Difference Between Roof Mounted & Rear Mounted Bike Carriers

There are three ways you can carry your bikes – either put them on the roof carrier of your vehicle or mount them on the rear bike carrier of your vehicle or tow them using appropriate tow gear. Let' check the difference between roof mounted and rear mounted bike carriers. Read on.

If you are young-ish with a lot of hand muscle and can easily lift your bike onto the roof top of your vehicle, a roof mounted bike would be most convenient as it provides you with an easy upright and lockable bike carrier suitable for any bike up to roughly 20 kg in weight. These especially the Thule brands come with soft claw pads of the frame arm and also a lipped lower jaw - together it ensures your bike is held in place whilst while you drive to your favourite holiday or mountain biking destination.

If you are worried about the bike carrier looking odd on the roof-top of your vehicle, know that the Thule roof top bike carriers are available in black or silver versions. If you want to know more about the Thule brand of roof-top bike carriers, Thule Pro Ride 598 is acknowledged as a very convenient and elegant way to carry your bike on your vehicle roof. Thule Pro Ride 598 can transport all types of junior and senior bikes that weigh up to 20kg in total safety.

All you have to do is to place the front wheel of your bike into the ‘downhill’ slope and you find that the bike automatically rolls into position. It is automatically and firmly held by the frame holder – you don't have to hold on to the bike while you tighten the frame holder - the beautiful engineering of the Thule Pro Ride 598 takes care of all that.

Now let's look at the rear door mounting (also know as 'Hang On') type bike carrier:

We won't bother to compare any Chinese strap on cycle carriers as they are known to damage your vehicle's, bend metal and in general are just not worth considering for purchase so instead. Let's check out the Thule Roof Racks Clip On bike carriers as these are really easy to use. The main difference between roof mounted and rear mounted bike carrier is the height that you have to lift the bike(s).

So if you are short or have less arm muscle, you might want to go with the rear mounted bike carrier as you will only have to lift the bikes four feet or so.

Take for example the Thule's Race Way carriers (2 bike or 3 bike versions), - these are excellent, have steel straps and are really easy to use. Check out all the options on roof top and rear mounted bike carrier at Bikes-n-racks Sydney, Australia. You can also visit their online site here: http://www.barsnracks.com.au for Custom Roof Rack.