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Bike rack on canopy roof

J

JVSB

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May 31, 2025
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2025 Lucid Air Touring
I have a single bike rack that uses suction cups attachment (Seasucker Talon). It weighs about six pounds spread over four suction cups. My road bike is about 19 lbs. I used the rack and bike on my Tesla S and Cayman without difficulty using roof glass for some of the weight. I have the canopy roof on my Air Touring so all of the weight will be on the glass. I doubt if it will be an issue but does anyone know any load limit data on the Lucid canopy roof.
Thanks in advance.
 
Did you try it out? Lucid has a blanket statement saying not to use suction cups. My situation is like yours. CF road bike. I could see Lucid not wanting suction cups supporting two 50 pound ebikes and a 40 pound Thule rack on the glass roof. Perhaps we Talk to the owner of SeaSucker, who is a biker.
 
Worldwide Beagle said:
Did you try it out? Lucid has a blanket statement saying not to use suction cups. My situation is like yours. CF road bike. I could see Lucid not wanting suction cups supporting two 50 pound ebikes and a 40 pound Thule rack on the glass roof. Perhaps we Talk to the owner of SeaSucker, who is a biker.
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Yes. I drove about 500 miles round trip without any difficulties. It’s not that much weight. I’ve not seen the “blanket statement “ about no suction cups. I did contact SeaSucker before actually attaching it to the Lucid but they didn’t have any information about using it on the car.
You still need to make sure there is no groove on the roof that might interfere with the cups.
Best.
 
JVSB said:
Yes. I drove about 500 miles round trip without any difficulties. It’s not that much weight. I’ve not seen the “blanket statement “ about no suction cups. I did contact SeaSucker before actually attaching it to the Lucid but they didn’t have any information about using it on the car.
You still need to make sure there is no groove on the roof that might interfere with the cups.
Best.
Click to expand...
Thanks. Great response. Where did you attach the front cups and rear tire support?

Did you see the warning on SeaSucker about use on a Tesla 3? Seems it was only 3's. And Consumer Reports had already highlighted the numerous glass cracking problems for 3 owners that had nothing attached. The 3 owned by CR cracked sitting outside in the cold. Model 3 Special Instructions


The blanket statement is in several threads on this forum. It was simply that they do not recommend suction cups anywhere on the roof glass. IIRC

In light of the fact that the Lucid crossbars suck, owners have been bugging them with suggested working alternatives, including the use of suction cups. Decades ago, suction cup mounted crossbars, ski racks and entire roof racks were common. I used suction cup mounted ski racks in my youth. I remember massive aluminum frame carriers that fit on the roof, with four big suction cups, and then strapped to the gutters. This was all before Thule. ByI fully understand not putting serious weight or torque on the glass roof.

I still think the SeaSucker is a decent solution for a road or gravel bike. And I always liked fork mounted racks.
 
I’m out of town so don’t have immediate access to my car. I just made sure that the three suction cups on the front stay on the flatter part of the roof but not too far back that the back tire interferes with the trunk lid. One other detail is that the canopy roof makes watching the bike easy but also is somewhat distracting. When driving at highway speed you can see the bike wiggling a little. After stopping several times to check the vacuum (which was fine BTW) I finally relaxed and had no problems the rest of the way.
I personally really like the Sea Sucker product. The only problem is the inability to have an easy way to secure from theft.
Best
JVSB
 
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