Carrying bikes on tow car

[Crag71]

Sorry if this one has been asked before...

We are going away later in the year to Cornwall and not taken bikes away before. I want to get roof bar carriers for 67 plate Discovery Sport without roof rails and I’ve only heard of Thule as a supplier of roof bars (2 adult bikes, 1 child). I know I’m being tight, but coming in at a cost of nearly £400 I want to look at a cheaper option but no idea of a decent reasonably priced alternative. Any advice greatly appreciated!

 

[Guzzilazz]

Having spent a fortune on manufacturer's roof bars, until I bought the last car, I decided to try "generic" bars and came across Modula... £79 for closed rail mounted ones which I also bought an open rail kit for £20. Try here:
https://www.driveden.com/roof-bars-accessories-c5/roof-bars-c126#t8708:t10622

 

[colinbal4]

I have similar circumstances to you, 2 adults, 1 child, and asked the same question recently, here is the thread:

https://www.practicalcaravan.com/forum/equipment-accessories/57478-cycle-carriers
In the end I didn't bother getting roof bars because of the overall height of a 4x4 with cycles on top, combined with regularly needing to take the ferry, and somebody else mentioned they had to take the bikes off the roof and put them into the caravan before boarding the ferry.

As like you I only have one child, what I have ended up doing is dropping the split fold rear seat, removing the front wheels and the seats from the bikes, and putting the bikes inside the car, upside down, two adult bikes facing forwards, with the childs bike between them facing backwards. The handlebars of the adult bike across the seat backs width ways, the childs bike handlebars across the boot floor width ways. Turn the pedals opposite each other so the bikes can sit close together, and then I put a bungee around the bike frames so that the whole assembly benefited from the stability of three sets of handle bars. It was very stable and, keeps all the oily bits away from the interior of your car.

Lost half the boot in terms of luggage space, but not a problem, as there is plenty space for luggage inside the caravan.

 

[colinbal4]

I took the bikes out of the car and dropped them on the floor of the garage in exactly the same way, so here are a couple of picture of how the bikes were loaded in the car, and now that I've driven with them like that and seen how stable they are, I'd now be happy to load them inside the van over the axle this way as well.