Im looking to get some roof bars and a bike roof kit.

Trying to go down the second hand route to lower the cost, anyone got any experience with this as to what bars would be best and what bike rack. Looking to get 2 adult bike and 1 childs bike on the roof.

 

Depends on the bikes, are the down-tubes, (Headset to bottom bracket), a standard shape?

For bars, I'd go Halfords or Thule, very similar, buy locking ones, or invest in locks.

For carriers, some places do cheapy upright ones, like a gutter with a pair of bars that clamp the down-tube, (hence my question). Mine were £% each from a French supermarket. But that's 20+ years ago.

I have used those at over 100mph with four bikes on top, (on a private road), with no ill effect. A good tip is to use re-usable zip ties to tie the FRONT wheel to the downtube support bars to avoid the wheel wobbling at speed. Makes for more security too. One to each side of the two support bars.

With four up, I found it easier to carry a 15mm spanner and remove all pedals before loading, also to loosen the headset a turn and turn the bars parallel to top tube. Avoids clashing and possible damage when loading/unloading and under way.

If any bike has a weird shaped downtube, try the Thule inverted carrier, front wheel out. It clamps the forks across the wheel space using a lockable quick release. Wheel can then be carried in the boot, or on a dedicated wheel carrier on top, or even zip-tied to the frame.

HTH

 

Found this after making the post, if anyone else is wondering what feet and bars you need on newage

https://www.scoobynet.com/general-te...rack-info.html

 

I had a set of these on my old bugeye wagon:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/THULE-755-...3D161602713438

I bought them as a job lot (as they are in this auction). They were great - allowed me to lump around ladders and fence posts without any hassle.