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Quite along rambling post but I am looking for some advice/help:
So a friend of mine is looking for a bike rack with some very specific requirements and I am sure someone on here will be able to help.
- she has 2 kids bikes and hers to carry on the car
- too short for a roof rack and not happy to try it
- needs full access to the boot when bikes are on car
This last bit is the tricky one but as she has to carry a wheel chair in the boot and be able to access it during any journey and preferably without having to take off all the bikes.
Her car is a Quashquai so has a high boot with the light clusters limiting access to the boot, and the wheel chair is approx 1/2 the width of the boot.
I am thinking tow ball mounted but it would need to go quite flat and/or swing to the side
It may be that it is too much to ask or may cost too much to be viable for the 2 or 3 times a year that the wheelchair and 3 bikes will all need to be carried at once (holidays and high days)
The Atera Strada racks slide away from the boot.
The Thule ones only tilt.
I've tried neither but looking at the Strada for us as I want good boot access on an estate with 3/4 bikes out back.
I have the Atera Strada and boot access is excellent.
Atera strada DL will give you everything you need, bonus is it's pretty light for fitting and moving around if she's a smaller lady.
Your particular issue may be manhandling the wheelchair out of the boot - the strada slides out of the way well but it's not going to be the easiest of items to pull out. And unless the towbar is already there it's going to be £600 minimum I reckon to fit towbar, electrics, rack etc.
As Nick say's, If she needs to access the boot to pull out a wheel chair then i'm not sure any tow bar mounted rack will do. My brother has an Atera and although it slides out away from the car on a sort of curved rail, rather than just tilting it doesn't give unfettered access to the boot, not enough to man-handle a wheelchair out of. You'll be stood to one side and have to lift it out at an angle, then lift it high to turn and clear the rack and bikes if bikes are on the rack.
One option is the Thule Easyfold. You can get a 3-bike version and when the bikes are off the rack the rack folds in two so you might be able to access half the boot to get the wheelchair in and out.
The only other option if a roof racks are out is a tow bar rack that can take the bikes and the wheelchair, if you don't mind the wheel chair not being in the boot, maybe the Thule Easybase with some attachments - you can get bike attachments for it but not sure if there is anything for the wheelchair?
The best option is probably the Thule ClipOnHigh tailgate mounted rack which clips onto the tailgate and means you can open the tailgate with bikes on BUT they only seem to do a 2 bike version of that and the tailgate won't stay open on its own with the bikes loaded - it would have to be held open. They do a similar 3-bike version but does't look like its intended to be opened with bikes loaded, but tailgate can be opened with the rack mounted, so bikes would have to come off to open the tailgate to get the wheelchair out but you'd have full unfettered access.
that's the catch with these things. There is always a compromise to be made, you just need to decide where you are prepared to make the compromise.
Kids bikes inside car, wheelchair on outside of bike rack with cover?
A good solution here would be a very small trailer, ideally an axle, with the bikes mounted parallel to the axle, and a short tow hitch. That would be easy to detach quickly, and store when not in use.