The empty roof rack had a nearly 2 percent impact on fuel economy which translates to a little more than three quarters of a gallon of gas.
Gas mileage and roof top bike racks.
A close second was the kayak with 28 percent or a.
Mileage went from 41 mpg at 65 mph to 40 mpg.
The gear with the most impact were the dual mountain bikes strapped to the roof which impacted the fuel economy by 31 percent or 9 mpg.
The roof rack mpg experiment he compared the gas mileage of his car at 54 7 mph 88 kph with 1 no roof racks 2 an empty roof rack and 3 a mountain bike on the roof rack.
They found that in 2015 roof racks nationwide were responsible for 0 8 percent of light duty vehicle fuel consumption or 100 million gallons of gasoline.
As we found when we tested roof and hitch mounted bike racks the suv s mileage on the other hand showed less of a drop.
Yakima frontloader rooftop bike rack.
In fact it significantly cuts your highway mileage all the time it s installed whether there s weight up there or not.
He found that compared to the baseline of no roof rack the empty rack reduced his mpg by 12 7 and the roof rack with a bicycle reduced it by a whooping 27 3.
So if your car usually gets 30 mpg on the highway and you add a full roof rack your highway gas mileage will drop to 24 27 mpg.
Adding any rooftop carrier cargo box or ski rack doesn t come free.
Their study was published recently in the.
With no rack the gas mileage was 42 miles per gallon.
The empty roof rack had a nearly 2 percent impact on fuel economy which translates to a little more than three quarters of a gallon of gas.
However if you want to buy from other companies consider those that have a provision for tandem adapters that can.
To make life as easy as possible for you we ve listed and reviewed what we believe to be the ten best value for money roof mounted bike racks below.
They compared the gas mileage of a new honda accord with no rack an empty rack an empty rack and wind deflector and a rooftop rack with two bikes and deflector.
With the rack and two bikes that number dropped to 27 miles per hour.
Some drivers may see their gas mileage drop by as much as 20 percent depending on vehicle type and type of roof rack.
If you must travel with a loaded roof rack try to choose the most aerodynamic roof rack you can.
Most people that s in the back of their head.
Which roof bike rack is best for my fat tire bicycle.
It can accommodate bikes of up to 5 tires securely and makes no frame contact.
Mileage went from 41 mpg at 65 mph to 40 mpg.