So, I finally bought a rooftop rack after the g/f put her foot down and wouldn’t let me fit both bikes in the SUV for our trip…she needs to recline the seat so one rear seat has to stay up. I decided it is better to keep her a happy camper than have her complaining most of the drive. It could be one of the best $300 purchases I’ve made.
Anyway, I’m against letting any rack touch a carbon fiber frame so I bought the roof rack that cradles the front wheel. (After thinking about it today, I realized the fork rack probably wouldn’t put any abnormal stress on the frame.) I took it for a test drive and noticed some shaking through the sunroof. I realize there is going to be some shaking but, I’m not sure how much to expect. I’d imagine it’s only over bumps and around turns.
Has anyone else noticed how much their bike shakes during long drives?
With a tray where the bike is held upright, quite a lot of movement because the bike is held quite loosely (but securely). Sunroofs are bad then because you can’t help but keep looking. The bike will be secure… There is less movement with a fork mount but you decided against it already.
Edit: you could always put the girlfriend up there. Fully reclined, and you won’t hear any complaint until you stop (and then, no guarantees…)
I have the Yakima forklift. I purchased it because, at the time, it was one of the few racks that would mount to my factory Subaru cross bars. It’s been a great rack. There is definitely some wobbling, but it’s held for 3 years so far.
I’ve been using the frontloader as well for 2+ years with everything from my P3 to 29er and while the movement freaked me out as well at first, they are very secure up there and I’ve even done plenty of highway driving at higher speeds with no issues or a doubt in my mind that they weren’t safe.
It turns out I was even using the frontloaders that were recalled last year, but I never had any issues with mine…I obviously still swapped them out per the recall though.
I went with the frontloader to avoid having to remove the front tire and I too didn’t want anything clamping to the frame or fork.