After the long search, I finally settled on a new car and should have it in few days. It might not be the tri friendly vehicle that I was originally looking for but I just fell in love with it as soon as I saw it at the dealer. It is a 2012 Volvo S60 sedan.
The trunk is huge and the two back seats completely fold down so I might be able to fit a bike in there. Will see once I get it home.
I was thinking of a roof rack but not sure what is better, one where you can attached the bike with both wheels on or the fork type racks. Which one is more secure? Any advantages of going with a back/trunk rack instead?
Get a hitch rack. You will save your bikes when you forget you have bikes on roof and drive into garage or under drive through.
Don’t buy the volvo branded stuff. Find out if they buy from Thule or Yakima and figure out if a square or rounded bar. OR, buy the volvo bars and buy the bike carrier directly from the manufacturer.
I like fork mounted. Much more secure. I like fork mounted from Rocky Mounts (rockymounts.com). These will fit on either bar and are the best fork mounted carriers on the market.
Thule and Yakima both make fork racks that mount to factory bars… domestique and forklift are the models, respectively. With those you can get factory bars to take advantage of how the car is designed and not have some metal strap going into your door frame, yet not have to stick with Volvo racks.
Hidden Hitch and a mount to fit in there like the ones used on the City Busses. I have used this set up and it works great. Keeps the bikes out of the way and I can have them ready to go the night before.
Yes you can still get rear ended but then I get a new bike at someone else expense and not my own if I forget they are up there. Never have done that in the past when I did have roof racks. I currently have roof racks but I mount the Thule Car-top carrier up there for long trips.
This is ST you forgot the most important question. What rack is more aero and where is the tunnel data to back that up.
Yakima does not make a cross bar set up for your ride at this time. Get a thule set-up with feet, base bar (aero vs. square), and a fairing. then get a a couple of rocky mounts bike racks to put on top of the base bars. The rocky mounts will fit your current set-up and any other you might have down the line. rocky mounts customer service is excellent.
Putting the bike in the trunk of the car is very easy and my bike is large. I bought the Volvo roof rack but used it only once. Both seats have to be down and just take off the front wheel. The rear wheel goes first and toward the driver seat in slight angle. Turn the aero bars upward and close the trunk.
I will try to take a picture this weekend and post it here.
BTW: if you are also looking for a roof rack, check out the volvo ones. I bought the fork mount one. Very well made and secure.
I did not bring my bike to try out when I went to the dealer.
Pictures would be very cool.
So what model did you get, T5 or T6? I would be going for a T5 base with winter package and dual xenon if I take the plunge. I do not want to take the price for the lease up too high.
I went with the T5 with the winter package/sunroof/leather. Spent some money on upgraded wheels (it’s all about the wheels). Didn’t see a reason to go with the T6. The T5 has more power than I would ever need. Took it to ~110mph on the turnpike last week and the car was still going strong. Absolutely love driving it.
The fork mount one will leave you feeling a lot easier when going above 55 mph. I had the two wheel roof rack and it was very worrisome as the bike wobbled a round very much on highways and with wind. For peace of mind get the fork mount and aero profile roof rack. And remember they are boxy but safe :0)
It might not be the tri friendly vehicle that I was originally looking for but I just fell in love with it as soon as I saw it at the dealer. It is a 2012 Volvo S60 sedan.
Good move. Many people’s “tri-friendly” vehicle is some big hulking SUV. Instead, you bought a well engineered, excellent handling, safe and reasonably good gas mileage vehicle. You made the right choice, in my view. It’s modular expansion that you want - and that’s what you get with good roof racks - put the bikes on the roof and/or ad roof box if you need even more storage space.
As for racks - I have always been a big fan of fork mounted roof racks - Yakima in particular. I just bought new racks for my newish vehicle myself( Hyundai Elantra Touring Sport).
Talk to the Volvo Retailer - if you buy the accessories at the same time as the car, he’ll certainly give you a discount over list price. Also, they will be warranteed for the new car warranty; you won’t get that from a 3rd party. Volvo branded stuff is all made by Thule, so it’s good stuff…
I got them from the dealer when I bought the car. It was all part of the negotiation. I don’t remember the exact price I paid but I belive it was around $1,800 for the wheel upgrade. I think if you buy them after,they will cost $900 each.
Also got the fork mounted system which I only use when I am taking the whole family and can’t use the trunk. It’s a great mounting system and drove over 900 miles with my bike this year going between 70-80mph. It has the Volvo logo but I believe it is made by Thule. When you are buying the car, try to negotiate all this with the dealer. I got a good discount for the rack and cost me less than if I bought it from Thule directly. Plus it is made specifically for the S60 and will attach nicely on the roof.
Do a search… after ‘Which aero wheels should I get?’ this is probably one of the most common thread topics.
My observations/summary of the trade-offs (I have had both roof and hitch racks):
For a sedan such as your Volvo, a roof rack. Loading and unloading isn’t too high a reach, whereas ground clearance coming into/out of steep driveways and such with a rear mount might be a greater issue. Not sure about Volvos in particular, but some smaller passenger cars won’t accomodate a 2" receiver, and most 1-1/4" versions aren’t nearly as stable. Yes, it’s possible to have a garage accident with the bike(s) on top, but you should be OK with most drive-thrus and overhanging trees.
For an SUV or higher-clearance vehicle, a roof rack is a PITA go load/unload unless you’re 7’ tall, and then it still may have trouble clearing drive-though window overhangs and low tree branches (my brother tore a bike off his truck canopy once when it snagged a tree limb… broke the front off at the fork tabs; fortunately the rear wheel held and it just rotated over until it hung off the back so only the fork was a loss). In that case, a hitch rack is much better since ground clearance shouldn’t be any problem, plus you can get a heavier-duty 2" rack since you might also have/want the receiver mount anyway for towing jobs.
I chose to go with a little less to save on car payment. I have had leather for my last 3 leases. Not for this one. Hopefully I will not miss it too much.
When you can, I am very interested in how you put the bike in the back. I have a road bike and a Cervelo P3. I am a little nervous about how the P3 will fit with the long seat height. Do you end up with the seat tube side in the truck? You are not trying to squeeze that through to the fold down seats, are you?
I am in a similar situation, although I went with the Jetta Sportwagon TDI. I was thinking on getting the Thule Roof system with fork mounted rails, but was looking at the Yakima Wispbar system last night and it looks nice. Looks like you can get a lower profile bar, although I still need to see if it will work with the Sun roof. I thought about getting an aftermarket trailer hitch so I can use a rear mount system, but decided it was more versatile if I use the roof system (can also get ski attachment and bubble for luggage later on).
What have other Jetta Sportwagon owner done for a rack?
While I endorse Volvo, I went with an XC70 cross country. Rear seats down a bike goes in without taking wheels off. But I also have a rear hitch so I can put my Saris rack on and hold 2 bikes foe when more of us are going. While the XC70 had roof rails I didn’t buy the cross rails. However, I do have them on my wife’s XC60.
