Tow bar bike racks

I have a pug 206 and they dont stick out that far. A bit but as you note no more than wing mirrors

As for off putting you dont even notice they are there

Regarding getting several bikes on, notice some of the racks pictured have wheel supports like baskets that don’t allow sideways adjustment of bikes.

This probably makes it harder, on my Thule you can roll each bike a few inches left or right which is vital as some times you only need 20mm to avoid a brake lever from going through a saddle, or to offset QRs s tad.

Are there any that don’t require clamps going into the top tubes?
Like just wheel support clamps, or like sideways proride ones?
My Thule ones top tube clamps are lower than the top tubes, requiring threading the clamps through the main triangle of the frames, getting increasingly difficult with low stand over bikes and piggy back shocks

Are there any that don’t require clamps going into the top tubes?
Like just wheel support clamps, or like sideways proride ones?
My Thule ones top tube clamps are lower than the top tubes, requiring threading the clamps through the main triangle of the frames, getting increasingly difficult with low stand over bikes and piggy back shocks

I’ve clamped my Atera ones onto downtubes and seatubes on occasion for just this reason. Seems to me that the clamps are more to stabilise rather than being critical to actually holding them to the rack, the wheel straps seem pretty good on their own at doing that.

Might not be how it’s designed necessarily but seems fine to me and sturdy enough on bumpy borders roads in excess of the speed limit.

To protect against chaffing 😯
Old knackered bike tyres cut in to 6in lengths, punch a hole through and add a reusable zip tie.

I use plumbers pipe lagging, works perfectly for me.

grannyjone-

Small cars- I drive a Skoda Fabia. It’s very narrow and the bikes do stick out of the side, but not much (a tiny bit more than the wing mirrors). This is only a problem for me when the car is in our garage- the door is narrower than a bike is long. Driving normally it’s not a problem. In fact having a towbar rack has meant I can specifically stick to smaller cars, which I prefer.

Economy- I notice a marginal drop in economy (around 8%) with mine, presumably because of the extra width.

2 bike racks- These are a bit of a waste of time. If you get a 3 bike rack you can mount the bikes at either end so they’re miles from each other and no touching can occur. Then if you need to carry a third bike every once in a while you’ve got capacity.

Cars with towbars- It’s about £150-200 to get a towbar fitted at one of the places you take your car to (as opposed to a mobile fitter). I’d not limit your car choice to cars with towbars- pick the right car and if it has a towbar, great, if not it’s (in the grand scheme of a car purchase) not that much to have one added.

I have the Thule you linked to, as does everyone I regularly ride with who has a towbar rack. I struggle to see the point of the more expensive ones, it’s excellent. Prices seem to have risen sharply- 2 years ago mine was £110 from Halfords. Maybe hold out for one of Halfords money off everything weekends?

I have used a Pendle 3 bike heavy duty ball mount wheel support rack for more than 10 years. Pendle are like the “hope” of bike racks. All metal no gimmicky plastick. Stainless screws and spare parts and adapters always available if you change cars or bikes. My rack fits everything I have needed to carry from 7yr olds bikes to full on DH rigs . Have regularly driven to the Alps and highlands with it. No need for foam or pads between bikes as there are adjustable vertical poles that rigidly hold the bike and sop it rubbing against others. Pendle racks are infinitely adjustable so you can customise to whatever you want to carry.

Are there any that don’t require clamps going into the top tubes?

The basic Thule 9503 doesn’t have clamps but padded ‘hoops’ that lift up between the bikes & you strap them to these.

You can set them at any angle – the wheel holders are moveable too so you can offset bikes to avoid parts touching/clashing.

Are there any that don’t require clamps going into the top tubes?

Clamped, but from posts not arms.

Aiston 4×4 2 bike rack, it’s almost as long as the standard 3 bike rack to clear a rear mounted spare tyre (or in my case a people carrier boot and 800mm bars!). Bonus it’s made by a man in a shed in Newcastle, so spares are cheap and custom bits easy, I’ve got some 4″ wide wheel supports for the fat bike!

SAM_0162 by thisisnotaspoon[/url], on Flickr

SAM_0163 by thisisnotaspoon[/url], on Flickr

The quatrro buzzrack gets around the issue of passing clamps through the frame of the bikes mounted at the front of the rack by having loops between the front and rear pairs of bikes, so you have a very short arm with a clamp on it and no need to pass the arm through or over any of the bikes. It gives you loads of flexibiltiy to clamp on the top tube, seat tube or down tube, whichever is most convenient. It also gives you the felxibility to mount the bike further forward or rearwards (relative to the bike) on the tyre troughs to avoid clashes with pedals, chain stay’s, axels etc. – though you it is always going to be close, but when fully mounted and attached there is not much waggling of the bikes. I’d still use some paddin on certain areas though.

If carrying 4 bikes on a long distance trip, take off the pedals and it’s much simpler. Also, drop any dropper posts, or take out seat posts.

Yep i’ve got one on my 5 series, it came with the car. It’s a BMW own job and it’s the most over engineered bike rack ive seen in my life, it has a base plate that clamps to the tow ball, which uses a big f off lever to clamp it on (no spannering) – then the rack itself plops on as is locked on by some lockable things. It weighs an effing ton, so i would think the Thule and Altea ones are lighter and just as good. It’s typical BMW own brand – expensive (i don’t pay though), very well built, but heavy.

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.

If you have nowhere to store a rack then surely you’d be better off with a decent roof system that stays on ? I have the current Thule 591’s with wing bars and they havent been off my car since it fitted them, over 2 yrs ago (bar an annual lube and service) They reduce economy a smidge when no bikes on roof, maybe 5% or something (biggish estate car) and make no noise when empty.

I’d have no issue with leaving a towbar rack on all the time if it doesn’t deny access to the boot – the only issue is theft. Thieving is extremely high in my area. I live in Hag Fold, Atherton and work at Manchester Piccadilly – both areas which are exceptionally high in thieving.

Don’t like roof bars – had them before my car got written off and I hated them. Keen not to go down the same path again.

Firstly the hassle of getting the bike up and down from them, especially in Winter when its freezing and I just want to get on with it.
Secondly the noise, when loaded with a bike, is considerable, especially when turning around corners.
The safety is not great and chance of driving through a low barrier and destroying the bike.
The fuel economy is a problem and even a 5% reduction could end up costing me £75 per year, or £750 over ten years just on wasted fuel.
Finally, there is the problem that when you change your car, the roof bars become useless and cannot be fitted to the next car unless it is exactly the same type of car. So then it becomes a case of purchasing another set of roof bars every time I change cars.

To those who said the wheel doesn’t stick out too much with a towbar rack on a smaller car – is this with 29ers size large loaded on the rack ?

I have had 56cm and 58 cm road bikes and XL 26 ers on mine and they dont overhang past wing mirrors
Not sure how much bigger than a raad bike a 29 er wheel base is if any.

I would not want to leave a tow bar rack on all the time unless it folded up so that it was flush ish with the rear tailgate.

I doubt it would make any real issue in use but the Thule ones only weigh 12 kg and fold so you must have some space for it.

Are there any that don’t require clamps going into the top tubes?

The Twinny racks clamp onto the cranks, as well as the wheels… However they don’t seem to be available in the UK anymore…

Thule Euroclassic here. Only had it six months but have borrowed the same model from mates in the past for numerous alps trips, both road and MTB.

I think it is superb. Rock solid and locks on the tow bar. I’ve also borrowed the lighter Thule version pictured above and those two racks are useless. It’s really difficult to secure your bike to something that has a free range of movement across 180 degrees.

The Euroclassic handles three bikes well (alpine freeride/DH stylie bikes). Ok so it’s a bit of a Tetris-like challenge to get them on the rack but they fit, and padding etc protects them from rubbing.

I’ve done four bikes too but four big bikes, four adults plus a weeks MTB luggage is too much IMHO (I’m running a Volvo V70).

According to another post on here you’re allowed 30cm overhang each side from the body- you should be fine. For reference on my car the bike would have to be 7.5ft long to overhang too much.

I would really recommend taking it off. Mine hangs up in the garage and takes up practically no space, as much as a boot rack. It takes in the region of 30 seconds to put it on the car.

I don’t find the arms on the 9403 useless- you strap you bike to it then do the wheel straps and it’s pretty solid.

Firstly the hassle of getting the bike up and down from them, especially in Winter when its freezing and I just want to get on with it.
Secondly the noise, when loaded with a bike, is considerable, especially when turning around corners.
The safety is not great and chance of driving through a low barrier and destroying the bike.
The fuel economy is a problem and even a 5% reduction could end up costing me £75 per year, or £750 over ten years just on wasted fuel.
Finally, there is the problem that when you change your car, the roof bars become useless and cannot be fitted to the next car unless it is exactly the same type of car. So then it becomes a case of purchasing another set of roof bars every time I change cars.

Ok, i realise you don’t want roof bars, fair enough. but a few oddities in the above when comparing pro’s and con’s to a permanently fitted towbar one :

1 – when it’s freezing cold in winter it’s argaubly quicker to do up to 2 wheel straps and downtube ratchet on a 591 than a towbar rack
2 – noise shouldn’t be considerable and if it gets louder going round corners your rack or car is broken
3 – every bit as safe as a towbar rack if used properly
4 – yes, you could drive through a barrier and destroy the bike on the roof. On the flip side, if your bike is on the roof it’s not going to take a knock when someone drives into the back of your car, or you reverse into something, aand it wont get covered in salt and road grime
5 – fuel economy – fair point 🙂
6 – yes when you change cars you’d need a new footpack, at cost around £100 maybe. If you are using a towbar rack you’d need a towbar and electrics fitted to new car though, probably twice the price of footpack

anyway, horses for courses I guess 🙂

If you’ve got a relatively new car the towbar fitting can cost more than you’d think as you need a vehicle specific kit. It was around £400 for my Hyundai.

I’m looking for one as well. Best value I’ve found so far seems to be a Thule EuroRide 940 from bike-discount.de for £148. Smallish and light and locks on.

Is the main cost associated with towbars the cost of getting them fitted ?
The towbars themselves don’t seem too expensive.

I’m buying a Volkswagen Golf and will need to get a towbar fitted to it, been on Towbar Express website and found the cheapest towbar + fitting option in my area (Greater Manchester) for that type of car was an expensive £277… Anyone know if its possible to get it cheaper?

Suppose £277 plus £200 for a tow bar rack is still cheaper than having a roof mounted rack and it costing an extra £750+ in fuel over 5 years (that’s assuming a 5% reduction in MPG… Halfords quoted 30% but even I find that hard to believe!).

Boot racks not a good option as they damage the car – seem like a cheap option but can turn out very expensive! I had a car written off in an accident & the insurance paid me what the car was worth… Due to the scratches and damage that the boot rack had done, they took off £450 off the payment!

Tow bars seem to be the only viable option… Though they have the most expensive up-front costs, in the long run they might actually be the cheapest. They also appear to cause the least amount of faff out of the 3 options.

Don’t think I’d be capable of fitting a tow bar myself though as I’m really bad with DIY & Mechanics. Although I know an engineer who is really good, might see if he can fit it.

Cars with towbars- It’s about £150-200 to get a towbar fitted at one of the places you take your car to (as opposed to a mobile fitter). I’d not limit your car choice to cars with towbars- pick the right car and if it has a towbar, great, if not it’s (in the grand scheme of a car purchase) not that much to have one added.

I’m looking at tow bar prices + fitting.

Is the £150-£200 you quote include both the tow bar + the fitting ?

If so, what sort of places can you get it for that price?

Car is a 7 year old VW Golf so certainly not the most expensive type to get one fitted.

As mentioned above Towbar Express are a team of mobile fitters and they quoted £277 for towbar + fitting!
I’d really rather not pay that much!

I’m buying a Volkswagen Golf and will need to get a towbar fitted to it, been on Towbar Express website and found the cheapest towbar + fitting option in my area (Greater Manchester) for that type of car was an expensive £277… Anyone know if its possible to get it cheaper?

Mine was about £90 DIY, if youre competent with a torque wrench it only takes an afternoon (if that), the electrics take longer than the mechanical bits (get a relay kit, they’re £20 and avoid the risk of frying the ECU, no need for a vehicle specific wiring usually, might make life easier if it means just plugging in a socket if it is an option though).

You don’t necessarily need a vehicle specific kit for your tow bar electrics. I just got a universal kit and the only difference apart from the cost (about £60 for the universal kit vs. £200 for the proper one + another £40 for Ford to re-programme) is that I have to manually turn off the rear parking sensors when I have the towbar rack on or if I was towing a trailer or caravan. All the proper kits do is allow the cars ‘Towing’ mode to be utilised where it automatically disengages rear parking sensors and makes changes to traction control settings etc. All a bit unnecessary I think, so I just went with a Universal kit. I think I got my tower fitted for about £315 all in for a removable swan neck bar with 7-pin electrics – from PF Jones. Its their own branded tow bar which is supplied by Whitter and is exactly the same as the proper Whitter one.

Fitted mine myself and the electrics cost me £35 for a second hand tow bar and kit.
No fancy electrics/traction control to worry about though

Just had a quote from Bolton Towbars for tow bar + fitting at £220 so unless I can find a cheaper quote anywhere else I’ll be going with these.

Anyone tried one of these or seen in flesh?

http://www.witter-towbars.co.uk/cycle_carriers/buyCycleCarrier.php?partNo=ZX504#

Retail price is expensive but various retailers are much cheaper, close to atera price point and its a proper 4 bike rack rather than a 3 + adaptor, folds vertical when parked
Thoughts?

That is expensive, and heavy!

I have the Atera Strada, partially because with 4 bikes it was close to the cars max nose weight.
The Atera was 14kg IIRC, that Witter is 23kg!

So being generous and saying 4x12kg bikes plus the 23kg is 71kg, which with a number of cars having a max nose weight of 75kg its a bit close on numbers but probably over when you take the cantilever effect into consideration. Add in a DH or enduro bike (or a BSO) and you could end up over 75kg.

I have the Witter ZX404 which is flange mounted rather than tow ball mounted. I paid £280 from PF Jones. Only had it a couple of months but used it a few times and am getting used to it. I use it for 2 adults and 2 kids bikes.

I love the tilting mechanism where you just stick your foot on the plate and lower the bikes down.

Mine seems pretty stable, but like I said mine is flange mounted rather then tow ball so you need to fit a permanent bracket. Depends what type of tow bar you have.

Will be taking 4 bikes to the pyrenees on it in August, can’t wait.

Rather than start a new thread..

Will be having a towbar fitted to my car next week but am undecided on which carrier to buy. My Trance and DH bike (and quite of few of my mates bikes) have wheelbases which exceed 1200mm and coupled with wide frames, the only option is the Thule Europower. Unless anyone has any other suggestions?

What andermt said, and on some cars the limit is 50kg. And the cantilever effect of a bike rack is quite significant, whereas a trailer is just pushing down with the nose weight a bike rack (especially a 4 bike rack) is getting on for half the wheelbase of a small car!.

With two 30lb bikes the handling is suitably different to make me not want to throw it around let alone a longer rack and double the weight.

And it won’t take a fat-bike :-p

20150609_183305 by thisisnotaspoon[/url], on Flickr

[bungee straps just for peace of mind and were to hand, I left them off on the return trip as the bike’s going nowhere with the toptube hook lowered]

Good point on nose weight, checked hand book 100kg for trailers and it lists bike racks at 74kg 300mm from center of ball, vw Tiguan with factory tow bar, so would be well within limits

Will be having a towbar fitted to my car next week but am undecided on which carrier to buy. My Trance and DH bike (and quite of few of my mates bikes) have wheelbases which exceed 1200mm and coupled with wide frames, the only option is the Thule Europower. Unless anyone has any other suggestions?

Give Bryan Aiston (http://www.aistoncycleracks.co.uk) a call if you think it’s out of the ordinary, he’s really helpful, I wanted a rack that would take fat bike tyres and have clearance for 800mm bars on a people carrier (i.e. the centre of the first rack had to be at least 400mm from the back of the car). See the pic 2 posts up there —–^

It’s not pretty, but it is brilliantly simple, incredibly strong and has zero plastic parts (apart from some hose pipe padding on the hooks).

Have seen the aistoracks, thanks for the suggestion. However, am after a rack that tilts to allow access to the boot.

If you don’t mind spending £500+ then the Atera seems the best to me – my bro’s got one and loves it. I didn’t want to spend that much as I’ll only use mine infrequently so didn’t want to drop anywhere near £500 on a 4-bike rack. So I eventually got the Buzzrack Quattro, and its brill. There are only 2 downsides – the tilt mechanism is useless with an SMax as it doesn’t tilt far enough to allow the tailgate to open – but that’s not a problem for me. Also it is quite heavy at 20kg’s, but again, I have plenty of noseweight capacity on an SMax. But tilting mechanism aside, functionally it is as good as any rack at any price – and I actually think the configuration of the swinging arms that clamp onto the bikes is better than any other rack i’ve seen as it gets around the issue of having a long one that has to reach over or through 3 bikes to get to the 4th. My brother has to load his bikes from the smallest inboard to the largest outboard on his atera, which is not ideal as you want hte heavier bikes further towards the towbar.

So being generous and saying 4x12kg bikes plus the 23kg is 71kg, which with a number of cars having a max nose weight of 75kg its a bit close on numbers but probably over when you take the cantilever effect into consideration

There is no cantilever effect to NOSE weight and if you dont hit the weight limit you dont hit the weight limit
I suspect manufacturers build it a touch of tolerance so that 75.1 kg does not lead to a catastrophic failure for example.
My friend has certainly exceeded his in a tiny car and it drove fine.

That said i would not put a 4 bike rack on a small car.