Roof rack...full bike or fork mount? Offroad?

[mph]

Okay, I'm planning a trip where I will be offroad for 150 miles or so through Utah and colorado....I want to bring my bike. Should I mount the bike to the roof via a fork mount or entire bike? My initial thought is that the whole bike mount puts less strain on the bike in general. However, a fork mount is cheaper to purchase, but seems like it would put a lot more stress on the fork itself?

Thoughts? Thanks

 

[Beowulf]

I'd go fork mount. Your not going to stress the bike more in a rack with a fork mount than you are riding it.

 

[Expedition.Report]

I used a fork mount on two bike around Australia, put on about 5000kms with them up there no problem.... Going to be buying those bike mounts again his week since they worked so well!


Sent from handheld smoke signal device

 

[capturecolorado]

You'll definitely want the fork mount style. The Thule XTR or whatever their full-bike roof rack is, is quite stable, but they don't hold up great to the stresses of being knocked around offroad. With the fork mount it physically bolts the bike to your roof (basically), so that it's less likely to wobbly excessively/too much, or enough to get damaged. I've seen the Thule side arms wobble their way loose on rough terrain, or even highway driving, and when you use them properly, the U hook portion makes contact with your fork, which on rough stuff and wobbling, can cause small spots of wear.

Whenever I get around to building my hitch based rack its foundation will be fork mounted trays. I highly recommend the Rocky Mounts Pitchfork, or if you can swing it, the Kuat Trio is sweet.

 

[Flagster]

fork it

 

[Sardog1]

Ditto on fork'n it. Just don't forget it's up there if you go under trees... Or backing into the garage... Still have a dent in my garage rain gutter with black knobby smudges!

 

[mph]

Thanks for all the insights...Fork mount it is!!!!

 

[Flagster]

Ditto on fork'n it. Just don't forget it's up there if you go under trees... Or backing into the garage... Still have a dent in my garage rain gutter with black knobby smudges!

Ha....literally one day after posting this my GF pulled into our garage with her tri bike on top...luckily she was going slow and since the frame is small the only thing that contacted was the nose of the saddle...which now has stucco impressions in it...and my stucco has a nice hole...
And we were one ride away from transitioning her to her new ride...so glad it was the old bike...I think the new one is only going to be allowed inside her wagon...