Thule Roof Bars, The Versatile Accessory
by lexisclickVersatile really is the word to describe the Thule range of roof bars. To start with they come in two basic forms, standard and aluminium aero type. The aero style is designed to offer minimum air resistance in it’s unladen state. A whole range of fittings then makes it possible to fit either type to almost any design of car or small van you might own. Car roofs come in a variety of styles. For instance some have gutters to carry away rain water, others have no gutters and get rid of the water by other means. Some manufacturers thoughtfully provide built in roof bars running fore and aft along either side of the roof. Whichever variation your car has there’s a fitting in the Thule roof bar range to suit. Once the roof bars are fitted the versatility really becomes apparent. If you’ve a long, awkward item to carry it can sit on the bars and be securely lashed to them. Webbing straps are available for this purpose and are undoubtedly much better and more secure than rope which may stretch and become slack. Specially designed clamps are available for such items as ladders which you may want to carry on a regular basis. You can use purpose designed fittings to tailor your roof bars to suit a number of specific loads. All are easily fitted and removed after use to enable you to carry different items on different occasions. For example you might want to carry ladders during the week and bikes at the weekend. No problem, just use the ladder fittings on weekdays and mount your cycle carrier on Saturday using the appropriate fittings from the Thule roof bar range. It’s that time of year at last and you’re going on holiday. Hold on though, your kind of holiday involves carrying a lot of extra stuff in the car and you’re a bit pushed for space. Can you make use of your roof bars? Yes, you most certainly can. The safest and most efficient way to carry a mixed load on your car roof is to use a roof box. These things are very light when empty, aerodynamically efficient at speed and they hold an amazing amount of gear. What’s more, your stuff is securely locked in the box and out of sight, and the whole system’s safely attached to the car with no danger of coming adrift! The thing is though that to fit a roof box you first have to have roof bars fitted to the car. You’re OK though you’ve already got yours in place. Even better any good quality roof box you’re likely to buy will have been designed to fit Thule roof bars, whether it carries their name or one of the others in the field. You’ve probably come to the conclusion by now that roof bars form the basis of a really effective method of carrying things that won’t go inside the car, or aren’t wanted inside for whatever reason. Whether you need to transport ladders, bikes, a dinghy or almost anything else within reason you’ll find a suitable piece of kit for the purpose and all based on the Thule roof bar. The only practical alternative to using a car top system would be to tow a trailer. For very large items that might be the only answer but for the size of load we’re talking about here you’d probably find it an encumbrance. It’ll nearly double the length of your car for a start and you’ll need two parking spaces everywhere you go! Then there’s the manoeuvring! On balance you’ll almost certainly be better off using your Thule roof bar system.