Tow bar bike racks

3 bikes on a 9503: Makes no difference whatsoever to my fuel comsumption (on last trip in diesel Passat it was getting 52mpg whilst being driven at or just above the National Speedlimit!)

I've just got one of these and it as good as the £350 thule one.
BUZZ RACK

Thule 9503 here, used it with a swan neck towball and a flange type towball, no issues with either. Paid £95 for mine new and delivered from eBay. Never noticed any difference to fuel economy, like I did when I was roof mounting them. I always give the towball a wipe over with abit of petrol/alcohol to get any grease off and it's always been solid. Car never gets left unattended when we stop so not fussed about it being locking or not. Excellent rack for the money

Regards fuel economy, I go from 50mpg to about 45mpg ish in my Passat saloon. I suspect the effect would be much less if I had an estate or something with a high back that they could nestle behind ie a van.

Re security – being on the back of the car you could lock them through something attached to the towbar or the towing eyelet or something quite easily.

My concern is the way these racks seem to rely on gripping the tow ball. I would have thought that there is a lot of scope for the rack to tilt back on the ball with the weight of the bikes. Is this ever a problem? A 45kg weight limit is also not enough for 3 dh bikes, even light ones…

Don't worry about that, I used to have the Thule 9503 and when it was clamped I could stand on the end of the rack and it didn't budge (I weigh circa 90kg) so I'd be very surprised if 3 DH bikes would cause the Thule clamping mechanism to fail. My suspension did sag quite a lot when I had 3 people + luggage, a full tank of fuel and 3 full suss bikes hanging off the tow bar though…

The risk with the thule clamping system is side-to-side movement though. It has a sort of collar thing that is designed to prevent it moving down – but it still relies on clamping force to stop side-to-side movement. They say you have to clean the ball of any grease before using it for this reason.

I have a Thule "cheapie" from Halfords. It cost £140 ish and holds 3 bikes. I've had it for a couple of years now and it is ACE. Easy to fit and stashes easily in the boot when I'm riding. On my wife's Suzuki SX4 I didn't notice a change in fuel consumption but on my Honda Civic there is a big difference. Car shape must be a factor as to how much the economy is affected. As for security, I just use normal bike locks to secure the bikes to the rack. My tow ball does have an anchor if I wanted to lock the rack to the car, but not done so far.

Riding up in Fort Bill the other weekend I got 3 bikes on the rack, one bike inside and 4 people in the car – a Honda Civic!

Highly recommended. I think it is the Ride On 9503

I am the biggest paranoid when it comes to bike security and I was quite happy to leave my Pitch Pro on Peterpoddys Thule towbar rack for 2 hours in the middle of Ambleside on a weekend. I used a long cable lock with a huuuge padlock, with the padlock threaded through a hole in the towbar mount. And you could leave it on as well.

Makes zero difference to the fuel economy as well, at least with an estate car. I could imagine a saloon or hatchback's mpg suffering a bit but nothing compared to the 10-15mpg difference a roof mounted system makes.

My mate bought one of these last night…

http://aistoncycleracks.co.uk/

4 bike version.. looks absolutely bombproof and price is fraction of that of Thule.

>> Tow bar mounted racks are very convenient, and keep the crap falling onto
>> the roof of your car, but they make a big dent into your fuel consumption…

> Yes, but no more so (probably less) than having them on the roof.

Nope; a towbar rack provides a significantly more drag than a roof rack. I own both, and the difference between the two is palpable. As a simple exercise to demonstrate why, next time you ford a river with your bike, check the difference between placing the bike in the direction of flow and then across. 🙂