Buying A Roof Mount Bike Rack

There are several types of bicycle racks for cars;

• Trunk mount (most common)
• Roof mount
• Spare tyre mount (rarely seen)
• Receiver hitch mount

The first bike rack that I bought 10 years ago was a trunk mount bicycle rack which I bought for RM360 from a bike show at Endah Parade. Back then my bike was a Raleigh Trek King which cost me RM399, so it didn't make sense for me to spend RM1400 for a pair of Thule roof mounted bike racks (2001 price). Nanti "lebih sudu dari kuah" pula! (Malay proverb; spoon larger than the gravy bowl).

But 2 months ago, when I mounted 3 MTBs on that trunk rack for a family ride in Putrajaya, my rear bumper sagged under all that weight!
On the 16th January 2011, I joined the LeTua 100km bike ride. My ride ended after 62.4km when my rear tyre burst it's sidewall. I was rescued by Mohd Faiz who was driving his Kancil which had three Thule roof mount bike racks on top of it. It was such a breeze to mount my road bike on the Thule ProRide 590 that I decided that I must get one for myself!

On the 12th February 2011, I dropped by at the Thule outlet at the Ikano Power Centre to check out the prices. Apparently as of the 1st February 2011, the new pricelist became effective. For my Proton Wira, I would need the following items;

• Thule Rapid 754 roof rack = RM1,250
• Thule ProRide 591 bike rack = RM850 each, so I need to cough out RM1700 for a pair

So a total price of RM2,950. No discounts are given at any Thule outlets. So I had to put the idea on hold.

I spent the next Sunday and Monday checking out the prices at a few bike outlets. They all gave the same quotation. Most of them were willing to give 10% discount but that would still set me back RM2,655.

Luckily for me, a fellow rider and former schoolmate, Gazali Rahman suggested that I check out Meng Thai Bicycle Centre at 11-1, Jalan PJU 5/15, Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara.Husher Lai who works there, suggested that I install BNB CB-2002AL rooftop rack instead. It was about half the price of the Thule rooftop rack system. He also has a reasonably-priced roof mount bike rack for sale, which was far cheaper but had the following features;

• Light and elegant aluminium design.
• The frame holder and the wheeltray are designed to automatically position the bike correctly in place.
• The bike is automatically resting against the self-adjusting frame holder. Meanwhile all the securing of the bike can be done comfortably at car roof height, by tightening the turning knob using a single-handed grip.
• With quick-release wheel straps for quick and convenient loading and unloading of bikes, adjustable for different wheel sizes up to 2.5 inches, the wheels are securely fastened.
• Fits bike frames up to 100mm (oval 80x100mm, round 22-80mm)
• A capacity to carry bikes up to 17 kg.
• Can easily be fitted on either side of the car roof by moving the frame holder to the left or right side.
• Lockable – bike to bike carrier, bike carrier to load carrier.

Since this option was far cheaper than the Thule option, I had these items installed on Tuesday, 15th February 2011. It took Husher 3 hours to install these items but the final result was worthwhile.

I tried it out last Saturday when I went cycling with my wife. It was a breeze mounting and unmounting the bikes from the bike racks.
The bike rack can easily be transferred to other vehicles. I transferred one of it to my Fiat Ulysse when I needed to send one of the kid's bike to my wife's hometown last weekend.
So if you feel the need for a reasonably priced bike rack, please drop by Meng Thai Bicycle Centre. I assure you that you won't regret it.