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After today up at the Surrey Hills - I realise I need to carry my bike ( and others) outside of the car.
I have a tow bar fitted ( on a BMW). Would like to carry 3 bikes if possible ...
What are the suggestions from the massive?
I have an Atera, friends have Thule ones and I find them better to use.
I and friends have had great service from https://www.roofbox.co.uk/
Mine is maybe 5 or 6 years old now, and struggles with my wife’s new longer mtb. Some of the new Thule ones deal with longer wheelbases - but new Atera’s may as well. When I and my daughter get new longer bikes I’ll get a new rack, and if the choice was the same as it is today I’d go for the XT 939.
I have had a few, all from roofbox as above. Mt current Yakima justclick is better in use than any of the Thule or Atera ones I tried before. Very easy on off, wide enough for long 29er ebikes
My concern is I have a long shot Cotic in XL - so the wheel base is long ...
will it be too long for older Tules like the 927?
Roofbox will tell you the maximum wheelbase for each rack. It’s conservative but a good guide.
Have a Halfords advanced 3 bike here - has been very good. Superbly stable and secure. Takes a large g170 and XL Shan with no probs, though admittedly these may not be the longest bikes around.
Buzzrack scorpion here, it’s a 2 bike version, tilting so i can open the rear tailgate. We got it from roofbox (linked above) can’t fault it, or roofbox.
thanks
I found a Buzzrack Scorpion on Facebook marketplace and it does the job. It's a dangling style that holds the top tube so wheelbase is irrelevant.
Thule for me, used for ten years before I retired as a mechanic. It was never defeated by bike style or size and the clamp arms can be adjusted for different frame sizes to clamp on seat tubes or top tubes. If a part fails, key is lost, there is back up through the spares department. Not needed it myself but have good feedback from customers. Still in use for my own bikes!
Buzzrack buffalo here- recent convert after using roof bars for years.
We have a buzzrack easy 4 which my medium Flaremax fits on fine. Not sure how much longer an XL cotic is, but very happy with the rack.
+1 for Yakima. Better than Altera and Thule ones I've owned and used in the past.
I use a buzz rack e-scorpion which is only 2 bikes but excellent. Folding is handy too.
However, I have massive bikes due to being very tall, pro tip is spin the bars 180 degrees as it shortens the wheelbase a fair bit.
+1 for Yakima. Better than Altera and Thule ones I’ve owned and used in the past.
but according to Roofbox they can only fit a certain ball fitting - which I am not sure my electric tow ball on a BMW is.
My concern is I have a long shot Cotic in XL – so the wheel base is long …
will it be too long for older Tules like the 927?
Yes.
I've a Flaremax with a -2 headset, so also long - mine hangs off both sides even though I've bastardised it to extend the wheel supports. About 150mm too short, if not 200mm.
Also there's not enough of a gap between the bikes to easily get them on - so I've shortened (50mm) the shorter of the two top-tube clamps to lean the inner bike in.
Luckily mine normally runs 'solo' so I'm in no rush of changing it.
Find a better product.
After today up at the Surrey Hills – I realise I need to carry my bike ( and others) outside of the car.
I have a tow bar fitted ( on a BMW). Would like to carry 3 bikes if possible …
What are the suggestions from the massive?
Have you checked what your tow bar weight limit is? This could limit the number of bikes you can carry.
I've got a Thule Velospace XT and it's been brilliant for 3 or 4 bikes although it is big and heavy. It fits my XL Giant Reign which has a long wheel base, you just need to get the longer Thule straps.
However, I have massive bikes due to being very tall, pro tip is spin the bars 180 degrees as it shortens the wheelbase a fair bit.
That is a top tip, thanks!
Not sure how up to date this is, but finally found a decent reference document for nose weight limits: