just been out for a sunday afternoon thrash,
and have seen about 6 cars with Bikes strapped to the back.ALL the lights and Rear windows were almost completely covered by the bikes that they were carrying.
These racks are for sale in Halfords and other car shops,,,are they legal?? i was under the assumption that we drivers are not allowed to cover our lights??So how is it that these shops are allowed to sell bike racks that cover the lights and indicators??
i could understand these racks covering the rear windscreen, but surely not be allowed to cover the rear lights and bumper??
And if they cover the lights etc, isnt it bad that most of them had kids in the back?? brake lights covered..rear shunts???
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As I understood it, if the bikes covered the rear lights then you had to get a light board (is that the right phrase?, so that people can still see your lights and your rear number plate.
Illegal, but then are the police really going to do anything about it?
Chris
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I am just amazed these products ever got sold full stop. Why anyone would wish to attach something to their car which will almost certainly strain the boot and its hinges at the minimum never mind long term damage I do not know, plus attach large bicycles in a fairly unsafe manner and as u say obstruct things like number plates, lights etc plus their performance in a crash situation does not bear thinking about for anyone unlucky to collide with the remnants of it including pedestrians.
I certainly wonder whether the mfters/retailers of such things have been sued enough times for the inevitable consequential losses etc to drive them out of existence...
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I'd much prefer to see bikes firmly attached to a roof-rack, but it seems to be the popular option attaching a cycle carrier to the back, obscuring half the rear lights, and the rear numberplate. They probably don't want to pay for the towbar/electrics required for a board to be fitted displaying lights and numberplate, and plod's far too busy filling in forms and pulling drivers for doing 5mph over the speed limit ;-)
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Agree with HJ it seems to be done with impunity,the chances of being caught are minimal and in any case no points are involved,another thing round where I live is trailers with the wrong registration displayed and many with no lights or registration at all fitted.
ndbw
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They aren't allowed to do it but there is nobody to stop them and no one here is sufficiently sad to report them on the imbecile zealot site. Just add it to the list of 300+ things you can do which are illegal and for which you will not be troubled by anyone in authority.
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what about the idiots that attach them to plastic tailgates----
the idiots that leave the wheels on so the bikes stick out much further than the car--------
if these people that covered the plates with these monstrosities had half a brain they would get a small trailer from somewhere like halfords
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Nothing other than a roof rack with cycle mounts for me. Just wouldn't want to risk any of my bikes being damaged in a rear end shunt - I'd be more upset about the bike !
The problem is that most cheap bikes weigh a tonne and hauling something like that onto the top of a car is hard work, especially if it's an MPV.
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The problem is that most cheap bikes weigh a tonne and hauling something like that onto the top of a car is hard work especially if it's an MPV.
Part of the same "its in Halfords so it must be OK" syndrome that Aprilia highlighted. Even worse with kid's bikes, at age 10 my daughter's Emelle (or possibly Apollo) was considerably heavier than the full size Claud Butler Pine Lake that eventually replaced it. .
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Hmmm. I've got one of these racks and it does come with full instructions saying that you must not obscure the lights and number plates etc.
So nothing wrong with Halfords selling them - it's up to the user to make sure they remain legal.
As for a roof mounted rack, well you need a second mortgage to buy the rack, fixings etc etc. Sorry but I ain't made of money so the cheaper rear rack option was the one for me [and my walllet].
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As for a roof mounted rack well you need a second mortgage to buy the rack fixings etc etc. Sorry but I ain't made of money so the cheaper rear rack option was the one for me [and my walllet].
Roof bars and add £20 for a bike holder. where do you shop?
Thats ignoring Ebay where, this year, I paid £5.50 for a set of Thule bars. :-)))
Also you are ignoring the cost of a trailer bar AND the electrics on the car.
Lifting a heavy bike onto a normal saloon can be a bit of a pain.
Onto a Chelsea Tractor may incur the rice of a pair of steps :-)
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>considerably heavier than the full size Claud Butler Pine Lake that eventually replaced it.
And the butler was considerably more expensive.
Come on here is a tinge of bike snobbery coming out in these posts.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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sturmey archer 3 speed and proud of it
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sturmey archer 3 speed and proud of it
and a built in hub dynamo to power the lights hey bb?
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sturmey archer 3 speed and proud of it
Fixed wheel youngster!!
MD
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Come on here is a tinge of bike snobbery coming out in these posts.
Bike snobbery? Oh yes!
Bromptonaut, I guess it was an Apollo. My daughter's Emmelle weighs little more than a packet of cornflakes.
Bike rack snobbery? Bring it on!
My Hollywood towbar-mount rack is just the job. You won't see my ageing frame heaving the Claud Butler Legend onto a roof rack on top of the C8 any time soon. And I use a trailer board.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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GIANT scr c1.
If your going to by a bike buy a bike...
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I avoided a canoe that was sat in lane two of the M56 once, still strapped to it's roofrack. A Volvo estate with residual roofrack attachments was half a mile further along sat on the hard shoulder, so I wouldn't put too much trust in roof-mounted cycles.
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On a rare occasion recently I was the passenger on a motorway journey and out of boredom counted :
over about 20 miles , 72 vehicles towing trailers. Of these only 25 had the correct set-up; electrics, index plate matching the tow vehicle, etc. Vehicles offending included car delivery and recovery vehicles.
I read elsewhere on the net a suggestion that if you obscure the rear plate- with a trailer, bikes, or a towbar, you will frustrate the majority of speed cameras, which use rear plate ID. The premise is that your chances of being nicked for a plate offence are minimal- if stopped at all, a caution more likely- are far less than being done by a camera. That might explain the great increase in the number of bikes we have seen on cars in the last few years, rather than some new fascination with exercise.
As regards Halfords, I belive I have seen a sign in there saying that plate and electrics bars are a legal requirement , but I guess in the end they have to assume it's the customer's responsibility .
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All you need is a sticker saying "I do cycle, but my bike's at home".
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>...but I guess in the end they have to assume it's the customer's responsibility.
No need to assume - of course it is. Just as retailers of kitchen knives, power tools and, er, motor vehicles can't be held responsible if the buyer subsequently decides to do something stupid, reckless or illegal.
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I know somone who regularly fits a bike on the back of the car whenever he has to drive down the A1 to Newcastle simply to frustrate the speed cameras - allegedly.
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Here we go again, another cyclist bashing thread.
I drive around occasionally with a boot mounted cycle rack and on the plus side it discourages tailgating from all but the most determined drivers of German or Swedish cars. I guess that most people think that if a bike falls off, they want some notice so that they can try to avoid hitting it on the road.
As for obscuring rear lights, they shouldn't be driving so close, anyway don't most cars now have high level brake lights?
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As for obscuring rear lights they shouldn't be driving so close anyway don't most cars now have high level brake lights?
It's still illegal to obscure them, whether there's another brake-light visible or not.
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It is not "bashing" - it is legitmate comment made on wide observation in the wide world, same way that we note that Volvos don't seem to be fitted with turn indicators and BMWs don't have a switch to turn off the fog liights. Nobody is getting at you personally - unless the description fits!
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Aside from the issue of obscuring the lights and number plate and driver's rear view, how secure are these racks? I've never liked the look of them and hate being behind one on the motorway. To my untutored eye, roof bike racks look even more precarious because of their higher centre of gravity and effects on the car's aerodynamics. Should users of bike racks be driving more slowly?
These aren't just rhetorical questions, as if I had confidence in a bike rack, and my own ability to fix it competently, I'd probably get one.
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The ones that scare me are those that are attached to the rear window with rubber suckers. Those awful rubber things for hanging tea towels on doors fall off all the time.
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. Those awful rubber things for hanging tea towels on doors fall off all the time.
Doesn't Claud the Butler hang them up? Oh no, of course not, if it's in the kitchen Mrs Bridges would do it!
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>Should users of bike racks be driving more slowly?
Probably. The likelihood of a vehicle with 30 kg or so of extra hardware (rack plus two bikes, whether on roof or boot) hung some way above or behind its centre of mass, behaving as well as the same vehicle without the ornaments seems small.
That said, I was very pleasantly surprised the first time I took my car out with my roof-mount bike carrier on top. The attachment of bike to carrier and carrier to crossbars seems very solid - I could rock the car on its springs using the bike as a handle. The bike is clamped by the down-tube and there's a strong plastic strap for each wheel, so it really doesn't feel like going anywhere. But I did, and still do, drive more slowly with a load on the roof - mainly, I suspect, to keep the little voice in my head whispering, "There's stuff on the roof - watch what you drive under." After all, I misjudge the height of plenty of head-high obstacles when I'm on my feet; I don't want to continue the habit in the car!
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Having learned to drive before the days of brake lights I don't rely on them to tell me when a car in front is braking. Provided you're not too close behind and provided you're as alert as you should be then brake lights are not necessary.
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L\'escargot.
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