Hi,

Does anyone have experience of using a towbar mounted bike rack on a barn door VW T5?

Am looking at the Thule Rideon or possibly Thule Euroclassic G5, but don’t know whether there’s sufficient clearance between the back of the van & bike handlebars – or whether handlebars would need to be slackened off & twisted to fit. Obviously when mounted on a car the slope of the back window will give a bit more clearance than on a van. Any advice much appreciated.

Thanks.

Got a T4 with barn doors and use a Thule 9403 with no problems.

I had a t5 with a tailgate and used and aiston towbar rack without any problems. http://www.aistoncycleracks.co.uk I had pendle and thule before this and would never go back.

I have got the Pendle tow bar 2 bike rack on mine and its great, a top tip tho, is put a tennis ball(with a split in it) over the end of the handlebars, i do this with bikes inside the van too, sometimes even putting a ball over spud pedals to save chainstays and downtubes.

Thanks guys.

i imported a thule swingout rack from jensons for my barndoor t5, youlll need to import an american reciever also or get someone to weld a 2 ” square tube on to your exsisting tow bar. its not cheap but i totally solves the problem. ican carry 3 bikes easily and use my rear doors whilst still having the bikes locked up
if your interested i could post some photos

I’ve got a Thule Euroclassic on a Caddy. Bars touch back window on the odd bump, a rag wrapped round the end stops any damage.

9503 on barn door t5 here. Mine doesn’t touch, although my bars are only 620mm wide.