# Carbon frame and bike rack



## Don1c (Jan 11, 2015)

Hello all.

I just bought a new FS bike with a carbon frame. Until now, I owned regular aluminum frame bike and used the Thule Proride 591 (which attaches to the down tube).









From what I could gather, this is not a proper way to secure your bike to the roof rack due to potential structural damage to the carbon fibre.

Are fork mounts preferable? Any downside to this? I will already have to take out the front wheel for storage purposes.

I was thinking of the Whispbar WB200.









Any other better solution?

Thanks in advance.


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## rpearce1475 (Jan 24, 2015)

I would encourage you into looking at a hitch mounted rack that grips the tires. With carbon, you don't want any part of the frame touching the bike rack, hence why your current setup is no bueno. While the fork mount on top of the car would be better, that's still exposing your bike to any chaff coming off of other cars/the road while driving. Granted, you would have to get a hitch installed (~$150 at Uhaul for hitch and installation) and a new bike rack (prices vary), but this is protecting a rather large investment. Your call


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## TBarnaby (Aug 1, 2008)

I'm curious where it came to known that racks that touch carbon frames are a no-go. Sounds like urban legend to me. And vanity aside I can't imagine any damage could occur.


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## Joules (Oct 12, 2005)

TBarnaby said:


> I'm curious where it came to known that racks that touch carbon frames are a no-go. Sounds like urban legend to me. And vanity aside I can't imagine any damage could occur.


My carbon Felt came with 22 stickers all over the frame warning not to ever clamp anything anywhere on the frame. My Trek had a similar warning in the owners manual. 
Interestingly enough, when Aluminum bikes were a new thing, many manufacturers had warnings against using racks that clamped the down tube, but the warning on my 1990 cannondale said workstands on the seat or top tube were ok, just not transport clamping the dt.

To the OP: no, there is no real downside to fork mounts other than taking the wheel off (and requiring a place to put it). Riding stresses the dropouts a lot more than driving will. If it were me, I'd prefer to keep the wheel on, but obviously it's not me.


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## TBarnaby (Aug 1, 2008)

Since those manufacturers don't have any faith their frames can withstand the clamping of a car rack I'm surprised they are comfortable with people even riding them at all.


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## JohnJ80 (Oct 10, 2008)

No, that's the nature of carbon fiber. But FWIW, with the new steels and a lot of the newer Al bikes, you better not be clamping tubes on them either. Thinner walls is how we're getting bikes that are so much lighter. They are plenty strong in the ways they were designed to be strong and they will take a lot of abuse. But clamping then around the tube is not a great idea not to mention that *any* grit or dust there will pretty much trash your paint over time. Been there, done that, got the damage.

To the OP - there are a number of good wheel only clamp racks that you can put on the roof if that is your only choice. The Rocky Mounts Brass Knuckles looks good, the 1UpUSA is good (have one) to name two. 

A hitch rack is better and for that I'd recommend the 1UpUSA. 

J.


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## TBarnaby (Aug 1, 2008)

Full disclosure, I re-read my Carbine 275 manual and it also specifies not to clamp the frame. This is how I read that (I may be misinterpreting it, but I have a 1UP rack so it really doesn't affect me), there are two type of racks that "clamp" the frame. I can't see where you'd apply enough pressure to compromise the tube with either. Has anyone seen any actual damage from these types?

https://www.cargogear.com/imagelibrary/images/sfdurah.jpg

https://www.cargogear.com/imagelibrary/images/64720RoofRackB.jpg


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## JohnJ80 (Oct 10, 2008)

TBarnaby said:


> Full disclosure, I re-read my Carbine 275 manual and it also specifies not to clamp the frame. This is how I read that (I may be misinterpreting it, but I have a 1UP rack so it really doesn't affect me), there are two type of racks that "clamp" the frame. I can't see where you'd apply enough pressure to compromise the tube with either. Has anyone seen any actual damage from these types?
> 
> https://www.cargogear.com/imagelibrary/images/sfdurah.jpg
> 
> https://www.cargogear.com/imagelibrary/images/64720RoofRackB.jpg


The first type is exactly the type of rack that damaged my bike. Road grit got between the rack pieces and the tiedowns during transport and abraded the paint. That would also be a problem with the second type. The second type is also going to depend on who good you are at judging the amount of compression you are applying to the tube and if you understand if that is a vulnerable point in the tubes on your specific bike.

The other issue with the first type of rack is that it is pretty much impossible to prevent damage from more than one bike on the rack due to conflicts between pedals, handlebars and seats. Finally, if you look at the geometry of most bikes, unless they have a relatively level top tube, they are hard to mount the bike to the rack. There are add on pieces you can get that you attach to the bike that emulate a level top tube (go between seat and stem) but that is more complexity, more expense and more fooling around.

The one constant in any bike is two wheels. If you hold the bike by the wheels, you're good. Then it also doesn't matter what kinds of wheel skewers you have (QR or thru-axle), what your fork configuration looks like, or the geometry of your frame.

For what a decent bike costs, getting a rack that is compatible with it is kind of the smart thing to do.

J.


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## Don1c (Jan 11, 2015)

Considering that a hitch rack is not an option, and taking into consideration all the comments above and other reviews, I am now leaning on the Inno INA388 Tire Hold Bike Rack









This is a relatively new brand where I live, so no real user-feedback is available. Any of you guys have an opinion on this?

Thank you once again.


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## TBarnaby (Aug 1, 2008)

Not disagreeing with you regarding the paint(I eluded to this earlier), but is any structural damage occurring? As far as multiple bikes on the racks, I have that problem in my garage too. Vanity is not my strong suit. 

The only reason I got a 1UP is I got tired of disassembling the bike to fit in my Jeep, and only my hardtail would fit on my Yakima(same style as the first pic).


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## TBarnaby (Aug 1, 2008)

Looks solid. That would eliminate any frame contact, and price seems pretty good. For reference the 1Up tray/mount is $190


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## Joules (Oct 12, 2005)

TBarnaby said:


> https://www.cargogear.com/imagelibrary/images/64720RoofRackB.jpg


Yes, I have seen an Aluminum bike's down tube dented by that type of rack. I've never seen damage to carbon, but 1: I don't x-ray every carbon bike I see to look for damage, and 2: everyone I know that owns a carbon bike is protective of it enough to not clamp it.


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## TBarnaby (Aug 1, 2008)

Seems like you'd have to try pretty hard to dent a frame with that rack, no?


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## JohnJ80 (Oct 10, 2008)

Don1c said:


> Considering that a hitch rack is not an option, and taking into consideration all the comments above and other reviews, I am now leaning on the Inno INA388 Tire Hold Bike Rack
> 
> View attachment 961573
> 
> ...


Also not disagreeing with you but I will tell you that my experience with Inno racks has not been good. I'm a heavy rack user and the set of Inno bars and clamps that I put on one of our cars, lasted about 30% of the life of either a set of the Thule or Yak racks that I had. Everything rusted and the powder coat all blistered off. So, I don't think I'd want to go that way.

I can tell you that I have an old 1UpUSA roof rack (may have been the very first one) and it has worked well and is bulletproof and looks as good as the day I got it. That's only $10 more. There really isn't anything to go wrong with them.

The Rocky Mounts Brass Knuckles rack looks even easier to use and it's $20 more that the Inno. I talked with them about being impervious to road corrosion materials and they are pretty solid that it would do really well. I was interested in it because it will handle a fat bike and I'd like to leave it on my car all winter in road salt etc... They were confident it would work for that and it was part of their design plan.

I also have a Yakima High Roller and I'd not recommend that. The internals are delicate and there is no way to tell if the ratchet has stripped nor is it replaceable or serviceable.

That's what I'd do. But that's just me.


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## Don1c (Jan 11, 2015)

JohnJ80 said:


> Also not disagreeing with you but I will tell you that my experience with Inno racks has not been good. I'm a heavy rack user and the set of Inno bars and clamps that I put on one of our cars, lasted about 30% of the life of either a set of the Thule or Yak racks that I had. Everything rusted and the powder coat all blistered off. So, I don't think I'd want to go that way.


Just to be clear. Was it this model or another one that performed so poorly?


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## JohnJ80 (Oct 10, 2008)

It was the base bars and clamp. 

I guess the point was that the finish, paint, materials, and overall robustness was not up to par with other competitors. Therefore I think it's considerably overpriced for what you get.


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## Joules (Oct 12, 2005)

TBarnaby said:


> Seems like you'd have to try pretty hard to dent a frame with that rack, no?


I don't have that specific rack, so I can't say. It was an old Thule, and an old Cannondale road bike, with a paper-thin down tube. I haven't put a bike on a rack like that since and I don't think I ever would. That is just about the worst possible way to hold a bike, even if it's steel or Ti and the frame can take it, I don't see a reason.


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## Steve Javorsky (Jul 22, 2014)

Get a Yakima.



Sent from my SGH-S959G using Tapatalk 2


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## PerfectZero (Jul 22, 2010)

TBarnaby said:


> For reference the 1Up tray/mount is $190


Here's 96 pages of positive 1up testimony, mostly for the hitch version, but the roof mount is basically the same mechanism. 
http://forums.mtbr.com/car-biker/1up-quick-rack-quick-review-602461.html


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## JohnJ80 (Oct 10, 2008)

Joules said:


> I don't have that specific rack, so I can't say. It was an old Thule, and an old Cannondale road bike, with a paper-thin down tube. I haven't put a bike on a rack like that since and I don't think I ever would. That is just about the worst possible way to hold a bike, even if it's steel or Ti and the frame can take it, I don't see a reason.


For what it's worth, I'm having a road bike frame custom built for me. We were talking through the issue of rack braze-ons and the topic of those clamps on seat tubes came up. He said not to do it because of the thin walled tubing that most bikes are now made from. So, I think that's pretty good advice in general. That's also why everything is starting to come with torque wrench specs on all the fasteners.

J.


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## inter (Nov 27, 2010)

I have a carbon FS bike, and been using swagman hitchrack which clamp on the top tube, over 2 years, no problem with the bike. I use small towel between the hook and top tube, but sometimes I forget about the towel.
no complain.
very little scratch on the frame from the hook, but a lot more scratch from riding.


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