Towbar mounted 2-bike carrier advice.

Bonefishblues · Post by **Bonefishblues** » 24 May 2015, 9:10pm

I'm looking for any advice on the above please. I've been used to carrying bikes on the roof of vehicles but since the family bus has a towbar with electrics etc perhaps I should consider using one of these?

Interested please the views of those who use them - recommendations, costs, security, numberplate board, plus stuff I don't know I need to know (like will it increase my cost on the IOW ferry in June?) - and how do they fit, anyway?!

Happy to be edumificated!

Heltor Chasca · Post by **Heltor Chasca** » 24 May 2015, 9:21pm

How about a bit of discombobulation? I mount a 3 bike Thule onto the tow-hitch of my pick-up. It has been the best thing yet. Scandinavians are masters of design. As soon as you tighten the nut the rack cleverly locks to the ball hitch. Roof bars no more.

I am lucky in that I can lock the lot to my rear bull-bar and I use bungees to keep the bikes still. I need to be clever and make sure I don't need anything from the back whilst the bikes are on. A pain when the dog is with us.

I haven't had this set up on a ferry yet, but normally they ask for your vehicle make and what height you come to if carrying bikes or canoes. As they are on the back would you be fibbing if it didn't affect the height?

Just saying. Please sign the indemnity form here………

Bonefishblues · Post by **Bonefishblues** » 24 May 2015, 9:37pm

So it just clamps to the towball - learn summat eh.

Heltor Chasca · Post by **Heltor Chasca** » 24 May 2015, 9:42pm

Bonefishblues wrote:So it just clamps to the towball - learn summat eh.

Exactly. I didn't believe it until I saw it myself. You wouldn't think something roundish would hold that sort of weight and with the stresses of acceleration/cornering/braking. But it does[emoji845]

Paulatic · Post by **Paulatic** » 24 May 2015, 9:43pm

I use a Thule Xpress 970 tow ball mounted which is a superb bit of kit, no bungies required. Yes it does trigger the reversing sensors on my Skoda.
Only in reverse though[emoji1]

Heltor Chasca · Post by **Heltor Chasca** » 24 May 2015, 9:45pm

I have also added surfboard rack spongy things to it so there's no metal on metal action...b

Bonefishblues · Post by **Bonefishblues** » 24 May 2015, 9:48pm

Heltor Chasca wrote:I have also added surfboard rack spongy things to it so there's no metal on metal action...b

Eh? What are these spongy things of which you speak?

Heltor Chasca · Post by **Heltor Chasca** » 24 May 2015, 9:53pm

Bonefishblues wrote:
Heltor Chasca wrote:I have also added surfboard rack spongy things to it so there's no metal on metal action...b

Eh? What are these spongy things of which you speak?

These: because my tow hitch is below the vertical pitch of my tailgate and whilst transporting, rubbing could start. Also means I can tighten the whole lot up as stiff as a 6 hour corpse...b

Heltor Chasca · Post by **Heltor Chasca** » 24 May 2015, 9:57pm

Or you could use plumber's cladding and look cooler than a cool thing somewhere cool. BTW The crews on the New Forest-Yarmouth leg are pretty cool so I wouldn't expect too much grief...b

F70100 · Post by **F70100** » 25 May 2015, 12:41am

Funny you should ask this as just this week we forked out for a towbar mounted carrier. We ended up visiting the PF Jones showroom in Manchester so we could see the goods in the flesh and find out why the prices range from £120 to £500 for 2 bike carriers. There are some decent videos on the PF Jones site, and on youtube showing carriers in use but of course, they don't tell the whole story.

They all "merely" clamp onto the towball.

We found that the Westfalia folding carrier was really awkward to fit to the towball as it had to be fitted on laterally. Also, the clamping handle is at right angles to the direction of travel to the car which means it too was awkward to operate whilst holding the carrier in the correct place on the towball. It was pretty much a 2 man job to fit easily.

The Bosal folder was ok but the numberplate holder had some catches to operate each time it was deployed and these felt quite flimsy. The clamp handle on this one is also at right angles to the car, making it also quite awkward to fit.

The Witter carriers were ok; very good value, but quite heavy and Mrs F70100 (she's a 5 foot tiddler) found this impossible to fit.

The folding carriers are much easier to fit as their weight is easier to manage when folded. The Thule Velocompact 925 was very tempting but, because it doesn't fold, needs more room to store when not in use. Although the clamp can be locked onto the towball when you're off cycling, it makes the car longer in parking spaces, and perhaps more vulnerable. You might leave it on like this if you were just out for the day but being able to put it in the boot is better.

We ended up with a Thule Easyfold 931; it has the capacity to takes Mrs F70100's electric bike (some carriers have individual bike limits), it was by far the easiest to fit, it feels like it will last, it stores in the boot when you cycle off. Wiggle are doing it cheaper than PF Jones at the moment... Check if you need 7 or 13 pin electrics. The 931 has a 13 pin plug but only uses 7 pins (caravans use the other pins for battery charging etc). You can get an adapter easily enough.

Hope this helps.

Bonefishblues · Post by **Bonefishblues** » 25 May 2015, 7:16am

It does, thanks. Some of them (incl. the one you ended up with) are fiercely expensive, aren't they :shock:

Vmlopes · Post by **Vmlopes** » 25 May 2015, 7:33am

I have one of these that we no longer use, make me an offer, only used 2-3 times

https://roofracks.co.uk/thule-xpress-97 ... wwodUXUALA

Pyranha · Post by **Pyranha** » 25 May 2015, 7:59am

We've got an Atera Strada 3 from Foldingbikes.biz. This was highly recommended on another forum - I can't compare it to others, but I like it. And service from the shop was good.

We have the three bike version as, although we usually take 2 bikes, we sometimes have a third; also, the spacing isn't generous so using spaces 1 and 3 is easier to load. The main reason for getting this one rather than a Thule etc was that this appears to give the greatest opening space for an estate car boot and we often have our dogs with us when travelling - and the three bike versIon slides further from the car than the 2 doe - roofbox.co.uk recommend the 3 for this reason. You can get an adaptor to add another bike. With three similar sized adult bikes, I have to turn the third set of handlebars.

The Atera racks are quite easy to fit to the towbar, and lock in place with a Thule-like key; the straps around the bike frames are plastic coated steel and lock with the same key, so I think they are probably more secure than most, although I would use another lock if I thought I was going to be leaving it for any length of time. There are videos on the roofbox.co.uk website (worth a visit to see the range on offer). Remember to clean grease off your towball before fitting!

Bonefishblues · Post by **Bonefishblues** » 25 May 2015, 8:12am

Vmlopes wrote:I have one of these that we no longer use, make me an offer, only used 2-3 times

https://roofracks.co.uk/thule-xpress-97 ... wwodUXUALA

Whereabouts are you?

I ask as it's probably not economic to post as Wiggle and Evans are cutting each others' throats on price for this item at the moment, incl free delivery!

Bonefishblues · Post by **Bonefishblues** » 25 May 2015, 8:16am

Pyranha wrote:We've got an Atera Strada 3 from Foldingbikes.biz. This was highly recommended on another forum - I can't compare it to others, but I like it. And service from the shop was good.

We have the three bike version as, although we usually take 2 bikes, we sometimes have a third; also, the spacing isn't generous so using spaces 1 and 3 is easier to load. The main reason for getting this one rather than a Thule etc was that this appears to give the greatest opening space for an estate car boot and we often have our dogs with us when travelling - and the three bike versIon slides further from the car than the 2 doe - roofbox.co.uk recommend the 3 for this reason. You can get an adaptor to add another bike. With three similar sized adult bikes, I have to turn the third set of handlebars.

The Atera racks are quite easy to fit to the towbar, and lock in place with a Thule-like key; the straps around the bike frames are plastic coated steel and lock with the same key, so I think they are probably more secure than most, although I would use another lock if I thought I was going to be leaving it for any length of time. There are videos on the roofbox.co.uk website (worth a visit to see the range on offer). Remember to clean grease off your towball before fitting!

There seem to be two camps based on what little I've learned through the (very helpful thanks everyone) thread:

The cheap 'n cheerful, does the job, hang it off the towball, but don't expect to get in the boot/hatchback for some while.
The "better engineered than the car it's attached to' school of thought, but be prepared to pay for it.

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