[Closed] Transporting Bikes in Audi A6 Estate

You have an A6 so the vogue is to put them on top 😉 You’ll need a rack and bike carrier for the roof bars. If you have a tow bar you can get a rack for it.
If going inside I’m fairly sure, as I have a similar car, you’d fit three bikes, wheels off, in the boot, with three passengers. I use old dust sheets and duvet covers to keep the car clean and protect the bike.

Welcome back.

If going inside the car they don’t necessarily need anything providing they fit... Unless the bikes are you pride and joy and wish to protect them?
I care about my bike so; front wheel off, bike goes in, derailleur facing up. Front wheel is placed behind drivers seat.
If I’m carrying two bikes. Front wheels off, first bike goes in handlebars first, derailleur facing up. Blanket on top. Second bike goes in back wheel first making sure derailleur is facing up. Blanket on top. Front wheels on top of blanket making sure they can’t move. Bags etc then go behind seats.

Thank you for the replies, putting them inside sounds great. Does it make a difference if they are 27.5 or 29 in terms of fitting them in? My last.bike was 26 inch so will be changing to 27.5 or 29.

It’ll be fine. My 29+ fits inside my i3 with just the front wheel off and I can easily get 2 bikes inside.

I never really see the point of carrying them on the roof unless the car is full of people and stuff.

IMO, three people, two adult and a kids bike plus kit will be tight in an estate.

If you're riding regularly again, find a second hand set of roof bars and racks IMO, it's worth the investment.

The best thing I ever did was get a towbar rack and the kids can help load their own bikes and we have boot full of riding kit, picnic etc.

The best thing I ever did was get a towbar rack and the kids can help load their own bikes and we have boot full of riding kit, picnic etc.

This.

I have a skoda superb estate so a similar size to the A6, towbar all the way.

I've been on a 2 week holiday up to Scotland, just me and 2 bikes. Putting the bikes in the car in the (full) boot would have been a massive pain, not to mention the mud that would have been transferred.

You can do 2 bikes & 2 people in the car without any bother, but as soon as you get the kid's bike (and presumably the kid as well) into the equation then it's much harder to get the bikes in the car as the kid gets in the way 🙂

I'd just look into roofbars/carriers or tow bar mounted rack.
I already had 2 carriers so bought some new roof bars, but if I'd have had nothing to start with I probably would have gone for towbar & rack.

Towbar is the more expensive option though, if you don't have one on there already. I was getting online quotes of ~£500 for the towbar installation, plus the cost of the rack on top of that.

Buy a towbar and fit it yourself. It aint rocket science.

Yeah, assuming you've got to bring the child too, the bikes will need to be on the outside. I don't think I can get any of my bikes in the boot of my A6 (rear seats up), even wheels off, and besides, everywhere you go, the boot is going to be full of sprog kit.

Without the kid, front wheel off and they should fit easily. I have some very cheap foam camping matts that I lay between bikes to avoid damage.

The fun starts once the children get bigger bikes.

Passat estate here, will swallow two adult's bikes no bother with the seats down (but so did the Astra hatchback my wife had before her current car).

Kids bikes go in, #1's Wahoo 26 goes lengthways with the front wheel off, the middle section of the back seat dropped and a Minoura fork mount thing, with #2's Beinn 20L diagonally across the boot, again with the wheel off. If our bikes are going, they go on the roof (Thule 598s); if we were doing this anything like regularly I'd have gone for a towbar carrier as above.

You’ll probably squeeze them in if you really try - but you’ll have to be really careful not to scratch bikes / bash derailleurs etc. And if it’s muddy you’ll either get the car covered in it or have to be creative with plastic sheets etc.

I have a Jaguar XE saloon and with the seats folded down and wheels off my 27.5” bike goes in pretty easily - with an A6 estate and seats down you’ll have acres of space. But if you have a rear seat passenger it gets more awkward.

If you don’t have a tow bar I’d probably go with roof mounts. Decent Thule wing bars are about £200 and then it’s about £80 per bike carrier that goes on them - although it depends which ones you go for. Thule 598 is ok - although mine is a bit creaky after a few years use. I’ve got my eye on a Yakima front loader or high road next year.

I’ve no experience with tow bar racks but clearly they must be quieter as the bikes are out of the main wind. Looks like the carriers are reasonably spendy but probably no more than 3 roof mounted carriers. So it just comes down to if you have a tow bar or not - and if you need to get one how expensive that will be. Presumably you need a light / number plate bar with one as you’ll probably obscure the number plate and rear lights with a towball carrier?

I've always been a wheels off and put them in the boot devotee, but recently bought a roof rack and it's been a triumph in terms of less faffing about taking the bike apart, putting it back together or worrying about leaving wheels in car parks (I've never done it, several friends have). Plus, it keeps the mud, water and grit out of my car, no matter how much you line the boot with blankets, it always gets through. Downsides, there's an initial outlay, and if you leave the rack on all the time the noise will drive you mad, plus it knocks about 5mpg of my fuel economy. Thus I tend to take it off if I'm going a distance without the bike.

Check out the roof box company, they have pretty much all you could ever need.

I’ve always been a wheels off and put them in the boot devotee, but recently bought a roof rack and it’s been a triumph in terms of less faffing about taking the bike apart, putting it back together or worrying about leaving wheels in car parks (I’ve never done it, several friends have). Plus, it keeps the mud, water and grit out of my car

This is my experience too. Bike goes on the roof now, it seems way more convenient. To the extent that for the last few years, I've used the rack as part of my commute, twice a day every (work day). Thule 598 has stood up very well to that.

I had an A6 for 4 years, until Feb this year. It had Thule racks on the roof for the first 3 years, then when I got an ebike i had a towbar fitted.

Towbar rack easier to use and having a garage to store it in, not much faff to put on and off.

The eye opener for me was fuel economy. With the racks permanently fitted it would do around 38 mpg with bikes on and 42 without. With towbar rack it would do about 45 with bikes on and 46 without. Obviously just averages, and it was the 2.0l auto diesel quattro.

Another consideration if you have nice bikes is the "advertisement to thieves" of carrying them externally. I always put mine in the car if i can when its just me or me and the mrs.

I have a 508 estate and cant imagine 2 x Adults and 1 x Child plus bikes being workable as one of the back seats needs to be up for the child, so when i do this i use my tow bar mounted rack. (IIRC tow bar was £350 fitted - PF Jones)

I literally see zero difference in mpg with the bikes on the tow bar, you don't know they're there at all.

I’ve always been a wheels off and put them in the boot devotee, but recently bought a roof rack and it’s been a triumph in terms of less faffing about taking the bike apart, putting it back together

Back in the days before kids, I'd put the bikes and roof rack in the boot for the 5 hour trip up to the Lakes, then use the roof rack for the short journeys whilst we were there. Much less faff when dealing with muddy bikes in freezing rain.

Our last few trips have been towbar rack and roof bars, because sticking to one bike each would be silly, obviously.

If you have the roof rails that have a gap under them that you can fit a hand through I can offer you a nice set of Atera aero bars (sorry stealth ad!) - just the width ways bars.

They came off my Passat and don't fit the current car. PM me if interested. They're tucked away in a corner of the shed somewhere.

Definitely either roof or towbar rack, recently changed cars and went back to putting my bike inside my car, I hate it, it's such a pain.

Passat estate here. If it's just me I take front wheel off and bike goes in back with seats down. Personaly I don't want bikes layed on top of each other with the risk of damage so any more than one and I use a Thule backpack. Takes five minutes to fit and bikes ride very securely on it. Higher up than a tow bar rack so less risk of damage from a rear end shunt unless you get hit by a high fronted vehicle, no need for a tow bar or electrics, easier to lift bikes on than a roof mount. Downsides, it can be a bit unnerving if you have long bikes when you look in the wing mirrors. They apear to be sticking miles out of the sides of the car and you find yourself giving trees, posts etc a wide berth for fear of catching them. In reality they don't actually stick out much and it's just the narrowing of the upper sides of the car that make it look that way.

A couple of things.

I recently (well, pre-COVID, it was actually probably a year ago now) got a lift to the Lakes with two mates. Three blokes, three bikes (two large/XL 29ers, one large 26er) and all the bags and kit fit into a Honda Civic estate with the back seats in 60/40 folding mode. So it's doable! I'm fairly sure though that if this were me my partner would baulk at have a kidster in the back in close proximity to the bikes (crash safety would be the concern).

I also recently (last month) bought and fitted a towbar. Fitting it was actually surprisingly easy: I was worried it would be a massive pain. However! Actually getting hold of a towbar was very difficult. I understand that there's a shortage of stock across Europe as factories have been closed over the summer. I ended up getting one from Towbars Direct who ordered me an AutoHak model from Poland - they had six left IIRC. The usual suspects such as Witter and Westfalia had nothing.

So I guess my vote would be a roof rack 😉. Not least because a roof rack is super useful outside of bike transport too.

I drove an Audi A6 estate with tow bar mounted bike rack for a couple of years. I’d always used tow bar mounted bike racks before that. Now I have a golf estate with roof bars, so I bought some aero bars and Thule bike racks for the roof.

There are pros and cons to each I guess, but I’m much, much happier with the bikes on the roof. I love that the boot is perfectly accessible, whereas it was always a hassle getting in there when the bikes were on the tow bar. I’m always nervous about height restrictions in car parks, but haven’t hit anything yet. On the other hand, I damaged the Audi tow bar simply driving off the ferry to Liverpool once. Also, obscuring the rear lights and having to run an extra lighting board was a royal pita. Wrecked one of those too, when the lighting cable ended up dropping a little low and scraping along the ground.

Also, i just got fed up paying £400-£500 for a tow bar on each new car.