Hi, am looking for a bike carrier to use with a 4×4 with flat vertical boot door (see pic below). Basically I need to carry 4 bikes in total, for short daytrips and longer weekend trips:

1 x 29er hardtail (XL size)
1 x 26er hardtail (Med size)
2 x kids bikes (20″ and 16″)

The 4×4 has a flat boot door that opens in two parts (top two-thirds go up, bottom third goes down), and while it would seem the optimum solution would be a tow-bar solution, the vehicle currently has no tow bar and the spare wheel underneath, and it’s not that easy/cheap for me to get one (am in Kenya).
So was thinking of getting one of the strap-on boot carriers, and specifically thinking of the Saris Bones 3 to carry the three larger bikes and put the smallest one in the boot.

My concerns are:

Travelling over bumpy potholed roads, will the 3 bikes stay apart safely? Don’t want my shiny 29er scraped. Also don’t want to damage the car paintwork.

As the carrier prevents opening of the boot door, and I want to put the smallest bike in the boot, will this be a big hassle? Could I leave all straps attached and just undo the two lower ones?

Will the Saris Bones 3 work OK with a flat vertical boot door like this? All I can see on the net are pics of it on saloons or hatchbacks?

I’m currently ruling out roof-rack options as a) too expensive for me to get rack, b) sometimes encounter low-hanging trees.

Are there any other options I should be considering? Thanks for any advice…

A lot of the rear mount ones need to clip to the bottom of the tailgate but with the split opening it makes that difficult as you would have to mount it high up to clip to the bottom of the upper door so the bikes will still end up quite high up.

There is this Thule ones: http://www.thule.com/en/gb/products/carriers-and-racks/bike-carriers/rear-door-mounted-bike-carriers/thule-backpac-973-_-973002

maybe you can rig some straps to the sides of the bottom door and rest it on the bumper and then fit an extra strap to something under the car to hold it down?

What about fitting a roof box and putting all the bikes in the back?

I’d have thought a towbar for a landcruiser shouldn’t be hard to find, even in Kenya (infact, especialy in Kenya)?

IME unless there’s something physicaly holding the bikes appart they’ll swing and rub against each other. So if you want security then a rack that suppourts the bikes by the wheels and has an arm to hold the top tubes is by far the best. I like my Aiston rack, but I’ve no idea how much it would cost to ship to Kenya so I’m guessing Thule or the like are probably easier to get localy?

Thanks for the advice. I think there is a lip at the bottom of the lower boot door that I can attach the straps to. between the door and the bumper. So I was thinking if I use that for the bottom straps, and use the top door for the upper and side straps, then all I’d have to do to open the boot would be to detach the two lower straps and open the door with the carrier still mounted. Does that make any sense at all?

Re: the roof box. While I can just fit my 29er in the back on its side with front wheel off, if I put the other bikes on top of it they will all bump around and seems pretty sure I’ll get spoke damage etc very quickly.

Towbar and then get someone local to knock up a pendle / aiston copy.
I had the best roofrack ever hand built by a guy in a shed in Naivasha.
Happy days.

I’d have thought a towbar for a landcruiser shouldn’t be hard to find, even in Kenya (infact, especialy in Kenya)?

You’d think so, but many landruisers have the spare wheel rear-door-mounted, whereas mine has it underneath, so I’d need to find the towbar assembly that fits around the spare wheel. Probably not impossible, but not so easy.

I like my Aiston rack, but I’ve no idea how much it would cost to ship to Kenya so I’m guessing Thule or the like are probably easier to get localy?

That brings up the other issue. I can have a friend bring me the Saris as airplane luggage, but the full towbar racks seem a lot larger and heavier when packed up and not sure I can ask them to do that for me. Shipping will add another couple hundred quid. Not much available locally…

IME unless there’s something physicaly holding the bikes appart they’ll swing and rub against each other. So if you want security then a rack that suppourts the bikes by the wheels and has an arm to hold the top tubes is by far the best.

I thought there was some kind of strap that attaches to the bike’s vertical seat-tube to stop it moving around? Or doesn’t that work well enough? Other option is I only use the inner and outer of the 3 hoolders, not the middle one, and put the two kids bikes in the back. Would that be better?

It does seem the wheel-attaching carriers would be better, just a bit harder for me to get hold of. The ultimate would seem to be these ISI carriers made in Oz, but cost and shipping make those not an option:

http://www.isi-carriers.com/features.html

That Thule 973 does look interesting, thanks, I will look some more into this…

Can you not get something made up locally that fits the tow bar points under the car? You could then either fit a normal tow bar rack or have a frame to mount roof rack carriers to or even just make a complete bike rack. It’s not that complicated really if you don’t mind it looking agricultural and not folding away into a neat package.

Those isi carriers are quite cool though.

Oh and for putting them in a boot if you make a basic frame on the floor you can make fork mounts to hold the bike steady and put wheels in wheel bags or just wrap in towels.

edit: this one looks like a Saris and you might be able to fix both the upper and lower straps to the top door and have it rest on the bumper: http://www.thule.com/en/gb/products/carriers-and-racks/bike-carriers/rear-door-mounted-bike-carriers/thule-raceway-992-_-992000

use either velco bmx pads to stop damage from bumping together or I am sure you can get rigid links to put in between bikes. Does risk dist scratching the frame where you clamp it though. But a bit of frame protection tape in the clamp areas stops that being a concern.

Oh and for putting them in a boot if you make a basic frame on the floor you can make fork mounts to hold the bike steady and put wheels in wheel bags or just wrap in towels.

Thanks, but the bike won’t fit standing up, the space between the boot floor and roof is not enough, it only fits (just) on its side with fork at left of boot and rear wheel at right.
For some reason (I must be a very boring human being) I actually have a picture of this to hand:

So if I were to try and lay another adult MTB and two kids bikes in there, you can see how it would all bump together and result in likely damage.

edit: this one looks like a Saris and you might be able to fix both the upper and lower straps to the top door and have it rest on the bumper: http://www.thule.com/en/gb/products/carriers-and-racks/bike-carriers/rear-door-mounted-bike-carriers/thule-raceway-992-_-992000

THIS is an excellent idea, I wonder if it would work, guess it depends on the arm size and height of the upper boot door.

Won’t fit standing up in a landcruiser? Really? They are huge.

I can stand my bike upright in our little peugeot estate but what I normally do is take both wheels off and strap it up against the back seat with the bars rotated 180 degrees to make it shorter. I can easily get 3 adult bikes in the back of a small estate like that.

I was thinking some kind of frame like this: http://www.bikeexchange.com.au/a/car-boot-mounted-bike-racks/other/vic/hallam/ute-tray-car-indoor-bicycle-bike-rack-carrier/102300844

or back to on the back:

http://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel4_tab.php/car-specific-accessories/atera_linea_superb_aluminium_carriers_with_prices_font_color_ff0000_starting_from_font_/Qx%40w%2C6M42VAwp3%40Rb%7B~cC4ure%60Kanf

or the Saris you are already looking at should work as its very adjustable.

Or a suction type rack: https://www.seasucker.com/shop/bomber/

Just realised that last thule rack I posted up has a ‘no swing’ feature that secures the seat tube to stop the bikes swaying into the car or each other.

Found another interesting Thule, a bit the same but wheel-fixed:

http://www.thule.com/en-us/us/products/carriers-and-racks/bike-carriers/rear-door-mounted-bike-carriers/thule-raceway-platform-2-bike-9003-_-16002

Hmm, I wrote to Thule to check compatibility of the 992 but they said:

“Unfortunately we do not have a rear mounted solution for your vehicle. We have tested our systems on your vehicle but they were deemed unstable. We suggest you look at tow bar or roof mounted carriers.”

I suspect they may be just saying that, but guess I may have to reconsider the viability of a towbar solution.