Bike Racks

[Zebede4500]

Tow bar fitting or fixed rack ??
Any advice or opinions, Fors or against?
Need to carry 2 electric bikes.

 

[webby1]

For me it has always been tow bar.It also has the option of a trailer if we start to carry too much gear.

I just can't imagine the drilling through and the amount of weight a rack would have to carry on the back wall. Also it seems quite a way to have to lift up your bikes. Especially electric bikes.

Of course there was a towbar fitted when we bought the motorhome.
Had there been a rack I might/would have thought different/differently

 

[kevenh]

Ours came with a Fiamma Carry Bike Pro-C mounted rack.
Works well.
We’ve fixings to add a tow bar but our only application now would be for a bike rack so we’ll stay with our mounted rack.
Too new to motorhoming to know many pros & cons between them but generally hiding the number plate and dealing with that is not something a mounted rack creates.

 

[Phill D]

2 x electric bike are probably close to the limit of a rear wall mounted fixed rack. and they have to be lifted up ( chest height on my rack ).

cheapest option is the bike rack.

most stable and able to carry the weight Tow bar mounted.
but big difference in price and add the cost of a tow bar and electrics.

 

[pandas]

The Thule tow bar rack is a really good piece of kit (use it with our car). Used to have a Rear mounted Fiamma rack which was fine as long as you got into the knack of lifting electric bikes up onto it.
Just factor the cost of tow bar (£)and rack (rack £520) against the supply and fitting of a rear mounted bike rack. And has the Motorhome already got the first fix fitting for a rack?

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[Zebede4500]

Have a wall mounted rack but it is quite high up and I am getting quite old!! Also have tow bar fitted so open to all options. Can wall rack be removed or repositioned?

 

[Tea break]

Definitely a tow bar rack for me I’ve had both and found the wall hung rack a struggle to lift the bikes onto and they are just normal cycles I much prefer the tow bar rack so easy to load and no stress on the rear wall.

 

[Phill D]

Have a wall mounted rack but it is quite high up and I am getting quite old!! Also have tow bar fitted so open to all options. Can wall rack be removed or repositioned?

you can remove the wall rack and fit blanking caps. repositioning probably could be done but you need to consider access to the bolts through the wall in the new location. and you will need to blank the old holes. and is the wall strong enough in the new location.

i carry a collapsible single step, useful for the hab door on occasions but also to step up on when loading the bikes.
an option may be to remove the actual rails and rail arm from the wall rack leaving the vertical tubes in place and then fitting a tow bar rack.

 

[webby1]

Definitely a tow bar rack for me I’ve had both and found the wall hung rack a struggle to lift the bikes onto and they are just normal cycles I much prefer the tow bar rack so easy to load and no stress on the rear wall.

Not seen anything to suggest a better option.

 

[lunarman]

Not seen anything to suggest a better option.

This is what I have gone for Cycle Carrier

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[Podney]

You need to be careful about putting two e bikes on a normal bike rack. It’s not the rack you have to worry about...it’s the strength of the back wall to which it’s fitted. There have been cases of rear walls being wrecked by carrying two heavy electric bikes.

 

[Mikey RV]

Thule easyfold XL, built for Ebikes. About £500 but a real nice bit of kit. Folds up after use to store away can be locked onto towball and bikes can be locked on to rack. If you use it on a car it can be folded down to access rear boot etc With bikes on it. Check it out on Thules website.

 

[Two on Tour]

When we moved over to E-bikes, I was concerned about me having to lift the extra weight of the bikes higher than I liked onto the rack, so I bought the E-bike version of the Fiamma Carry-Bike Lift 77 which weighed more than a standard bike rack and along with the extra weight of the E-bikes, my thoughts turned to the extra loading that would be put on the back wall of our van, so to spread the extra weight I fitted Fiamma mounting bars which spread the weight over a bigger area rather than just 4 small points.

 

[Ridgeway]

Also consider that a tow bar adds quite a bit of weight at the back end (on top of the rack and bikes etc), 20-30kgs wouldn't be unusual and could be even more.

 

[webby1]

This is what I have gone for Cycle Carrier

That certainly looks like a better option and lighter than a towbar. And 110kg is great payload

I never like ads that don't mention a price

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[Tinker2]

Best thing since sliced bread, it makes my life so much easier.

 

[busby]

This is what I have gone for Cycle Carrier

Met the son of the owner in Benidorm a few years ago,,Just reminded me where to go if i change my door rack to a more heavy duty one,,BUSBY

 

[DangerMousy]

We carried two ebikes on a rear wall Fiamma Pro-C rack for a couple of years...without batteries the bikes were well within the ratings for both the rack and the rear wall. But they weren't easy to load: lifting them on to the carrier was a two-person job. On our new MH we have a Memo chassis-mounted bike carrier and being at knee height its so much easier to load

 

[two]

A towball and rack will be much heavier than a wall-mounted one.
E-bikes are heavy, so lifting onto a (higher) rack is likely to be tiresome.
Make sure that the rack can carry the weight safely - and the back wall strong enough.
A towball rack could used on a car, so a little more flexible (but much more expensive).

 

[356boy]

Hi, our new motorhome has a Thule bike rack fitted for 2 bikes, i have seen them with 3 bikes on but we need 4 bikes fitted and reading on here i'm a bit worried about the weight, we do have a tow bar so was thinking of this one instead https://www.letang-auto-electrical-...MIxN3uwLbq6wIVQ-7tCh0kbQF0EAQYBSABEgJ4Z_D_BwE, ive seen some foreign vans with these before.
thaughts please

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[Podney]

Looks good to me.
You certainly wouldn’t want four bikes hanging on your rear end.
The next question is: Will you be overweight (in total),and will you be overweight your rear axle limit?
How you calculate that,without fitting it all on and going to a weighbridge,bikes and all,is something I can’t help with.............
But someone on here probably can.