Transporting fender bikes on roof racks?

[thejen12]

This might be a dumb question, but I just picked up my new bike, complete with fenders. It occurred to me that it might not be good for fenders, especially a front fender, to transport the bike on the roof of a car in one of the roof racks where you take the front wheel off and mount it by the front dropouts. Has anyone ever done that? What about mounting it backwards?

Thanks, Jenn

[Louis]

Fenders might give you a bit more drag and a tiny tiny bit lower gas mileage, but properly installed I would think that there ought to be no structural issues. Certainly the bike can handle it.

Not sure what your concerns are.

[thejen12]

I was thinking that the 65 mph wind would hit the front fender like a sail and product a lot of force on the fender that it might not have been designed for. In my case the fenders are the narrower Honjos. I thought they might get out of alignment or maybe something worse.

I did say it might be a stupid question... ;)

Thanks, Jenn

[link]

How does the front fender clear the tray with a fork mounted system? I think the answer is it doesn't if it's a full coverage fender.

I think there's also a problem with rack systems that leave the front wheel in place and the rack system grabs the front wheel. In this scenario, the system would need to go under the fender to grab the wheel ...and clearly it can't.

I think that the front fender has to come off in either scenario.

[thejen12]

I think what she means is how does the front fender clear the tray with a fork mounted system. And I think the answer is it doesn't if it's a full coverage fender.

Actually, I think with the mounts at the top of the roof rack bar (my rack is a Yakima rack), I think the fender will clear the top of the car. I use little shorty trays for the back wheel, not the long tray that goes the whole length. That's something I hadn't thought of because it doesn't apply in my case, but it's good to mention.

Jenn

[Louis]

I was thinking that the 65 mph wind would hit the front fender like a sail and product a lot of force on the fender that it might not have been designed for.

I thought that might be what you were concerned about. Two things:

1) Next time you're out driving, open the window at 65 mph and put your hand / arm out in the breeze. (Beware of that 18-wheeler about to pass you.) That will give you an idea of what the force will be. Then go home and apply about that much force (mostly backward) on the fender. See how it behaves. If it seems OK, then you'll likely be OK on the car.

2) I bet the need for stiffness (especially lateral stiffness to prevent rattling and contacting the wheel) is the real design driver for fenders.

Good luck
Louis

[palincss]

This might be a dumb question, but I just picked up my new bike, complete with fenders. It occurred to me that it might not be good for fenders, especially a front fender, to transport the bike on the roof of a car in one of the roof racks where you take the front wheel off and mount it by the front dropouts. Has anyone ever done that? What about mounting it backwards?

Thanks, Jenn

Certainly, mounting backwards works just fine. I used a roof rack for many years, and I liked to engage the fork with my left hand, supporting the weight of the bike with my right arm. That meant the bike on the driver's side pointed forward, the one on the passenger's side pointed backwards.

Probably the biggest issue with fenders and roof racks is long fenders interfering with trays. The wind used to blow the mud flaps that came with Bluemels plastic fenders backwards, and they'd take a bit of a set after a long drive, but eventually they'd relax and the crease would come out.

[11.4]

Whether you have a problem with the wind ripping your fenders off will depend on the fenders and how you mount them. On the front wheel, without wheel, I've seen plenty of alloy Honjos that don't actually break but do work harden the aluminum so much that they crack -- either on the roof rack or subsequently while riding. They just get vibrated so much. SKS plastic front fenders don't have as much of a problem because the double strut design on each side holds it pretty rigid and the plastic doesn't work harden of course. I did find on various race trips with a fendered road bike (these were track races, and the training bike for warmups got relegated to the roof rack) that the fender bracket would work the allen bolt loose on the front brake.

On the rear, less problems with plastic and the same work hardening issue with aluminum fenders. This is partly because the fender is secured in another spot (at the chainstay bridge) to keep it stabler.

Definitely do not leave Race Blades on a bike when driving with the bike on the roof. The Race Blades bounce back and forth and chew up your finish, and sooner or later a strap pops and then the fender bashes everything in sight.

If it's a long drive, consider taking some plastic packaging film (the stuff that's 3 or 4 inches wide and on a big roll) and wrap the fender against the tire. We resorted to that and had no further problems. Only takes a couple minutes to apply and less than a minute to remove. It also keeps everything cleaner (we started using it on frames on roof racks generally to keep bugs and rain off them). It's very cheap, available at any U-haul dealer, and helps a lot.

[Peter P.]

I have a fendered bike and have transported one for decades using the type of bike rack you describe.

My wheel tray is a full-length version and yes, as originally configured, the fender bottomed out on the tray before the front dropouts would contact the quick release axle on the roof rack.

However, my front fender mounts differently than standard front fenders:UNDERNEATH the fork crown, in the bottom end of the steerer tube, the builder brazed a threaded fitting similar to a dropout eyelet, that the fender would secure to.

I merely made sure when I installed the fender that it was rotated properly to clear the wheel tray when the bike was installed in the roof rack. I considered this position a "worst case scenario".

If you have to use the "L" bracket that comes attached to your fenders (I drilled out the rivets and removed mine, utilizing one of the remaining holes to attach my fender to the fitting under the fork crown), then you'll have to trim away the bottom edge of the fender until it clears the wheel tray. A "hot knife" or a fine tooth hacksaw will work fine. Sand or file the edge smooth for a finished look.

[willy in pacifi]

This might be a dumb question, but I just picked up my new bike, complete with fenders. It occurred to me that it might not be good for fenders, especially a front fender, to transport the bike on the roof of a car in one of the roof racks where you take the front wheel off and mount it by the front dropouts. Has anyone ever done that? What about mounting it backwards?

Thanks, Jenn

I ride a couple of fendered bikes and with the front fender installed it will not work on a bike rack where you remove the front wheel and mount the fork due to the rear portion of the front fender being too low.

So on both my wifes and my van I have the type of bike carrier that allows you to leave the front wheel on and the rack clamps to your down tube. This also takes the wind in the fender issue out since the wheel is still on the bike.

willy in pacifica

[Blue Jays]

Total trip distance and whether one must drive at highway speeds will also be factors.

[Ray]

I've never tried it with Honjo or Berthoud metal fenders, which are pretty long. But with SKS, I never had a problem with the fender hitting the tray. The mudflap would get bent back along the tray, but it would generally snap back to where it was supposed to be once I started riding. I never had any problems from wind disfiguring the fenders either. Now I put my bikes inside the car, so its all a non issue.

-Ray

[chakatrain]

I have these fenders (http://ecom1.planetbike.com/7006.html) mounted on my cross bike. I put the bike on the roof rack (the kind where you take off the front tire) and drove a mini road trip (to take in some of the ToC stages). My longest drive was about 3 hours, mostly highway.

To be honest, I hadn't thought a single second about how the fendered bike might act like a sail (worsening gas mileage). Now that I think about it, the mileage was a little bit less than I would have expected, but not significantly so.

As for structure, etc., the fenders still allow the bike to be placed on the roof rack w/o any problems at all. The fenders attach to eyelets near the dropouts, so I was never worried about them falling off or being somehow damaged at those speeds.

So...no problems at all, here.

[jthurow]

ATOC (http://www.atoc.com/) make a roof rack called the high topper that allows you to use fenders. It has a higher front fork mount. I haven't used it but I've heard great things about it. It's only listed under the "prices and specs" link.

jimi

[sashae]

Bumping this ancient thread. Has anyone used Hurricane Fork-Ups (http://www.hurricanecomponents.com/product.php?id=3#) to solve this issue with fenders?

http://www.hurricanecomponents.com/images/products/3/product_img.jpg

I'm switching from my old Thule Big Mouth upright carriers to Kuat Trio carriers (fork mount) and suddenly realized that full coverage fenders are an issue. Does anyone know offhand roughly how much lift you have to get for the wheel to keep it from contacting the tray? The Kuat trays are VERY low profile, so I'm hoping the 3" lift from the Fork Up may be enough...

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-hN0tXszw4_0/Ug3DOLgU4eI/AAAAAAAB09I/sCl3EKzSriU/s800/IMG_0377.JPG

[bismo37]

Bumping this ancient thread. Has anyone used Hurricane Fork-Ups (http://www.hurricanecomponents.com/product.php?id=3#) to solve this issue with fenders?



I bought the Hurricane lifter thing. It did not help with my bike (long Honjo fenders). So I haven't been able to carry fendered bikes on the racks.