How to tie a bike to the roof of a car... without a rack?

[a_wry]

Hi, folks. I've got a Burning Man/bike transportation question for y'all

Comments

[rivenwanderer]

At least with my bike, it's possible for the handlebars to become rotated out of their usual position relative to the front wheel. When this happens to me, it's annoying and I fix it by holding the wheel in place and moving the handlebars. It may be something that anyone who knows more than I do about bikes can tell you about, and if there's a way to do that easily (with the appropriate tools) to your bike, you could potentially make the whole thing lie flatter. I've never strapped a bike to a car roof, though! Hope it works out :)

[narya]

Any chance you could rent a hatchback and just put the bike in the car? I've never tried the roof thing, but I've been able to fit two bikes in both cars I've owned by getting creative.

[nuclearpolymer]

I've never tried it. I have a Civic and have always taken the front wheel off my bike and put it inside the trunk. I would think that if you get a bike where you can take both the front and the back wheel off, it should definitely fit inside. Or, if you take the wheel off before tying it to the roof, it seems like having less weight would be good.

Our bike rack cost $30 new (it goes on the trunk of the car) so maybe you could buy one used or borrow one for the trip?

[conana]

Sounds viable; I haven't tried it. Roof racks mostly transfer the load to the car frame, to protect the thin metal of the roof. A bike is fairly light, so I wouldn't worry much.

There's usually a fat nut at the top of the front tube (vertical, between handlebars and front fork). Loosening this nut makes rotating the handlebars relative to the front wheel easy. Or you can just remove the front wheel, which is faster. This is how I prep a bike for going in a bike box.