Recently purchased a Vito with a towbar so I bought a Thule 941 bike rack. It arrived today and once assembled I fitted it to the van only to find my bars would hit the rear window before the frame clamp could reach the bike. It also seemed very short in the wheelbase department. Can anyone recommend a good towbar rack for a van?

I’ve got a Thule 923 and it fits my van. However it has a step so the towball centre is approx 200mm away from the rear doors. You can get metal blocks to space the towball away from the towbar if needed.

Thanks spooky Just been doing a quick google for towbars as I have a swan neck but a bit overwhelmed with all the different sizes and makes and not really sure what will fit my set up and if you can just buy the swan neck part? Thought this was going to be an easy operation but it’s starting to be a bit of a ball ache….

Do you mean your trying to buy an extended swan neck? I’ve seen some silly long ones on 4×4’s with spare wheels on the back so I suppose you might be able to get, say, a Witter extended swan neck intended for a 4×4, for your standard witter receiver.

Also, you might find if you move the frame clamp/arm down one side of the hoop, and clamp the seat tube or downtube at a lower point, the bike will be more upright and hence more clearance for the bars. On my wifes bike we sometimes rotate the clamp so it clamps the top tube from underneath, this keeps the arm straighter and the bike further out. (just because its easier, I don’t normally use the rack on the van)

Was thinking of a longer swan neck but that my become a pain having something so long sticking out the back all the time. Could buy a three bike rack and not use the rack nearest the van.

4/5mm Allen key and turn the bars?

Why overcomplicate things?

Bit of a late reply…the other option is to twist the rack so its not straight on the towball.

A nightmare if you are OCD, but otherwise it would give some extra handlebar clearance.