Seasucker Talon Bike Rack

I drive a convertible, but fortunately I'm bald, so I can stick one of these on my head.

I'm a cameraman and we often use the same suction technology for mounting £10K plus camera setups on bonnets and door panels.

I'd trust my pride and joy to one of these no problem - as long as you pay attention that the pads are engaged properly they should be fine for many miles.

On special offer at www.Probikekit.co.uk at the moment. I've just picked up a 2 bike model for just over £220 + 5% cashback through Topcashback
Well it is pay day!

So still no definitive answer to the " don't fasten your full carbon forks to a roof rack clamp " question. Unless, of course, some of you folks and SeaSucker know more than the frameset manufacturers who don't recommend this method ?

So something that buggers up your paintwork get glowing reviews? I'd have thought that it would be a minimum requirement that it doesn't do that.....

I bought a SeaSucker Mini-Bomber when I was on a business trip to Chicago a couple of years ago. I'd done a little research on them prior to purchase . There's some negative stuff on Forums (there's a surprise) and mostly from people who don't own one of the racks. Like an earlier poster I use mine on a Porsche 911 and there's been no damage to paintwork or panels what so ever. Once I take the bike of the roof I break the vacuum and put the rack in the car. It takes me about a 90 seconds to replace the rack on my return. Also put it in my bike box for use on hire cars when I travel with my bike. I noticed that SeaSucker vacuum pads have also been used in the construction of Pro Team roof racks which carry up to 7 bikes and 10 wheels. Not sure if they're still available, but they were heavily discounted recently on the Sports Pursuits website.

On family trips I often ride to or from where we're going, whilst the wife takes the children in the car.
This does of course, (if I'm only riding one way), mean we have to take a bike rack on the trip.
These would be an ideal pop in the boot solution.

I bought the SeaSucker mini-bomber (carries two bikes) recently for precisely the reason that we don't own a car and rent them when we need to. It's virtually impossible to hire a car with a bike rack or something to attach one to. As others have said - brilliant bit of kit and very easy to use. Was slightly wary of attaching a couple of relatively expensive bikes to a car with nothing but the power of suction, but you've just got to trust it. In the words of XKCD: "Science. It works, bitches" (https://xkcd.com/54/).

I spotted the potential problem with cranks hitting the roof when I was putting the bikes on for the first time, and strapped them to the chainstay with an old toe strap. Very glad I did - that would have been a tricky one to explain to the car hire company!

When fitting do you have to lick the suction cups first?

I have been using one of these for about 2 years now. I purchased off ebay before they were available in the UK.
It is very versatile and as some people have mentioned you can use it on friends/hire cars with ease.

For the person asking about deforming panels: The suckers have a soft lip but the main part has channels in the pad so vacuum is in the channels while the rest of the area is supported.

This rack has allowed me to travel to triathlon events and club runs at least twice a week in the time I have had it and only required minimal looking after.

Also means that I did not need to get rid of my MX5! (FYI bikes are considerably more valuable than the car)

Re security: You can lock the QR shut and use a cable that fits round bike and into window shut or boot shut. (seen them on CRC)

If you dig around on the internet you can get the suction cups for about £30 a pop and the fork holder is about £20. you could fashion your own custom solution if you were that way inclined.

The suction cups are versatile with lots of options for bolting on things. I had to get creative for when using a disk wheel on the rear wheel carrier. It now locates the wheel in a channel and the strap is extended and wraps round the crank and chainstay.

Jez, what option is there to secure the rack itself to the car - i.e. does the suction or QR mechanism lock in any way? At £250 a go, I could see people leaving the bike and nicking the rack

Ive shelled out for demountable tow bars with associated wiring on my last two cars, just so i can use a towbar mounted bike rack. This would have saved me a fortune, and have been much easier to use. Want.

i have seen demo's of those on their website.look solid and like the design. i would definately get one of those, if i was without kids and carefree, as it is i am waiting for a pair of the yakima frontloader to arrive. no fuffing about with frontwheels neither with the frontloader. the sensible choice for me but hey would love to go with the cool one.

Had one of these for the past 3 and a bit years, absolutely fantastic bit of kit, perfect for my car with its glass roof (Porsche 911 Targa), but I'd not want to use one if I had to mount on paintwork. I've had it up to about 115 abroad with no problems, and done 240mile trips only checking the suckers once but that was more piece of mind!

these truly are great bike racks, obviously not for everyone or naysayers but for those of us who have no other option or just dont want a ton of metal on our roofs 24/7.

FYI - I would mount the fork mount the other way so its a bit more aero, it will bring the noise level down too.

Chain Reaction are stocking these, so will be £225 if you have British Cycling membership. I REALLY want one.

Can someone do the maths and work out how much rearward/upward force a 10kg roadbike would place on a front hub mount at 70-ish MPH into a 40-MPH headwind? I'm betting it will only be a few KG, at most. These bikes are supposed to be slippery!

Each Seasucker is rated to ~100kg. And I bet there's safety margin in there - it's a US firm. If they were selling a product that had even the slightest chance of failing (even with lowest-common denominator fitting) and dropping bikes onto a highway causing a crash, they'd be certifiable.

I remember in the days when I had to put a magnetic flashing light on top of the car that it used to put tiny scratches in the paint as bits of crap inevitably got on the bottom of the rubber pad. Did you have any of those sorts of issues when you were testing?

In non-snarky mode: friends own a new-ish VW Golf. Doesn't have roof rails or T-track slots. Their only option was a strap-on (no sniggering at the back). The only one I'd recommend is a Saris Bones, but even that's a faff, and effectively ruled out use of the hatch. For £200-ish this solves the problem. A decent set of Thule foot packs, bars and racks will set you back the best part of £350. And will take a fair old while to fit/remove if you don't want them on permanently.

Even on our car with T-track slots, it's a faff to add/remove racks. Another one of those solutions where haters gonna hate, but for those with a specific problem (esp. small cars with no towbar or ability to store a towbar rack e.g. Apartment folks), could be a godsend.

Also, GENIUS hand-luggage-friendly solution for transporting rental bikes in hire cars, which never have roof racks or towbars.

My car has roof rails. I was looking to attach a roof bike rack to them. Turned out that option was much more expensive than the Seasucker. In the US, the Talon is ~$270 (£160). It was cheaper and more flexible option.

A rear trunk rack is cheaper. But carbon frames don't fit them well. They don't hold to the car as well. Too many straps. Takes much longer to set up. Another can hit the bike dangling off the back.

As for security, I run a cable through the wheel, frame, and the roof rails. Simple.

Even having roof and rear racks I generally prefer to put the bike in the car when possible. I feel a bit happier with the roof box up there, weighed down with contents, than my not very heavy bike being battered around in the wind!

That said, on the odd occasion I have used a roof rack, I can imagine this is far less faff than putting up both bars and then bike rack. If I could just get over that feeling that it will fall off .....

Despite their evidence, I think convincing people it's a safe enough option for their 3k(+) bike might take some doing ....