Tow bar bike racks

My good lady has a Volvo V60 and is looking to get a bike rack for carrying those beefy ebikes (after witnessing me struggling to get them in the Passat boot! 😆 )
Neither of us know the first thing about such items – do the bike racks fit any tow bar?
So we could go to a tow bar fitter and get a towbar of choice, then buy any towbar rack and it would fit..? Or are there specific types? Any recommendations? Is tow bar one word or 2?
thanks!

You need to be aware of the electrical connections, if the aren’t right e.g. 13 pin at the car and 7 pin on the rack you may need a £20 adaptor to plug in between the two.  Note a tow bar installed for this purpose is not necessarily capable of anything much heavier – check with the fitter before attaching a caravan to it.

you can find fitters that will install the tow bar and supply the rack as a bundle for cheaper than buying them separately.  I did this at GT Towing in Herts.

Enjoy the convenience.

have a look on roofbox.co.uk  They have great selection of racks and are usually the best priced

Generally yes, all racks should fit all tow balls, however there’s been a couple of people on here who have had problems fitting the latest Thule racks to some of the retractable tow balls.

For ebikes, atera do a special ramp so you can wheel the bike on and off the rack.

Recently, I got one with a quick release lockable hitch that you operate by lever and it’s a gamechanger; takes about a minute to fit or remove, including hooking up the electrics, which gives a great deal more flexibility and ease of parking than the previous one which had a bolt on hitch, which not only took time (and the occasional skinned knuckle), but was also a massive faff to align

You want to make sure you also have a tilt mechanism to allow access to the boot and since you mention e bikes, you’re probs best looking at e bike specific racks as they tend to have higher weight capacities and ramps to help with loading.

How practical are you? Fitting towbars is (usually) a doodle, usually just a case of undoing some trim clips, sliding some reinforcing bars into the chassis rails and bolting the towbar between them.  The hitch (the “towbar” you can actually see) then bolts to that.

Electrics can be tricky, some cars you can just splice into the wiring, most need a relay box, anything new-ish will possibly need some magic box of tricks from the manufacturer that tells the car to turn off reversing sensors, and controls the lights.

Note a tow bar installed for this purpose is not necessarily capable of anything much heavier – check with the fitter before attaching a caravan to it.

AFAIK they’re type approved to the vehicle.  You buy a towbar and it’s rated to match whatever the vehicle manufacturer says.  I’ve never come across one that was “bike racks only”.  Especially as it’s fairly easy to apply more weight with a bike rack than the nose weight of most trailers so a bike rack isn’t actually a lighter requirement (bit lighter than a 750kg unbraked trailer laterally though).

If it’s a modern car, i.e. last 10-15 years, odds on it’s best to go to a specialist for purchase/fitment – budget up to £1000.

Rack-wise, be careful on weight limits, bike wheelbases and ‘width’.

eBikes are big, long & heavy and don’t really fit on many (older) racks or racks aimed at road bikes and the like.

I’ve used them for +20 years, good option – currently an older Thule that I’ve had to custom for a longer wheelbase plus while it’s a 2-bike rack it’s not rated for a couple of eBikes.

Great info, thanks folks.
I like the option of going somewhere who’ll fit both. Will have a look down in Hants for someone.
I could have a go at fitting, but last I touched the electrics on a car was my Triumph Acclaim! 😳

Ive fitted my own towbar in the past but the last one I got done professionally because I wasn’t sure about all the coding of the electrics, cost about £800 done at home. I got a buzzrack designed for ebikes and its so convenient, takes a minute to fit and is solid with an ebike and a fatbike on it.

Another thing to consider is spray from wet roads combined with the airflow being sucked down behind the car means any water will be directed into exactly where ebikes do not like water. I’ve been told by a few people this is the main reason for not using a towbar rack, especially for ebikes

Will have a look down in Hants for someone.

Try Witter’s website for prices and local fitters or if you’re near the bottom of the A3 you could try Phil Taylor at Horndean.  Not necessarily the cheapest but always good service ime.

Boring bit / small bit of homework

If you are putting e-bikes on a towball rack make sure to check

1) your nose weight limit on the car

2) rack weight limit

3) any extra vehicle specific restrictions on weights of bike racks

The nose weight is the maximum vertical load through the towbar.  That’s 90kg on my current car but it could be as low as 50kg.  I’d wager the V60 is somewhere between those.

Some car manufacturers specify a lower limit for bike racks in the manual as the centre of gravity is  further back (Skoda is one iirc).

Do not forget the weight limit is bikes + rack.

It is a small amount of stuff to get your head round but it’s so much better than a roof rack imo.

Also consider detachable or not, will you really detach it? will it cause you a problem if it is always there (resale etc.)?

I sprung for a detachable one on my Yeti 7 years ago (it was £100 more) and cant remember the last time i removed it, even then i think it was just to check the mechanism worked!

Another thing to consider is spray from wet roads combined with the airflow being sucked down behind the car means any water will be directed into exactly where ebikes do not like water. I’ve been told by a few people this is the main reason for not using a towbar rack, especially for ebikes

I am struggling to envisage how this would be notably worse than a roof rack where everything is getting the full force of whatever weather is being driven through.

^^^ I have thought about this too. I guess the bike being side on, with an ebike there’s more chance of water ingress through charging points, control switches etc.  If I’m taking my Levo SL on a long wet drive on the towbar rack I tape a poly bag over these areas.

potheadFree Member
Another thing to consider is spray from wet roads combined with the airflow being sucked down behind the car means any water will be directed into exactly where ebikes do not like water. I’ve been told by a few people this is the main reason for not using a towbar rack, especially for ebikes

I have one of these to protect the motor area https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00TILIBP8?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

and one of these for the bars/controller electrics https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CCS3J1M9?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Prices seem to vary daily on Amazon but I thought it was probably a good idea to add a bit of protection.

I am struggling to envisage how this would be notably worse than a roof rack

I’ve always carried on the roof with no noticeable effect on bad weather (non-ebike)

Recently started using a tow bar carrier on a van, there was one wet day where the roads had been gritted, the bikes got completely coated in salt and the chain now has a permanent layer of surface rust!

Bike on roof, it stops raining, bike ok. Bike on tow bar, it stops raining, bike still gets hammered from wet dirty road for a while.

Tow bar carrier is very heavy as well, has to be stored somewhere and manoeuvred about, roof carrier can live permanently on the roof (hard to get an ebike up there though i guess)

Worth checking what Volvo offer. I had the Volvo fold-away option installed on my wife’s XC40. Not cheap (£850,
I think) but very neat and convenient.

I am struggling to envisage how this would be notably worse than a roof rack

Well, it’ll be worse than in my boot. Neither of us have the physical capability to lift the eebs onto a roof rack, so the towbar one is the only other option 🙂
Horndean is pretty close, so thanks for that garage-dweller 👍

I am struggling to envisage how this would be notably worse than a roof rack where everything is getting the full force of whatever weather is being driven through.

I’m not an expert but the guy on this video definitely is so watch from around 15 min and he explains his take on it

You can fit towbars yourself but it’s a pain. Get an independent fitter to supply & fit for you. My Galaxy had one supplied & fitted for £250. I just had a fixed swan-neck. Can’t be bothered with removable ones.

You can get the reversing sensors mapped out on the computer when the socket is plugged in but it’ll cost another £100+. Or you can just switch them off manually for free.

Atera & Thule make the best wheel support racks. They both tilt away from the boot but the Atera slides too. You can get little ramps to load ebikes on to the Atera Use the RoofBox Company. Great service. Don’t buy a crappy Halfords rack. Just don’t.

As said, check the vehicle noseweight. Bigger longer vehicles have higher noseweights.

The E-Bike water ingress thing is caused by droplets of water swirling round at high pressure (caused by a 70mph wind as you drive along) which force their way into your motor. It’s the same for roof or boot mounted so cover the motor with a velcro bib thingy of eBay for £13.

I’ve kinda collected bike carriers over the years. Have Atera 2-bike & 4-bike wheel support racks. A Thule Hang on 2-bike. A Mottez 5-Bike rack\trailer with a single wheel & Thule Aero Bars with 5x Pro-Ride carriers.

If I only used one it’d be the 4-bike Atera.