Thule ‘BackUp’ style towbar mounted boxes

Does anyone have one of these or something similar (bought, made, DIY project or otherwise)?

They look incredibly useful but the only two that Thule make are to fit a specific rack (Thule Easybase or VeloSpace). I have neither of those racks (mine is a Euroclassic G something or other). When I go camping without bikes to motoring festivals etc. having a bloody great box on the back of the car would be very useful, saying as I already have a towbar and rack.

Does anyone know of anything similar to these with a more flexible mounting arrangement or a bespoke company that could knock together a cargo style box with suitable mounting points?

I could go the route of a roofbox but that would mean buying roofbars and a roofbox – if I could buy or order some sort of box for the back for the same price it would be much more useful (and not impact fuel economy as much).

Any thoughts greatly welcomed.

Cheers

Might be best to get a couple of big army kit bags and ratchet strap them to your rack?

Buzz rack?

https://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel4_tab.php/car-specific-accessories/buzz_rack_buzzpro_p10_multi_purpose_tow_ball_platform_no_brmp01/Qx%40w%2C6M42VAwp3%40Rb%7B~cC4urewQXIs

Aye – couple of mahoosive kit bags might be the most cost effective and simple solution. That buzzrack pro looks canny but it doesn’t have a light board on it and I want to try and utilise the current rack.

Thanks

A couple of these look just the ticket in terms of size and shape, and they’re waterproof:

https://www.planetdivestore.com/articoli.php?MODE=SCHEDA_ARTICOLO&articoli_ID=11913&src=g&nazioniID=194&varianti_ID=45463&LANGUAGE=EN&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8Kzq4dHi2wIVhJ8bCh1sSQ-NEAQYAiABEgIeevD_BwE#trustpilot-reviews

As ever I seemed to have overthinked this.. Thanks for the idea Rob!

Cheers

Nick

Toolstation sell some good ratchet straps at a decent price too. I bought some and have strapped 8×4 sheets of timber to my car roof so they are pretty sturdy. Just strap them so they can’t fall backwards off the rack – should be easy to do with a bike rack.

If you are a Costco member then their ratchet straps are better for the money.

I’ve got a back up with the soft bag. It is incredibly useful. Only use it when we go for longer holidays in the van.

However be a bit careful….After using it a few times and loading it upto the gunnels I got around to reading the instructions that came with it and learned that you shouldn’t load it with more than 40kg’s of stuff, which is way below the nose weight of a T5 tow bar at 100kg’s. I would have been well overloaded, but didn’t seem to come to any harm, but have since carried the heavier stuff in the van and all the lighter stuff in on the backup.

But yes, really useful. A mate of mine has the hard box, I keep meaning to borrow it, but it is alot heavier than the soft bag so will limit how much you can carry in it. Also not sure it would fit under the bike rack.

Travel chest / trunk for the retro look.

These look great.

Can anyone think of any particular reason why you can’t strap big bags to any towbar mounted bike rack?

Good question, my only concern is that if the bag/box came off and caused some damage to people and/or property you’d probably be in some pretty hot water with your insurance company as the rack is being used for something it is not designed for. However the risk should be suitably remote (albeit still there) should you diligently strap the bags/box to the rack.

That Thule bag looks just the ticket wobbliscott. Interesting about the max weight of 40kg being way below the nose weight for the vehicle.. 3 big bikes would be well over that! But like you say you can just put the big/light stuff on the rack.

The regulations in the UK are pretty lax.  Keep lights and number plate clear and within the nose load and you should be OK.  Safe load, so a few straps.

There are a few solutions out there.

That looks great Craig! Thanks for the info on regs in UK.

Rack capacity is usually a lot less than nose weight capacity. With a trailer or caravan the weight is directly on the hitch, which is typically 20-30cm behind the bolts holding the towbar to the vehicle. On a rack, the centre of gravity of the bikes or bag could be 50cm further back, so the leverage on the towbar fixings could be tripled. The manual for my car says a bike rack is OK for up to 3 bikes, some cars only recommend two.

I suspect there’s a big safety margin in the manufacturers maximum load figures.  But I also think that the ‘weak’ link is the clamp onto the tow ball hence the lower figures when compared to a the nose weight of a trailer which does not need to utilise a clamp system.

I can stand on my Thule 9503 bike rack and it seems happy with my 82kg

Great idea though.  We do regular trips to the coast and space is always at a premium thanks to two spaniels seemingly needing at least half the boot of a big SUV.

Think I need one of these carriers in my life 🙂

Yeah, the limit is on the Thule rack and I’m sure there is a significant safety factor on it as the first couple of times I used it it would have been way overloaded, maybe upto as much as double as I put the gas BBQ in it with gas bottle plus large drive-away awning and a few other things, so easily over the 40kg limit, but no negative issues noticed. Maybe Thule are a bit conservative with their rating. I’m not too anal about it to be honest. Went to Wales the other week and it was loaded upto about 45kg and it was steady as a rock.

“Can anyone think of any particular reason why you can’t strap big bags to any towbar mounted bike rack?”

No not really, there is nothing special about the Thule back up and you can get bike rack attachments for it if you wanted to use it as a bike carrier. I guess you’d just struggle to safely load it up with stiff with the wheel troughs.

40kg’s is probably around, or not much less than,the nose weight limit is for a normal family hatchback anyway.

Another handy bonus is that when you get on camp site I just take it off the tow bar and use it as a storage box though the holiday.