinge so you have a mechanical advantage which could definitely clamp the shit out of a carbon tube.