Bike Transportation while towing

[johnandrew70]

Hi All
We have just bought 2 push bikes mainly for when we are away in the caravan without any thought as to how we would transport them when towing, i thought about roof mounting them but i am not getting any younger and dont want to do my back in getting them on and off the roof of our Tiguan.
Does anyone have any other ideas, i did think of transporting them in the van but the layout of our van means not a lot of room to get them in and out and worry of damaging internal fixings.
Will the conventional high lift racks on the tailgate of the car fowl the caravan when turning tight bends?

Would love to know how others do it.

John

 

[colin-yorkshire]

hi John, like you I thought taking a bike away was a good idea, but how to carry it! no room in van, roof of car too difficult to lift off the rack, that left the back of the car or the van.
I have seen rear mounted van carriers like the ones fitted to m/homes but it worried me drilling holes in the back of the van and being unsure where the strongest mounting points were.
that left just an A frame mount or the back tailgate mounted ones. A frame mount seemed the best option apart from modifying the cover but this would have added to the already critical noseweight limit of 50kg.
that left just the tailgate ones and after a couple of trips to Halfords and Bikes R us to try several different ones, I worked out that the combination of near vertical tailgate and short A frame would make turning difficult, so did not bother in the end, depending on the combo of the above on your outfit this may work for you but it did not for me.
if you want to check heath robinson style measure the distance between the tow hitch and vertical limit of the van bodywork cut length of wood and use as template when rack is fitted to give some idea of clearance.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Any bike rack that takes any support from the towbar/ball will eat up nose weight capacity, be wary, Also , if using a tailgate type rack , if when any of the bikes are loaded they obscure any of of the road lights or number plate, you must fit a tail board with lights and number plate. If you are towing then the caravan provides this feature.

 

[Sproket]

Depending on how big the bikes are have you thought about one of these they use them on the bmw X5 & are marketed as a bmw bike lift, vw also have them in there on-line accessories

 

[xtrailman]

I always take our bikes inside the caravan, each one laying on a side bunk, the wheels are then tethered together using "tree stake wraps"

Bikes weight 17kg each.

 

[Dustydog]

Sir Baldrick has a cunning solution which works perfectly.
He is great at welding and may be willing to share his design .

 

[johnandrew70]

Sir Baldrick has a cunning solution which works perfectly.
He is great at welding and may be willing to share his design .

what is his solution?
been looking at roof mounting and using a 2 step ladder or caravan step.
my friends believes that they will be fine on the back of the car but i am not so sure, i dont think i would get them into the van because of the layout.

John

 

[Gagakev]

Hi John, can you fit the quick release nuts on the front wheels to get them in the van easier?

Steps not a bad idea, I carry a 3 tread set anyway for the awning (yes I am restricted in height) and they are fairly light weight.

 

[johnandrew70]

Hi John, can you fit the quick release nuts on the front wheels to get them in the van easier?

Steps not a bad idea, I carry a 3 tread set anyway for the awning (yes I am restricted in height) and they are fairly light weight.

Hi Kev
good idea i have the quick release on mine but Nic's has normal nuts i guess i could look into changing them, but even then i guess you then have the problem of the mucky bikes being in the van.

I think i will have a go with roof mounting and if it dont work out i will ebay the roof mount and try something else.

Just got back from River Valley had a great week, and spent most of the week feeding the birds with stale bread so make sure you put some bread out for them next month mate, what number pitch are you going on do you know?

John

 

[johnandrew70]

Ok so i have ordered the Thule 532 FreeRide twinpack
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321271091472?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

I made my decision after watching the video and seeing how quick and easy it is to mount the bikes.

http://youtu.be/wT_tsqn_3dk
I already have a 2 step, step ladder, and the bikes arent as heavy as i first thought.
Also it means i dont need to buy a trailer board, as i would have if i mounted them on the back of the car when driving solo.

 

[Gafferbill]

Sir Baldrick has a cunning solution which works perfectly.
He is great at welding and may be willing to share his design .

Hi johnandrew70.........Dustydog is bigging me up here

I made a bike carrier specific to my tow car which is a 4x4 with a rear door mounted spare wheel....so not much good for your VW.
My two bike carrier fits on the same bolts as the spare wheel carrier with the bikes transversely above the spare wheel.
IMO you need to carry the bikes on the car as opposed to the caravan and they need to be mounted so that they do not restrict the tow bar loading or interfere with the turning circle of the outfit.
With the bikes on the car you are free to transport the bikes to a ride irrespective of whether the caravan is attached or not.
If I owned an outfit like yours I would also adopt your roof solution........the only limiting factor being lifting the bikes up onto the roof!
I would also fit extra security.........I fit a security cable to each bike and thread it through the wheels and frame.
Quick release wheels are by their very nature also easy to nick!

 

[Dustydog]

Told you he had a cunning plan!

 

[johnandrew70]

well tested the roof rack at the weekend and its ideal.

 

[morris1981]

MaxxRaxx do bike racks which mount on a plate behind the towball - meaning you can tow and carry bikes at the same time.

http://www.maxxraxx.co.uk/bike_racks_car_cycle_carriers_products/info_prem_max2_flange.html

 

[ProfJohnL]

MaxxRaxx do bike racks which mount on a plate behind the towball - meaning you can tow and carry bikes at the same time.

]http://www.maxxraxx.co.uk/bike_racks_car_cycle_carriers_products/info_prem_max2_flange.html

http://www.maxxraxx.co.uk/bike_racks_car_cycle_carriers_products/info_prem_max2_flange.html[/quote
Please bear in mind that , anything that takes support from the towing bracket or tow ball has to be deducted from the available nose weight capacity of the tow vehicle, Sofor example two bikes and rack weight 20Kg means your 75Kg noseweight allowance is not reduced to 75-20 = 55kg (use your own figures)

 

[johnandrew70]

MaxxRaxx do bike racks which mount on a plate behind the towball - meaning you can tow and carry bikes at the same time.

]http://www.maxxraxx.co.uk/bike_racks_car_cycle_carriers_products/info_prem_max2_flange.html

http://www.maxxraxx.co.uk/bike_racks_car_cycle_carriers_products/info_prem_max2_flange.html[/quote
Seems like a lot of money especially when you have to buy a lightboard as well. Also it doesn't mention weather the bikes would get squashed in a car - caravan sandwich when turning tight bends etc.
I think i have gone down the right route and not touched the tow bar as 30kg added to the nose weight of the caravan would be well over the limit for the car.

 

[morris1981]

Yes, you are both right. The additional noseweight is a problem and it kind of undermines the maxxraxx's biggest sell point which is towing and carrying at the same time. ok for lightweight trailers maybe, but probably not the best option for caravan

 

[colin-yorkshire]

Seems like a lot of money especially when you have to buy a lightboard as well. Also it doesn't mention weather the bikes would get squashed in a car - caravan sandwich when turning tight bends etc.
I think i have gone down the right route and not touched the tow bar as 30kg added to the nose weight of the caravan would be well over the limit for the car.

hi John, it would not put the tow bar weight on the car over the limit, as in such a circumstance the caravan nose weight would have to be reduced by 30kg, so the overall figure would be the same, the main problem would be if you were struggling to get the nose weight down to start with!! or if the towbar weight was low as it is on some cars, say 50kg this means the van would have to be reduced to 20kg, then of course it would be below the 4% minimum.

 

[johnandrew70]

Seems like a lot of money especially when you have to buy a lightboard as well. Also it doesn't mention weather the bikes would get squashed in a car - caravan sandwich when turning tight bends etc.
I think i have gone down the right route and not touched the tow bar as 30kg added to the nose weight of the caravan would be well over the limit for the car.

hi John, it would not put the tow bar weight on the car over the limit, as in such a circumstance the caravan nose weight would have to be reduced by 30kg, so the overall figure would be the same, the main problem would be if you were struggling to get the nose weight down to start with!! or if the towbar weight was low as it is on some cars, say 50kg this means the van would have to be reduced to 20kg, then of course it would be below the 4% minimum.

When i bought my van i found i had to do put a fair bit of weight just behind to axle of the van to get the noseweight right so adding 30kg would mean taking the leisure battery out of the van haha.

 

[g1]

Need carrier for up to 2 bikes while towing with this car. .I have eliminated :

roof mounted : bike too heavy to lift high enough . will sooner or later damage car, bike, myself or all 3.
Tow bar mounted[/b]: has detachable swan neck with no straight section for mounting.

This leaves a carrier attached to tailgate. I'm anxious that there might not be enough room for turning.

Has anyone had experience of a suitable carrier for this car, please?

Thanks,
G

 

[crazyguider]

We take4 bikes in the van.

 

[Grahamh]

I used to carry 2 bikes on a tailgate rack and they didn,t foul the caravan at all. Disadvantages were that you could not get into the rear of the car when they were mounted. Didn't take a light board as never carried them when the van wasn't attached. Changed over to carrying the bikes inside the car after advice from here. (Ford Mondeo estate). Removed front wheels (after converting to quick release), saddles and put in upside down behind drivers seat. Wheels and saddles slotted in after bikes. Hoping that now I have changed towcar to Kia Sportage I can still use this method - tape measure says I can;-)

 

[JamesH]

Did you consider buying a couple of folding bikes ? They would probably fit in the car or van and some come complete with a carry bag.

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

Did you consider buying a couple of folding bikes ? They would probably fit in the car or van and some come complete with a carry bag.

There was a thread about a year ago regarding folding bikes, the result being that they are not really space saving.
:huh:

 

[Raywood]

I would be wary of rear mounted bike racks. There must be a real risk of overloading some tow bars and the rear axle.