Roof rack for tandem?

I am looking for a roof rack component to carry our tandem. I have a
Yakima roof rack, and saw this ATOC Bike Topper Tandem/Recumbent/Single
Bike Carrier at Nashbar. Here's the link:

http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=71&subcategory=1020&brand=&sku=11385&storetype=&estoreid=&pagename=

It's about $125 less than the one that Yakima makes. I don't know whether
this one allows you to load it easily.

Any recommendations for or against this rack?

--

David L. Johnson

__o | What is objectionable, and what is dangerous about extremists is
_`\(,_ | not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant.
(_)/ (_) | --Robert F. Kennedy

David L. Johnson wrote:
<snip>
http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=71&subcategory=1020&brand=&sku=11385&storetype=&estoreid=&pagename=
<snip>

Quoted message said:

Any recommendations for or against this rack?

<snip>

Does it really only have the QR to hold the forks and a strap to keep
the back wheel on the "beam"?
Doesn't seem like enough to hold the bike securely...

Any models I've used before have some rigid fitting holding on to one
crank arm, or around the BB area anyway.

Or perhaps there's more attachment points that I can't see in the
photo.

Anyway, for extra security, I use a ratchet tie-down strap from one end
of the roof bar (ie the bar that goes left to right across the width of
the car), a few turns around the seat post, and down to the other end
of the roof bar.

bookieb.

Quoted message said:

David L. Johnson wrote:
<snip>

http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=71&subcategory=1020&brand=&sku=11385&storetype=&estoreid=&pagename=

Quoted message said:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Any recommendations for or against this rack?

<snip>

Does it really only have the QR to hold the forks and a strap to keep
the back wheel on the "beam"?
Doesn't seem like enough to hold the bike securely...

Any models I've used before have some rigid fitting holding on to one
crank arm, or around the BB area anyway.

FWIW, we've carried our tandem for years in a rack that held just the
front forks and the rear wheel, in exactly the same way as that one in
the pictures.

Ours isn't that one, however. I actually made a tandem adapter for our
ancient roof rack. It worked the same way, though, and worked fine.

- Frank Krygowski

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

David L. Johnson wrote:
<snip>

http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=71&subcategory=1020&brand=&sku=11385&storetype=&estoreid=&pagename=

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Any recommendations for or against this rack?

<snip>

Does it really only have the QR to hold the forks and a strap to

keep

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

the back wheel on the "beam"?
Doesn't seem like enough to hold the bike securely...

Any models I've used before have some rigid fitting holding on to

one

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

crank arm, or around the BB area anyway.

FWIW, we've carried our tandem for years in a rack that held just the
front forks and the rear wheel, in exactly the same way as that one

in

Quoted message said:

the pictures.

Ours isn't that one, however. I actually made a tandem adapter for

our

Quoted message said:

ancient roof rack. It worked the same way, though, and worked fine.

- Frank Krygowski

Fair 'nuff so. I bow to your practical experience.
Just surprised...

bookieb

David L. Johnson said:

I am looking for a roof rack component to carry our tandem....

There's a reason the minivan was invented!

HTH
--Karen M.

Quoted message said:

Does it really only have the QR to hold the forks and a strap to keep
the back wheel on the "beam"?
Doesn't seem like enough to hold the bike securely...

Works fine. You can easily make a tandem rail out of 2"x3" aluminium
tubing, some U bolts, an old front axle and your local welder if you
don't have one. It's easy and shouldn't cost more than about $25 or $30
and an afternoon's time. One tip: put a sleeve inside the tubing to
reinforce the axle so it won't crush the tubing when you tighten it.
Just use a couple of toe straps to hold the rear wheel on the rail.
I've traveled many miles with this arrangement.
Phil Brown

David L. Johnson said:

I am looking for a roof rack component to carry our tandem. I have a
Yakima roof rack, and saw this ATOC Bike Topper Tandem/Recumbent/Single
Bike Carrier at Nashbar. Here's the link:

http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=71&subcategory=1020&brand=&sku=11385&storetype=&estoreid=&pagename=

We too sell the Atoc racks, but I really don't recommend that model.
The fork mount units are tough enough to load with a single, but with
the extra weight of a tandem, getting the fork on and off of the mount
is non trivial unless you have two tall people to work together.

Fork mount racks very commonly ruin forks, it only takes one careless
installation where one of the fork ends doesn't get secured.

Atoc does make a very fine product called the "Tandem Topper" and it is
the only fork-mount unit I could recommend. The Tandem Topper (unlike
the version shown on the Nashbar site) has a _pivoting_ fork mount.

To use it, you rear the tandem up on its back wheel and connect the fork
to the rack while the tandem's weight is still resting on the rear tire.
Once the fork is secured, you .lift and swing the back of the tandem
up and into the tray. This is vastly easier than using a fixed fork
mount, and can be accomplished by one person of average height with no
problems.

See: http://harriscyclery.com/atoc-frame.html

If you're looking for a cheap and good tandem mount, I'd recommend
getting the style that uses a full-length tray to hold both wheels, with
a swing-up arm that grabs the down tube. That's what I use, with the
wheel-tray extended to handle the extra wheelbase of the tandems.

There's a not too detailed photo at:

http://sheldonbrown.com/que-gaspe_photos.html#capauxos

Sheldon "Tandems" Brown
+--------------------------------------------------+
| The less you bet, the more you lose if you win |
| --Alan Rudolph (_Trixie_) |
+--------------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

On Fri, 20 May 2005 12:35:14 +0930, "Claire Petersky"
<[email hidden]> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

"No problems", eh? I have this style of tandem rack, made by Thule. It is
non-trival for me, who has a relatively short wheelbased tandem with
fenders, and has arms no stronger than a chicken's instep, to use this style
rack.

LOL! I use a standard Pendle with extended bar to hold our double
childback triplet, which must weigh 50lb bone dry. Every time I lift
it onto the roof of the car I thank God that Volvos have low
rooflines!

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

philcycles said:

Works fine. You can easily make a tandem rail out of 2"x3" aluminium
tubing, some U bolts, an old front axle and your local welder if you
don't have one. It's easy and shouldn't cost more than about $25 or

$30

Quoted message said:

and an afternoon's time. One tip: put a sleeve inside the tubing to
reinforce the axle so it won't crush the tubing when you tighten it.
Just use a couple of toe straps to hold the rear wheel on the rail.
I've traveled many miles with this arrangement.

Aluminum? Oh, no!

I made mine out of 1 1/4" steel tubing. That made it responsive, yet
resilient. Aluminum tubing, as everyone knows, is just too harsh. But
I'm saving up to make my next tandem rail out of carbon fiber. It will
magically absorb those annoying high-frequency oscillations and keep
them from making my tandem frame go soft.

;-)

- Frank Krygowski

In article <[email hidden]>,

Claire Petersky said:

"Sheldon Brown" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Atoc does make a very fine product called the "Tandem Topper" and it is
the only fork-mount unit I could recommend. The Tandem Topper (unlike
the version shown on the Nashbar site) has a _pivoting_ fork mount.

To use it, you rear the tandem up on its back wheel and connect the fork
to the rack while the tandem's weight is still resting on the rear tire.
Once the fork is secured, you .lift and swing the back of the tandem
up and into the tray. This is vastly easier than using a fixed fork
mount, and can be accomplished by one person of average height with no
problems.

See: http://harriscyclery.com/atoc-frame.html

"No problems", eh? I have this style of tandem rack, made by Thule. It is
non-trival for me, who has a relatively short wheelbased tandem with
fenders, and has arms no stronger than a chicken's instep, to use this style
rack. At the very least, it takes the stoker steadying the rear wheel of the
bike on a step stool while I secure the fork while trying not to fret that
the fenders are being deformed again.

....
[Long sad tale of woe excised]

Chaplain's up the hall. He'll punch your TS card.

--
Michael Press

Dave Reckoning wrote in message ...

Quoted message said:

Claire, I have discovered through expierence that it is easier to remove

the

Quoted message said:

fenders before mounting than to mount my single bike on a roof rack with

the

Quoted message said:

fenders installed. The SKS fenders have these nice little break-away
thingies that you mount to the fork eyelet and they let you remove and
re-attach the braces very easly. I also use a long bolt that sticks out

from

Quoted message said:

the back of the fork crown with a nice vibration nut on it as well. Removal
and installation takes about 3 Min. each.

Well, it's a thought, anyway.

I was looking at the fenders on the tandem after our ride today, and there
was pulverized, stuck-on slug guts hanging off the back of the front fender,
always a joy to deal with.

When is it going to stop raining on the weekends? Huh? Huh? Huh? Then I
could just take the fenders off once and for all!

Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referr­al/Cpetersky

Claire Petersky said:

I was looking at the fenders on the tandem after our ride today, and

there

Quoted message said:

was pulverized, stuck-on slug guts hanging off the back of the front

fender,

I was just going to go get some dinner. Think I will wait now.

Pulverized slug guts???? Need to get that thought out of my head. Go
thought...go now.

Maggie

botfood said:

With a Honda Odyssey you don't even have to take the tires off! There
is just enough room to roll a tandem in right down the middle...

And then there's the Counter/Viewpoint option...

http://home.earthlink.net/~veloise/vanback3.jpg

with room for some heavy metal, too!

HTH

--Karen M.