Whenever I read a thread that someone has inadvertently remodelled their bike/car roof/relationship with riding buddies by cheerfully decapitating an expensive frame on a car park barrier, I think "Really? What the hell were you thinking. Or not thinking".
Schadenfreude is a wonderful thing 😉 I had trailered my bike on the E-Scorpion rack that has flawlessly carried my bikes for a number of years. I pride myself on triple checking the clamps and wheel straps. Tonight tho, dunno if was the heat (the clamp felt a bit odd) or just basic stupidity but on checking my mirror some one mile from home, the bike had disappeared.
Bit of a heart rate spike. Still at least it wasn't cannonballing down the road at an ever decreasing distance smashing into innocent traffic behind me. But where was it? I performed a sporty stop which nearly had me rear ended, hit the hazards and ran round the back (at which point a second following car threatened to pin me to the trailer) only to find the bike hanging from teh wheels straps while the bar was lightly bouncing off the tarmac.
As I was in a rather precarious road position, I shoved it back vertical, secured it with the other clamp and carefully drove to a convenient lay-by to examine what I expected to be extensive damage. I was very lucky.
Other than the grip being sacrificed to the God of Tarmac and the bar being shaved by, well, quite a few MM not other damage to the bike. I was going to swap that bar for a carbon one earlier but it was too damn hot. Another bullet dodged. Taped it back u as you can see, went for the ride all good. No issues at all.
I wonder if the heat had made the rubber-y plastic in the clamp a bit loose. It doesn't look quite right. I'll have a full investigation when it's not heat-death-of-the-sun, but from now on bike is going on the inside of the trailer. I'd rather lose a rear window than a whole bike. And I'm going to add a strap. Yes I appreciate the bag is open and the cat is nowhere to be seen but I feel a lesson must be learned.
TLDR; secure your bikes properly. However many times you've done it before. Check it twice!
Could have been a whole lot worse. Those racks are great but the clamps always feel a little like they are holding by their fingertips
I appreciate the stable door is open and the horse is nowhere to be seen
FTFY
Is this a towball carrier you’re talking about? Vested interest because I’ve just bought one!
Did you find anything loose? It’s The clamp that holds the bike that came undone? The towball mounted fixing was all tight?
Yes. Twoball carrier. The frame had slipped out of the top clamp. Might have been the heat made the insert (that fits inside the clamp) feel really slippy. Maybe I just didn't tight it up enough. It's not a great fit on that bike. Now I'm going to use both clamps so I don't have a single point of failure. I went and had another looks now, lubed up the tightening mechanism, but it all looks fine. Roofbox sell spares so I might just replace it.
Towball mount is rock solid. Never had an issue with any part of the rack before, so maybe I just got complacent.
Interesting, my frame is held by a ratchet strap.
IME if the clamp is at an, even quite small, angle it can pop off. Luckily when it happened to me the bike was on the car side of the clamps so just leaned towards it.
Really like Buzzracks but would look to switch out the clamps for something that loops round the bike’s tubing if I start using it again
So no actual trailer involved then? I was confused.
Yeah mine has arms that come from the back of the rack and then 'clamp' the frame with a ratchet that loops round the frame and then into the clamp again. It then locks on with a key. So can't really come undone.
The lock doesn't help security wise as you can open it with a screwdriver, like when you get to Spain and have left the keys in France.....🙄 but it shouldn't shake loose
Ohhh, that sort of trailer clamp...
A few years ago a good mate of mine and I were sharing trailer duties on a ride out to Ben Alder bothy. I'm not sure if I'd failed to properly secure the clamp or if the wheel was just beaten out by the relentless hits from successive water bars but it was pretty funny at the time. Especially how far she got before realising something was amiss!
I have replaced the clamps on my Thule towbar rack with the Eufab strap type ones. Mainly cos I never trust the claw style ones even though they are generally solid they always look like they are at a funny angle and one pothole would see them lose grip. The Eufab ones also seem kinder to carbon frames so you're not clamping down on the thin edge of a carbon top tube
So no actual trailer involved then? I was confused.
Yes. Buzzrack E-Scorpion (I think), two bike tow bar mounted rack. Wheels stayed attached by the three ratchet type straps (two front, one rear), clamp on frame stopped clamping on frame so bike went horizontal.
@muggomagic - they look like the ones on my old Atera racks. Might be a better option. Also from today I'm going to use the inner of the two placements. Rather lose a rear window than a whole bike!
Yeah those EUFAB ones look ideal - saved them for later
I also use an old kryptonite coil cable padlock for a bit of extra security after seeing videos of scallies trying to nick bikes off of racks in traffic so I always hope if the clamp does fail it'll at least stop the bike being dragged along the road until I can sort it.
Eufab strap type ones.
they are great, I have a EUFAB 2 bike towbar rack, it is sold by BMW/Mini as OEM, though you get detachable little stickers that go with the brand that you buy. I got it when I had an i4 which had a very shallow towball, which didn’t work with Thule racks.
Frustratingly the locking mechanism on the carrier itself fell out of it after a year or so however when I raised it with the BMW dealer they warrantied the whole carrier and rack, with the new one having an improved locking barrel.
I always use a ratchet tie down strap over the bikes on my Thule rack after a similar incident. They haven’t moved at all since doing this.
TBF to Buzzrack, they are very clear that you should also use the great big strap that they give you with the rack
TBF to Buzzrack, they are very clear that you should also use the great big strap that they give you with the rack
I'm a bloke, I never read that 🙂 I do have the strap tho, so that might be my short terms solution.
Bit of a heart rate spike. Still at least it wasn't cannonballing down the road at an ever decreasing distance smashing into innocent traffic behind me. But where was it? I performed a sporty stop which nearly had me rear ended, hit the hazards and ran round the back (at which point a second following car threatened to pin me to the trailer) only to find the bike hanging from teh wheels straps while the bar was lightly bouncing off the tarmac.
So the bike was hanging off the carrier, dragging along the ground and the car behind was *still* surprised you stopped swiftly?
Honestly there are some right ****ing nuggets driving about.
I'm a bloke, I never read that 🙂 I do have the strap tho, so that might be my short terms solution.
Was a pretty picture iirc. There is however, a chance that my strap also looks suspiciously new…
I've got a Buzzrack Hornet and I use some of these velcro straps to give additional security by strapping one each side of the Hornet central upright frame to the crossbar of my bikes. The straps are pretty solid.
I've got a Buzzrack Hornet and I use some of these velcro straps to give additional security by strapping one each side of the Hornet central upright frame to the crossbar of my bikes. The straps are pretty solid.
I should add that on Amazon they are called "Bike Rack Straps, 4-Pack Trilancer"
I haven't put the Amazon link as they are something I've previously ordered and it appeared that the link was linking to my Amazon account.
@multi21 - I'd not really thought about that in my moment of panic, you'd have thought I'd get a flash rather than a near rear end and much hooting!
Over years of carrying my bikes, and customers bikes, on a Thule rack, the same happened to me with my fatbike. I’d been travelling bumpy roads and the locked clamp had enough of a gap for it to bounce off the top tube. I now make sure that the gap in the closed clamp is less than the diameter of the top tube. I was lucky that just the Hope bar plug was ground down - and very hot!
Definitely a bit of road rash. Still they'll make a lovely set of 760mm spares with some hacksaw action 🙂
