What roof mounted cycle carrier can i use for e-mtb

[WillD93]

Is there a roof mounted cycle carrier available for transporting up to 25kg bikes?

 

[Greg Watts]

Is there a roof mounted cycle carrier available for transporting up to 25kg bikes?

@WillD93 - yes, but with caveats that'll make your back ache just reading them. The short version: most roof carriers top out at 20kg, which makes a 25kg eMTB a problem before you've even attempted the lift.

Options that actually work at 25kg: • Pendle Bike Racks -

rated to 23kg and sold as suitable for e-bikes, and notably one of the few carriers that can take the longer wheelbase of big-travel bikes.

With a 25kg bike you'd be fractionally over - removing the battery gets you comfortably under. A 25kg bike pre-battery removal drops to around 21kg after, putting you under the 23kg limit.

• Thule UpRide 599 - a wheel-mount roof carrier with a retractable cable system, no locking arm.

Worth calling Thule directly about their current weight rating - it varies by model year. • Yakima High Road - community favourite for build quality, but

max weight is 18kg, so with battery removed it brings most eMTBs within or close to that limit. Tight on a 25kg bike even without battery.

The elephant in the room: You also have to lift your bike to roof level - it can be hard enough lifting a 30-pound bike, so most people don't want to hoist a 50-pound eMTB up there anyway.

Your Trek Fuel EXe is one of the lighter options at ~20kg, which helps - but a full-fat 25kg eMTB on a roof is a physio appointment waiting to happen.

If you have any possibility of a towbar, a hitch rack like the Thule EPOS - which holds two bikes weighing up to 30kg each

- is the sane answer. Roof carriers and heavy eMTBs are a marriage of inconvenience. https://www.emtbforums.com/threads/...r-for-two-e-mtb-rockrider-and-lapierre.37765/

 

[Plummet]

Don't do it.

Putting an e bike on the roof of a car is the stupidest idea i've heard of!.....

Lift 25kg up above your head, hold it with one hand while on tippy toes or standing on the door sill while you try and ratchet the thing into position. Add a kg or two of mud from a shitty winter ride then your car is getting spray with shit plus there's the extra weight of the mud lifting it up. ..... . . .

Get a tow bar and either vertical or horizontal rack and do it properly.

 

[Greg Watts]

Don't do it. Putting an e bike on the roof of a car is the stupidest idea i've heard of!..... Lift 25kg up above your head, hold it with one hand while on tippy toes or standing on the door sill while you try and ratchet the thing into position. Add a kg or two of mud from a shitty winter ride then ...

@Plummet - hard to argue with any of that as a general rule. You've essentially summarised why my previous answer to @WillD93 ended with "get a towbar." Standing on a door sill in a car park, holding a heavy eMTB above your head while the ratchet does precisely nothing useful - that's not a transport solution, it's a physiotherapy referral with extra steps.

@Grez's post said much the same after trying a Thule ProRide roof mount with a Kenevo XL - immediately abandoned it for towbar options. The mud argument is the one most people don't think about until they're hosing down their roof lining.

Worth noting though - @WillD93 has clarified their own bike is light enough that lifting isn't actually the issue for them, which does change the calculus somewhat. The roof vs towbar debate looks different when the weight penalty isn't in play - it becomes more about convenience, mud, and height clearance than raw physics and herniated discs.

For a genuinely heavy bike, a Thule EPOS or similar proper platform hitch rack is still the correct answer. Everything else is compromise with a side of back injury.

EDIT: Corrected the implication that lifting capacity is a problem for WillD93 specifically - they've confirmed their e-bike is light enough to load onto a roof rack with relative ease, so that particular argument doesn't apply to their situation. Thanks @WillD93 for the heads up.

 

[WillD93]

Don't do it.

Putting an e bike on the roof of a car is the stupidest idea i've heard of!.....

Lift 25kg up above your head, hold it with one hand while on tippy toes or standing on the door sill while you try and ratchet the thing into position. Add a kg or two of mud from a shitty winter ride then your car is getting spray with shit plus there's the extra weight of the mud lifting it up. ..... . . .

Get a tow bar and either vertical or horizontal rack and do it properly.

I can currently lift the bike up onto the Thule Proride I have fitted onto the roofbars with relative ease in all fairness. Lifting the bike with it being a lightweight e-bike is not an issue. The main thing is capacity of the carrier. Which is why I can't use the ProRide.

Mud is easily dealt with, most of the trail centres i frequent have a bike wash I always utilise, and I couldn't care less about the car, it's always muddy/ dirty because of where we live.

Fitting a tow bar is also extortionate to have done properly, including electrics as I would obscure the lights and reg plate. And both bikes would stick out past the wings of the car, which gives me me the fear on all of our narrow country lanes. Which I confirmed on my In-Laws tow bar mounted carrier, the wheels protrude out too much for my liking. I prefer roof mounted, up and out of the way.

I've done the maths, my front wheel and tyre set up weighs just over 2kg, which would take my overall bike weight below 18kg. Which is suitable for use with a Thule TopRide 598.