BMW roof rack and bike carrier
Discussion
Does anyone have any experience with BMW roof racks and compatible bike carriers? My wife has band me from using my saris bones on her car for various reasons, so I am looking at getting a roof mounted bike rack so I can take my bike on holiday. We have BMW OEM roof bars, which are aero shaped and have a mounting track. I have been looking at the BMW rack, but at £105 it's a bit steep, when a Thule rack is half that.
The cheapest carriers won't fit as they are designed to clamp around square bars. Thule use a system called T-track, that uses a 24x30mm 80mm U-bolt to attach to the roof rack, but I am not sure if this fits to the BMW rack. Does anyone have any experience of this, or any alternatives?
The cheapest carriers won't fit as they are designed to clamp around square bars. Thule use a system called T-track, that uses a 24x30mm 80mm U-bolt to attach to the roof rack, but I am not sure if this fits to the BMW rack. Does anyone have any experience of this, or any alternatives?
It's an F30. From what I can tell from BMW they only sell two roof racks, one that attaches to roof bars and one that screws in to mounts in the roof and they both have the same bars with different attachment. I would guess we have the same roof rack, or at the very least it's a standard fitting. I will give it a try.
SteveSteveson said:
It's an F30. From what I can tell from BMW they only sell two roof racks, one that attaches to roof bars and one that screws in to mounts in the roof and they both have the same bars with different attachment. I would guess we have the same roof rack, or at the very least it's a standard fitting. I will give it a try.
Yep I have the BMW Roof Bars that screw into the roof (just pull up the little flaps). The Thule bike racks t-bolt slides into the bars no problem. In my old C350 estate I had roof rails already part of the car so I just needed to buy OEM roof bars that attached to this.If the BMW Roof Rail gap is too big you can get larger t-bolts for thule, I needed them on the Mercedes OEM roof bars. I bought all mine 2nd hand off ebay saved a fortune and sold them on after use.
Thule do a fitting kit for BMW roof bars with the bigger heads on the t-bolts
http://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel4_tab.php...
http://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel4_tab.php...
It was a while ago when I bought mine for a E39 Touring, but back then the BMW systems were re-branded Thule products. (They're not the only manufacturer to do it either.)
The BMW products weren't vastly more expensive that the Thule stuff, but the saving was enough. The rack I have for the bikes is the 561, which uses a fork mount, and you chuck the wheel in a wheel bag (not supplied, but not expensive.) I've used it for road and mountainbikes, covering many thousands of miles. They're great.
The BMW products weren't vastly more expensive that the Thule stuff, but the saving was enough. The rack I have for the bikes is the 561, which uses a fork mount, and you chuck the wheel in a wheel bag (not supplied, but not expensive.) I've used it for road and mountainbikes, covering many thousands of miles. They're great.
Craikeybaby said:
This thread has come at a useful time for me - I need to sort out a roof rack/bike carrier for my E87 1 series. If anyone has any of the E87 OEM/Thule bits tucked away in a garage etc I'd be happy to buy them off you.
It's only the footpacks you need, everything else is interchangeable. When I got rid of our E61 and moved to an A6, I sold my footpacks for the Beemer, and bought some for the A6 - both on eBay.lufbramatt said:
Thule do a fitting kit for BMW roof bars with the bigger heads on the t-bolts
http://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel4_tab.php...
Oh, ta. Very useful to make sure it all fits!http://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel4_tab.php...
SteveSteveson said:
lufbramatt said:
Thule do a fitting kit for BMW roof bars with the bigger heads on the t-bolts
http://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel4_tab.php...
Oh, ta. Very useful to make sure it all fits!http://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel4_tab.php...
So I have a 2016 340i and the BMW base rack system. I went to pickup my new bike, a 2019 Trek Roscoe 8. The BMW bike system can only do tires up to 2.5” while the Trek’s are 2.8”.
Does anyone have experience with this sort of problem? Is there anything I can do?
See: https://www.shopbmwusa.com/PRODUCT/6209/BMW-TOURIN...
https://www.shopbmwusa.com/Product/3734/BMW-BASE-S...
The Trek: https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/bikes/mountain-...
Does anyone have experience with this sort of problem? Is there anything I can do?
See: https://www.shopbmwusa.com/PRODUCT/6209/BMW-TOURIN...
https://www.shopbmwusa.com/Product/3734/BMW-BASE-S...
The Trek: https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/bikes/mountain-...
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