Anybody had experience with both and recommend which is the best way to go?

VW own brand rack is good but expensive. Genuinely fits four bikes and has good strap length. Fiamma racks tend to corrode in my experience and strap fitting is imprecise. I have no experience of tow ball racks.

Tom

If you have a rear spoiler vw or fiamma racks won’t work. For towbar I’d only have aiston now having used them all before. Industrial looking but very solid.

I have a T5 and had the VW boot lid rack.

I found it too high to be convenient and too big to store if I ever took it off, which took ages.

I now use a tow bar rack which I find much easier to use. I take it off when not using it as it’s a fraction of the size of the boot lid one and takes seconds to fit

Thanks for the replies.

@steveh where could i find more info on the aiston rack?

Should be http://www.aistoncycleracks.co.uk but it’s not up anymore.

Hope that doesn’t mean what I’m thinking it does as the lovely bloke who made them was getting on a bit. 😥

I used to have a fiamma on the T4. Never really liked it, and it freaked a bit going over a railway crossing while fully laden, putting a small bend in the support arms. I fitted a tow ball and have used a sliding arm Altera rack since very happily.

Got a VW one and its very tight getting 4 bikes on with lots off faff no issues with height looking at putting a tow bar on to put a luggage rack on underneath the rack for awning and other camping bits.
Good rack would recommend don’t think I will ever take it off
[url=https://flic.kr/p/M54gWW]Untitled[/url] by Richard Munro, on Flickr

Thats a nice pic postierich!! especially on this cold Winters day!

Postierich,

We did the same with our cali. Now sold the van but have a thule easybase and bag in excellent condition if you want. Great bit of kit.

Chris

Hi, I’ve got one of these racks on my T5 tow bar, the tilt allows you to fully open the rear door (mines an up and over rather than barn doors) really easy to use, light weight and really solid, holds three bikes, can hold four but not if you’ve got the spoiler fitted.

Really worth a look as it’s a great bit of kit and on offer I’ve just seen!!

Edit Having had a flam rack on a previous van I’d take the tow bar every time, for a start you don’t need to turn the bars to get the bikes to fit without touching the van or each other.

I have the t5 rack i wouldn’t like to put 4 mountain bikes on it, managed 3. Also I found the jaws scratch the frames.

But the T6 rack is a different design the jaws look a lot bigger.

Another vote for the quality of Atera racks. I have the Linea tailgate version on my T5. Three bike capacity only with an upgrade to 4 with an extra tray and arm. Think 4 would be a very tight squeese unless some were kids bikes though.
It seems a lot quicker to fit & remove than the VW rack, easily under 5 min task once setup.
But.. there isn’t a T6 kit available for it yet as far as I know.

Cheers folks, that strada tilt looks like it may well be the answer. Is it light enough to take off and carry around in between rides?

Chris richard.munro@outlook.com pics and price and location please!

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-thule-easy-base-and-easy-bag-1

Lazy link Postie but got all the info in there. Based in Chester and i will take some pics tomorrow.

Chris

Have a tow bar mounted Thule 918 velospace, works for up to 4 inch tyres .
[url=https://flic.kr/p/QC2BRs]IMG_2500[/url] by Tony Hall, on Flickr

Cheers folks, that strada tilt looks like it may well be the answer. Is it light enough to take off and carry around in between rides?

Yes no bother, don’t get me wrong I’d not take it for a walk up Snowdon for a laugh but compared to the Thule I had it’s a feather!!