Bike Racks

[cara89]

Hello. Does anyone have any suggestions for bike racks. John and I have bikes and now the kids ones are getting bigger in size we cant just fling them in the boot.We dont want to put them inside the caravan although if you could get something to keep them off the fittings that would be an option. We had them on the back of the boot but felt it was weighing the car down a bit much at the back end for towing? Do you get them for back of caravan? Thanks. Best wishes.

 

[DavidArmstrong]

Hi, we put 2 bikes on the roof of the car and 3 on another bike carrier on the back of the car at high level. We have 4 kids so the youngest ones goes inside the caravan as it is only small and I strap it down using bungee cords.

There are some bike carriers that fit onto motorhomes and caravans but I don't think the caravans body's are all that strong and you could end up causing some damage to the panels. You would need to check with your dealer or manufacturer to see what they advise.

There are also bike racks that fit onto the towbar bracket on the car and also onto the caravan between the front locker and the hitch.

As with anything extra going into or onto the car or caravan you just need to make sure that you are not overloading and also checking your nose weight.

 

[WiltshirePete]

We have one of the Fiamma one like this http://www.agentfiamma.co.uk/erol.html#4079X0

which is brilliant, but you need a long A frame such as found on foreign vans, I doubt that it would fit most English vans.

Pete

 

[Chris_374550766]

I've got a Maxxraxx carrier that is mounted off the towbar. Its a bit of a pain to set up and is very heavy by the time 3 bikes are fitted. It is designed for use with a caravan but one bike wheel ended up marking the front of the caravan when taking a tight turn. I'm going to sell it and get a roof carrier instead.

 

[Dave_374330759]

The only sensible way to carry them is on the roof of the car. Towball mounted carriers will compromise your nose weight allowance - the weight of the bikes & carrier must be subtracted from the car's limit (OK with a big 4x4 where you might have a very high allowance) but no good if you've only got 75kg-90kg. Hanging them off the bootlid or back door of a hatchback/estate gets them a bit close to the van and makes it difficult to access the hitch or boot. There's probably not enough space on the A Frame of the van and you'd have to compensate with weight at the back of the van - it would also affect your payload allowance as would a rear mounted bike carrier on the back of the van (you would have th know if it was strong enough to take the strain - especially with ABS cladding)

You may also be inadvertantly exceeding the load capacity of the car with four people, 4 bikes and all the other stuff and a van on the back as well.

 

[Glenn_5132962]

I can recommend Halfords own roof bars & their value roof mounted cycle carriers.

I use 3 of these these to carry three bkies on the roof of the car & the 4th (youngest child's) goes inside the van strapped so it cant move about.

 

[starlightdj]

Hi re Bike racks have you noticed the post on swifts own web site posted by swift themselves stating bike racks can now be fitted to the rear of all swift made motorhomes and caravans. They have specifically strengthend the rear in readyness. they only advise a authorised service centre fit it due to the bolts going through the panels for waterproofing.

i was always of the belief you should never put bike racks on caravans for weight issues ie sea-saw effect.

cheers

John

 

[JeffD]

Hi re Bike racks have you noticed the post on swifts own web site posted by swift themselves stating bike racks can now be fitted to the rear of all swift made motorhomes and caravans. They have specifically strengthend the rear in readyness. they only advise a authorised service centre fit it due to the bolts going through the panels for waterproofing.

i was always of the belief you should never put bike racks on caravans for weight issues ie sea-saw effect.

cheers

John

Ummm...I have a 2 year old Ace Jubilee caravan with a rear dealer fitted (from new)Fiamma double bike rack that I use quite regularly.

I personally haven't found any problems balancing the nose weight (which I always do) or any problems while towing with this configuration. However, my van/ car weight ration is only about 82%

Neither have I found this arrangement to be detrimental to the rear panel but perhaps I have been lucky so far!

Jeff

 

[JeffD]

Ummm...I have a 2 year old Ace Jubilee caravan with a rear dealer fitted (from new)Fiamma double bike rack that I use quite regularly.

I personally haven't found any problems balancing the nose weight (which I always do) or any problems while towing with this configuration. However, my van/ car weight ration is only about 82%

Neither have I found this arrangement to be detrimental to the rear panel but perhaps I have been lucky so far!

Jeff

 

[Philspadders]

weigh your bikes. now measure the distance from your caravan axle to the rear of the fan. A 30kg load at the back of the van probably equates to a momentload of around on the back of the back of around 70kg. Do you really want 70gk hanging at the back of your van?

it is not recommended by any towing organisation to hang bikes at the back of your caravan. Motorhomes are are a different propositon alltogether.

Use a car roof mounted carier.

 

[RichardS1]

We carry the bikes on the roof of the car, this allows us to transport to trail centres or cycle paths when we are away.

Over the years I have spoken to many people who use carriers on the back of the caravan and even though I have been put of carrying bikes this way because of the potential of causing instability nobody using these carriers have ever told me about instability problems.

When you think about it though two modern moutain bikes will weigh about 25kg. Thats not even 2% of the weight of a modern 1500kg caravan.