Tow bar mounted bike carrier with trailer

I’m looking for a tow bar rack that will fit to the flange and still allow use of the tow bar for a trailer.
Also needs to pivot to allow access to the boot and needs to hold 2 adult bikes( 1 fs) and two medium kids bikes.

I’ve had a look but the pivot ones seem to be attached to the ball, any recommendations or ideas?

Oh and it needs to be relatively cheap

A trailer and rack at same time?

I would be concerned about nose weight and clearance around corners or angle changes.

I also am not sure other than buzzrack style things if any flange racks tilt.

Can you not do bikes on roof or on trailer?

It’s only a small erde trailer, it won’t take a rack fitted to it. I’ve got two roof mounted carriers and a long thin roof box. Just looking at options for now, a bigger trailer would be ideal but for what I would want, it gets very expensive for something used 4-5 times a year

Sounds like you need a van/camper….

As with out and about I’d agree that it doesn’t sound the best set up. Especially if you’re loading up the roof too.

Our Thule 4-bike is over 1m extended from rear of the car – how long is the drawbar on the Erde?

Can you not tie or bolt a pair of roof bars to the Erde, with bike carriers on?

I picked up a MaxxRaxx which fits to the flange, leaving the towball free for anything else.

Got it for £40 off eBay – new, they’re a bit pricier.

Job jobbed.

This is what you want

But you better mind that nose weight. 12kg for the rack, you’ll have a bit from the trailer (it might be small, but could easily still be 10-20 kg). Doesn’t leave a lot for bikes if you are on a standard car with about 75 kg limit.

I’ve got one of these, https://www.pfjones.co.uk/witter-zx404-towbar-mounted-4-bike-cycle-carrier.html

it’s flange mounted and tilts and carrys the right amount of bikes. But i don’t think you’d be able to use a trailer at the same time.

Surely you won’t be able to go round a corner with a 2-bike rack and a trailer?

Roof all the way for me

Generated from my Apple iPhone using tools.rackonly.com

Witter make one for use with a trailer, it’s mounted very high so it completely clears the draw bar, but doesn’t tilt. I’m not too concerned about weight on the tow ball, it’s rated at 90kg but it would easily take 5 times that, I fitted it myself.
I could still put the adult bikes on the roof and just the kids on the back.

Funkymonkey

Reading your last post I think you might possibly have missed the point of the nose weight limit. It’s not the structural integrity of the tow bar, it’s the balance of the car.

The weight pushing down through the towbar is behind the rear axle. It’s therefore acting as a lever around that point and changing the weight distribution of the car. If it’s too heavy on nose weight this makes the front end of the car go light and affects steering and braking (all cars) and traction (front wheel and four wheel drive).

You have to be extra careful with bike racks and towbar nose weight limits because the weight is applied over a distance that extends out from the tow ball location. So the effective limit is lower due to the leverage.

You risk prosecution and invalidating insurance by breaking that nose limit.

Having said all that, 2*kids bikes and a light trailer might just fit inside the limit.
I can’t imagine 4 bikes and a properly loaded trailer would ever comply.

what i found before driving off years ago

it’s rated at 90kg but it would easily take 5 times that, I fitted it myself.

its irrelevant who fitted it and the test is there for reasons explained above.
Overloading the towbar and this is not a good idea . Personally i dont think the A frame on your small trailer will be long enough to clear hitting the bikes unless you think the rack high enough for the bike wheels, when hung, to be over the top of its roof

roof bars on the trailer?

it’s rated at 90kg but it would easily take 5 times that, I fitted it myself.

Did you build your house too? If not you should knock it down and rebuild it yourself just to make sure it’ll stay up.

Nose weight isn’t what you think it is.

As above – I can feel the weight / swing of the rack with four bikes on when driving the Galaxy, far more than when it is a boot full of stuff or people. It is about car handling, suspension limits etc, not about how well you bolted it on.

That last pic is the best solution IMO, short of a van for the 6 of you and 6 bikes…

Bolt a tow ball to the inside face of a reinforced trailer head board and mount a rack on that so it sits above the trailer.

I (and you OP) so need one of these kind of things:

Seen a few when travelling back from the Alps through France that have a towbar rack on the back of the trailer but they have never looked very stable.

Matt-oab’s post needs a like button!

This is still my favourite trailer combo – Not mine by the way

Combo by Dave Aspinall[/url], on Flickr