Tow bar bike racks

I’ve used roof and boot mounted bike racks in the past and hated them. They caused damage to the car & bike, and it was time consuming getting the bike on/off the racks. The roof mounted rack ruined the aerodynamics of the car and the one I had made a lot of noise when a bike was loaded on top of it. With the boot rack the bike stuck out by nearly a foot at the side of the car which made driving more stressful.

Since my car got written off in a car crash I’m thinking of buying a car that comes with a tow bar and then buying a tow bar rack.

Anyone had any experience of these tow bar racks and are they hassle free compared to the other sorts of racks ?
I’d imagine they don’t cause damage to the car or bike, they’d be easy to load/unload since they are low, and there would be no aerodynamic issues. Would I be right in these assumptions or are there reasons to avoid these racks and get a van instead?

I have the Thule roll on one was only £95 or something and its fantastic. Very easy to use, tips backwards so you can still get in the back of the estate car when bikes are on. Cant recommend it highly enough

This one here

I have one. It doesn’t touch the car so can’t damage it, the bike straps to an upright hoop which can cause rubbing on the frame. If your bike is longer than the car is wide you will still have wheel sticking out like with the strap on racks and in many cases you can’t open the boot/hatch with a bike in the way. In addition it sits low so blind fools may drive into the rack whilst you are parked without a bike on it. It’s my favorite type of rack but my next vehicle will probably be one I can stick a bike in whole for security when I want to go in the pub etc.

Mate has one of them, really rates it too. Although I’d love to know where you bought that for £95.

I’ve had a Thule Euroclassic (903?) for about 6 years and it’s been faultless. Not cheap but very well made. One of the Monday Night Pub Riders brought an Atera one the other week and that looked very cleverly designed and well made too.

Although I’d love to know where you bought that for £95

Mine is a three bike Thule something or other very similar to that and was about £100 from Halfords. It’s one of Thules basic models but works perfectly well.

Had my Thule +10 years.

Once you’ve had a towbar rack, a towbar is a pre-requisite for ANY car you buy 🙂

I use an old Thule three bike ride on jobby. It hinges so you can still get in the boot if you need to, and doesn’t affect fuel consumption as far as I can tell.

I’ve got one like Scottyjohn’s one and its excellent, I’ve tried roof mounted and strap on boot mounted carriers before and I’m going to be using towbar mounted carriers from now onwards.

Easy to load, sturdy, pretty secure particularly if you loop a chain through appropriate bits of bikes and a loop ion the towbar, no (or virtually no) impact on fuel consumption, isn’t noisy when empty and doesn’t result in mud & stuff shedding off your bikes all over your car roof on the way home.

Tried them all and if I ever go back to a car will happily use them again.
The Mottez 4 bike carrier I have is built like a tank, fits in seconds and locks with a padlock rather than a key/dial.
Reminds me – need to get it back off the Ex and get it in the classifieds along with a heap of other stuff!

I’ve just bought an Atera Strada. The king of bling, perfectly suited to my Audi and my job in IT*.

I’ve had a Pendle towbar one – pile of rust and it weighed more than the car. A Maxxraxx – OK if you’re a roadie, but it sucks if you have any FS bike on it.

* Caution: Contains stereotyping and untruths.

Hth
Marko

They are like dropper posts [ except they always work]

One you use them you wont go back

Thule if you like nice rounded bits of plastic.

Aiston if you like stuff engineered like an Orange 5 and big galvanized bolts allround. Mine’s designed to hold 2 bikes, yet takes 2 bikes and my full bodyweight stood on the end (so >>3x the maximum nose weight of the car given the leverage involved). I’m more worried about the towbar breaking than the rack!

Only downside needing to leave a spanner in the car for niping up the attachment bolts. But as long as I’ve not lost that, then I can get it on the car and the bike loaded quicker than I can get the back seats down and wheels off the bike.

I’ve used a rear strap-on (ooh-er Mrs) and it scuffed the car, and hides the numberplates and lights – never felt too sturdy either. I have used roof bars – pro’s – they live on the car and don’t need to store them (Mrs Hound likes them as she can find the car in the Sainsbury’s carpark). Con’s – bit of a stretch lugging big bikes up on the roof. And now I have a big dent in the car roof where the FS escaped on the M56 the other day! (Luckily the bike was OK).
I have also used a Thule 3 bike tow bar mount for about 5 years and it’s the business for all previously stated reasons – Only downsides are needinga towbar and having somewhere to store the thing when its not fitted.

Thule and Altea seem to come out as the best, but chuffing expensive for a 4 bike one (not sure how many bikes you want to carry). I’ve just got a Buzzrack Quattro, and it seems fine. Built like a brick shit house, has all the features of the more expensive ones that are twice as expensive. Only downside seems to be its weight which, at 20kgs might be a problem if you’ve got limited nose weight. Only got the tow bar fitted last night so not tried in anger, but loaded it up with bikes with it on the floor as a test and seems to work fine with the frame only being contacted at one point and no clashing between the bikes.

Just need one that can carry 2 bikes. Do they increase the length of your car enough to make parking difficult ? Is there any problem with leaving them on all the time whether loaded or empty? I currently have nowhere viable to store one so it would have to be on all the time.

Any more recommendations for racks would be appreciated. I am aware Halfords do them and prices range from £180 to £400.
Was thinking of this for £190: http://www.halfords.com/cycling/accessories/cycle-carriers-bike-racks/thule-9403-3-bike-tow-bar-carrier
The reviews on Halfords are excellent

I wouldn’t leave it on all the time as you mentioned it does cause length issues parking etc look at the Thule folding ones that you could store in the boot of your car when not using it

Atera Strada here. 4 bike version. Absolutely love it, but can be fiddly loading four bikes. Smallest first is the answer to allow the securing arms to go over the TT.

Ahh, that’s where I think the Buzzrack has a well thought out design. It gets away with the securing arms accessing all the bikes by having 2 loops so one loop goes between the front pair of bikes and the second between the rear pair of bikes, this means the securing arms are all the same length and very short with none having to over stretch over any bikes, and gives you loads of flexibility in positioning the clamps

Ideally you should load the heaviest bike to the front, closest to the tow bar with the smallest and lightest bikes towards the rear, but I guess if you’ve got lightweight bikes it doesn’t matter – my wife bike is a crappy lump of pig iron – I wouldn’t want it loaded out on the end.

Another shot for the Thule Euroclassic
I hit mine last year and it is excellent

Sold my Thule euro classic last year to someone off here, only sold it as it was a 3 bike and wayy to big for what i need now my son isnt riding with me anymore, amazing rack but quite big ..
got a much smaller 2 bike thule now , basic but fits in the boot if needed

My buzz rack is really solid. Have a look at roofbox.co.uk

I’ve got a 3 bike Thule job, the one with the lights and wheel supports that slide out when in use. With them slid in it pops easily off the towball and straight into the boot.

Your wheels may stick out but I’ll bet they are no wider than your wing mirrors, which means they won’t hit much as long you are not turning hard.

Another Thule Euroclassic. Locks onto the ball or pop it off, fold a few bits in and drop it in the boot in seconds.

Also, tilts to allow access through tailgate.

I’ve just bought a witter zx404 4 bike rack (£280 from PF Jones). It’s great, bracket mounted rather than tow ball, i also have a cheap hang-on tow ball mounted rack that takes a couple of bikes. I will never use a roof mounted or boot mounted rack again.

Got one of these recently.

http://www.pfjones.co.uk/saffier-towbar-mounted-4-bike-cycle-carrier.html
Works really well – dead easy to fit the bikes, takes less than 2 min to get it out of the garage, unfold it and fit it to the towbar.

I’m a convert to tow bar racks, but there are a few downsides.

The biggest one is that the bikes are typically very close together compared to roof mount, and it can be a real fiddle to get bikes (particularly MTB) on without them touching each other.

Obviously they make the car longer, which can be a pain in car parks if your car is quite long to start with. Also make reversing a bit harder.

The weight limit on your tow bar can be an issue with 3 or more bikes.

Even if you only intend to carry two bikes, I’d still get a three bike one as it gives you the option of using the inner and out racks and getting more space. Also, for the sliding Atera ones the 3 bike racks slide away further.

but there are a few downsides.

The biggest one is that the bikes are typically very close together compared to roof mount, and it can be a real fiddle to get bikes (particularly MTB) on without them touching each other.

This.

It’s a pita at times getting forks/maxles etc not to touch. I keep saying I’m going to modify my 9503 by moving each carrier an inch further outboard, just not got round to it yet.

Still better than roof carriers though.

^^^Pipe lagging from B&Q^^^

I put two bikes on facing opposite ways – handlebars don’t clash that way. Saddle of one sits under the bars of the other (well with a dropper post anyway).

^^^Pipe lagging from B&Q^^^

Yes, yes, I use that (although I don’t buy anything like that from B and poo) what I’m saying is that these things seem to be primarily designed for road bikes, or whatever, certainly not big MTB’s.

God knows it’ll only get worse with wider hubs.

The biggest one is that the bikes are typically very close together compared to roof mount, and it can be a real fiddle to get bikes (particularly MTB) on without them touching each other.

This is definitely a consideration but it is worth looking at the specs of each rack to see what the distance between bikes is. I went for the Atera Strada Evo (pricey!) based on feedback on here about that, it is 19cm between bikes when others seem to be around 18cm. I’ve had 3 big bikes on there no hassles.

Atera Strada must be seven or eight years old. Backed it into a wall and my wife’s car, because I’m an idiot. Survived both times although it did need some agricultural engineering to straighten it back up. It’s completely knackered now, tow ball release doesn’t work, arms getting a bit flappy, etc but it’s soldiering on. Seems expensive when you buy it, but the quality is excellent.

Best thing (having a hatch) is being able to swing the bikes down to get in the back of the car. Worse thing is working out how to fit three funny shaped/wide bikes on it. As said above pipe lagging is your friend.

Mate just bought a buzz rack for far less money, and it seems very good indeed for the cash.

Also have a Strada here but after 6 months the thing has got stuck on the towball (release mechanism screwed).

Got it through roofbox and they have sent me a box to sent it (and towbar, thank god it was a removeable one) back so they can sort it.

Before this incident it’s been faultless – seems to bounce a little on the MWay with 4 bikes on but that’s to be expected I guess. I usually cinch the bikes to it with an additional strap but that’s just my paranoia I think.

As has been said – being able to get into the back of the car is a bonus and is usually needed for every trip

I received my new thule 927 this morning….REALLY well made. Solid but small.
Properly impressed. As per the video I can lift it one handed (just) so much easier than the old models. The wife may struggle a bit, but at least I can leave it attached (locked) and it tilts so I can get the dog in/out of boot easily. Having to wait for the 4th bike extender. Will give it a go this afternoon….just need to get a rear number plate.

Loving my Buzzrack Quattro 8)

I’ve had roof mounted racks in the past, but when you drive under a height barrier (not if, but when) it’s painful on the wallet…..

I put two bikes on facing opposite ways – handlebars don’t clash that way.

Handlebars are the easy bit. It’s the axles, forks and chainstays that I find problematic.

I went for the Atera Strada Evo (pricey!) based on feedback on here about that, it is 19cm between bikes when others seem to be around 18cm. I’ve had 3 big bikes on there no hassles.

I’ve actually got the Evo, and I found just about any combination of bikes, big or otherwise, to be a huge hassle. It’s fine once you figure out a way to do it, but getting there can be very fiddly. One of the few stupid things about the Evo is that although the wheel supports are just about far enough apart, the differences in length of the support arms is less, so it actually pulls the bikes closer together at the top.

Another issue with the Evo is that I can’t put my road bike on either of the front two spaces as the wheelbase is too short for the gap between the racks.

Had a Thule four bike one for years, prior to that we made our own in 1987 as you couldn’t buy them. It was initially a two bike one and then we just welded some more stuff onto it when the girls started. Went to the Thule one when the girls progressed to 26″ wheels as we thought the old one may be a bit dodgy for our annual Alps trip. They are expensive but when you think of the cost of four bikes on them then it needs to be safe and sturdy. Easy to get the bikes on and off. We have tried allsorts of padding between the forks/chain stays and have to say that by far the best are garden kneeling pads cut in two which can be found for around a pound. We have been using them for over 10 years and not managed to wear one out yet

If you get a tow bar rack on a small car (such as a 1.2 litre engined car) and stick a 29er with a large frame on it I’d imagine the bikes wheel sticks out at least on one side at the back ?
Is this not risky and is it really off putting when driving ? I’d imagine they’d stick out no more than the wing mirrors ?
Are tow bars not a good option if its a large bike and a small car ?