Following on from this earlier thread, I'm beginning to get into cycle sportives and am thinking about investing in a pair of roof bars and cycle carrier for my 2012 Panda Easy (with the black plastic roof rails ready for bars to be fitted).

As noted in the above discussion, Fiat Accessories offer the following branded items:

Roof Bars (SKU:50926336 ) £150.49
Bike Carrier (SKU:71805771) £113.41

So a total of £263.90, at which price I'm beginning to think about cycling myself to the sportives.

Burrows Fiat Parts currently offer roof bars with the same SKU (50926336) and a bike carrier with a slightly different SKU (71805770) for £186.45. Their website suggests the one offered by Fiat Accessories is an "oversize" bike carrier.

Are there are any FF members here who have found a good quality roof mounted bike carrier for less than this, and could anyone with these Fiat branded accessories comment on them? I understand there's going to be some additional wind noise and fuel consumption, but they'll only be mounted when I need them.

The frame I'll be carrying is a Specialized road bike.

Thanks all

If you want less noise buy Thule wingbar but Thule is even more expensive than genuine Fiat.
For a occasional use I recommend some cheap Italian custom made bars like GEV7. You can get them on ebay for 85 EURO including shipping.

Genuine Fiat:


Thule


Gev7

I use Thule 591's. Found them to be very safe, solid and dependable. You can get a road bike in the back of a Panda with the wheels remove and seats folded.

Also use the Thule 591's and the fiat panda logo roof bars to transport a specialized Allez road bike.Never had any problems keep the roof bars any cycle carrier on all the time.Getting 47 to 49 mpg from a twinair lounge.The fiat panda logo roof bars arrive in a Thule box with Thule instruction manual.

I've also got fiat bars and thule bike carriers. First time the bars were on they whistled a bit but I took them off and installed myself, attached the bike carriers and no noise.

Thanks for all the feedback, sounds like we might have enough Panda owners with road bikes for our own little sportive

Forgot to specify; I have a Specialized Secteur Triple Sport, so not hugely different to those owned by earlier posters. Tried it in the back without the front wheel this afternoon but needed to remove the rear wheel as well to get it in. Should be fine as long as it's just myself; problem is my wife also cycles so we may yet get the Thule kit.

Thanks all

jamesbrownontheroad said:

Thanks for all the feedback, sounds like we might have enough Panda owners with road bikes for our own little sportive

Forgot to specify; I have a Specialized Secteur Triple Sport, so not hugely different to those owned by earlier posters. Tried it in the back without the front wheel this afternoon but needed to remove the rear wheel as well to get it in. Should be fine as long as it's just myself; problem is my wife also cycles so we may yet get the Thule kit.

Thanks all

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Yes I really struggled to get my mountain bike inside the car but did manage it (just) without taking off back wheel too. Don't think I'll bother again!

I've managed to snag a second hand pair of the Panda branded roof bars on eBay. They've been delivered with four bolts, four metal 'cleats' and an Allen key. However no instructions. Could anyone who has these bars provide a relatively idiot proof idea of how to install them?

Many thanks!

Put on roof, line up with the little indents on the roof bars. Then you should be able to fix in the cleats and tighten the bolts. Let me know if photos would help but it's pretty straight forward.

Make sure you tighten both sides a bit at a time, as I found it is easy to pull the "pins" out from the other side if you tighten one side up fully before doing the other. Oh and when fitting the bike carrier, make sure to allow room for the locking roof bar covers (guess how I know this!).

Ok folks, another request for clarification. Feel like a slightly numpty here, as the feet of the bars appear to have two plastic protrusions (just visible in photo) that prevent me from screwing into the roof rails.

Have I, as I now suspect, not got compatible roof rails on the Panda? It's a 2012 Easy. The rails have little plastic covers which reveal a single bolt hole. The bolts fit, but the plastic feet appear to need a larger opening to slot into.

Many thanks.

Do your roof rails (the things on the car!) have two sets of two small holes on the inside of the rails? That is what mine have and the bars I have (on a 4x4) use these to clamp the bars o the roof rail. I did not have to remove the blanking plate you have removed to fit the bars. Your roof bars look different to mine, so there may be more than one type, no idea if the type you have would work with the rail I have, but your rail looks a lot like mine.

gloomyandy said:

Do your roof rails (the things on the car!) have two sets of two small holes on the inside of the rails? That is what mine have and the bars I have (on a 4x4) use these to clamp the bars o the roof rail. I did not have to remove the blanking plate you have removed to fit the bars. Your roof bars look different to mine, so there may be more than one type, no idea if the type you have would work with the rail I have, but your rail looks a lot like mine.

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Yes, the roof rails have two small holes on the inside of the rails.

The bars appear to have only one fixing opportunity, a downward bolt, but which is located between the two plastic protrusions.

At first I thought I might have been mis-sold a pair for the old model Panda, but the cover (removed in the pic) carries the current generation Panda logo.

Harrumph

Maybe they are for the pop model which doesn't have roof bars?

milesperhour said:

Maybe they are for the pop model which doesn't have roof bars?

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Bingo.

We were just scrolling through pics of the Pop and I spotted the flush roof rails. The Easy and the Lounge have the black roof rails that project above the roof.

So, anyone want to buy a set of roof bars for a 2012< Fiat Panda Pop? I'll list them in the forum classifieds in due course.

Thanks all, back to the drawing board.

Update: I'm now re-selling the roof bars on eBay here (apologies mods - is a link to eBay ok?)

Anyone with a 2012-onwards Panda Pop fancy a bid?

Guess you can easily remove longitudinal roof bars on your car and use them as on pop model

alamar said:

Guess you can easily remove longitudinal roof bars on your car and use them as on pop model

Click to expand...

That would be a fairly complicated resolution to having bought the wrong roof bars

Those factory bars come off very easily. Could be an option?

deeyup said:

Those factory bars come off very easily. Could be an option?

Click to expand...

I've decided not to hack my beloved Panda about. Found a new pair of the correct Panda bars on eBay for ~ £80, and a Thule 591 Cycle Carrier. I found the latter online with Sandicliffe for £55.99 + £5.99 delivery, which Halfords were happy to price match in store.

So all new kit for ~ £140.

If any Panda Pop owners would like to bid on those mis-purchased roof bars, they're still ticking along at £0.99 with a few days left on eBay.

Alternatively, I have a listing here on the FF for £50 including shipping within the UK. I'll end the auction immediately if you'd prefer to buy them here: https://www.fiatforum.com/classifieds/showproduct.php?product=31961