Nobeerinthefridge – Member

Er… No it doesn’t, amazing how you know this without even knowing the model. Technically, I’m not allowed a towbar, however the rebel in me say yeah.

If you aren’t technically allowed a towbar, then the towing limit is zero.
It does have a towing limit; the limit is an absolute one of “don’t tow”.
You can obviously ignore it, just as you can any of the recommended values for other vehicles but that doesn’t mean it ‘…doesn’t even have a towing limit’.

If a vehicle is not type approved for towing then you cannot purchase a type approved tow bar. This applies to all cars after a certain date (long enough ago that few cars aren’t caught by it).

If you can buy a type approved tow bar, you can legally tow. It isn’t legal to fit a tow bar that isn’t type approved.

You will not find a legit Ford Ka tow bar anywhere. Ford did not include towing on its type approval. There are one or two other cars in the same boat.

There will be a towing limit in the handbook for most cars, max gross train weight is on the car’s plate. Subtract the max GVW (also on the plate) and you get the towing limit.

If you aren’t technically allowed a towbar, then the towing limit is zero.
It does have a towing limit; the limit is an absolute one of “don’t tow”.
You can obviously ignore it, just as you can any of the recommended values for other vehicles but that doesn’t mean it ‘…doesn’t even have a towing limit’.

Now that is pedantry! I doubt anyone was in any doubt that the fabia “no towing limit” meant no towbar, not unlimited capacity!

And they’re not recommended values, they’re a legal requirement. Ignore them and you’d open yourself upto being pulled over and escorted to a weighbridge.

It’s becoming quite common, especially on small diesel ‘eco’ models, and even the not so small, I think the latest Focus falls foul of this.

So a 4 bike rack is unlikely to be legal on anything smaller than a big 4×4 or van

Really!?? My 4 bike rack is fine on my little Peugeot 207.

Really!?? My 4 bike rack is fine on my little Peugeot 207.

Is it?

Googling suggests a nose weight of 46kg for a 207.

So a Thule 4 bike ride on style rack weighs about 21kg, that leaves you 6.25kg per bike. Your bikes do not weight 6.25kg or less do they?

So even without getting more technical than that you could be done for having an unsafe load.

Then you should consider that 46kg is the nose weight, i.e. the downwards force on the towball (or the flange if that’s where it mounts). A rack will act as a lever putting quite a bit more load on the back of the car. This isn’t a structural thing, it’s a ‘lifting the front wheels of the car up and making the steering light’. A lot of cars have a separate ‘nose weight’ for bike racks, usually about 60-75% of the maximum nose weight.

Don’t shoot the messenger, but if you want to carry 4 bikes on a small car then a towbar rack isn’t likely to be legal.

But my buzzrack quattro weighs 14kg, giving me 32kg for 4 bikes, two of which are childrens bikes……..

Depends what your bikes weigh, 32kg still isn’t much for 4 bikes.

And it’s still a lot more than a sensibly reduced nose weight for bike racks. You don’t need to be over weight, it could fail for being an unsafe load.

All I’m saying is:
a) I wouldn’t do it, I don’t think it’s safe in terms of car handling.
b) At best you’re under the legal limit (but that doesn’t make it sensible), more likely you’re over it unless your bikes are very light.

As I said, two of the bikes are childrens bikes, so are quite light (6 or 7kg) I’ve never found the handling to be affected, but I wouldn’t want to load it up with four heavy downhill bikes.

For those with a Witter rack, when mounting the rack on the tow bar do you get a positive click from the mount? Just tried ours on the van and it doesn’t click – is that ok? I can’t quite work out if it’s secure or not.

grumpysculler – Member
If a vehicle is not type approved for towing then you cannot purchase a type approved tow bar. This applies to all cars after a certain date (long enough ago that few cars aren’t caught by it).

If you can buy a type approved tow bar, you can legally tow. It isn’t legal to fit a tow bar that isn’t type approved.

You will not find a legit Ford Ka tow bar anywhere. Ford did not include towing on its type approval. There are one or two other cars in the same boat.

There will be a towing limit in the handbook for most cars, max gross train weight is on the car’s plate. Subtract the max GVW (also on the plate) and you get the towing limit.

This is sort of true, but there are some special cases.

For example, none of the Renaultsport (172/182) range of mk2 clios are homologated for towing/having a towbar fitted. The rest of the range are. So a 60bhp 1.2 8v is legal for towing, a 180bhp 2.0 16V is not.

You can therefore buy a fully legal type approved towbar for a non-RS mk2 clio and since the shell is exactly the same, you can fit it straight onto an RS (although commercial fitters should of course refuse)

The legality of this is questionable of course. If you have no trailing wheels on the ground then you’re not actually towing anything. I’d argue a towbar mounted rack is equivalent to a bootlid strap on or universal roof bar mounted rack.

Did we agree on what is the best quality/value option? I’m getting the tow bar fitted next week, so will get one ordered if I decide what one to buy!!
Halfords/decathlon own ones to be avoided?