How do you transport your bike?

[fuzzyfreak]

For those long journeys where carrying your bike on or in the car is necessary, I am interested to know what you think is the most hassle free way of carrying your bike on your car. I have a Toyota Yaris, a small hatchback, which will take my bike in the boot, however I am wanting to carry additional bikes or luggage and I am not happy with the boot mounted bike racks because of the hassle of installing them, their tendancy to wobble and scratch the paint work. I am looking to get a tow bar installed and buying a tow bar mounted bike rack - what are your thoughts?

 

[GilesM]

I much prefer to stick the bikes in the back of the car, I currently have a Mini Clubman (new mini breadvan) I have to take both wheels out, but two bikes go in quite nicely, and I bought padded bags to stick the muddy wheels in. For carrying the bike on the outside, I think the tow bar mounted ones are the most stable, the only draw back is remembering that your car is a little wider and longer, and that the bikes will pick up alot of road dirt on wet days, never like starting with a dirty wet bike. The roof mounted racks are perfectly good, but for bikes with suspension forks the front wheel out, forks clamped type racks are not recommended, go for the ones which keep the two wheels in.

 

[fuzzyfreak]

Thanks Giles, yes I definitely want to carry them on a rack, far easier than having to rearrange the inside of my car, pulling off the front wheel and scratching the paintwork.

 

[Norm]

Thule do several tow-bar mounted carriers.

I need to carry three bikes, so we use a 9503 carrier. It's kinda mid-range stuff, it cost just over £100 but it has the gutters to support the bikes on their wheels rather than hanging them from the cross bars, and comes with light board and number plate holder, so you don't need to worry about obscuring your car's tail lights. I like the 9503 as unscrewing 2 clamps means that you can tilt the bikes so you can still get into the boot. It's not quite perfect, I still need to remove one pedal so I can get the estate door open but that's a small price to pay, as the flip-side means that the carrier is close to the tailgate. It's stable, quick and easy to fit, packs flat for storage and we've used it a dozen times in 5 months, without a problem.

Bikes of a wide variety of sizes fit into the channels, from my large MTB with 26x38 tyres to the roadie with 700x25c tyres, to a bike for a five year old. It's very easy to use, just needs a good tug to get it fitted to the ball, then the kids can even use it to attach their own bikes. We use it for everything from 250 mile staycation trips to 10 miles trips to the off road area. Can't rate it highly enough.

I also bought, for a friend, a Thule 970 Express which fits onto the tow ball in seconds. It only carries 2 bikes and they aren't as secure as the carrier I have, but attaching them is a lot quicker. Oh, and bikes on that will obscure lights and number plates. The good bit, though, is that it's only £42, pretty good price for that. It also folds up very small for storage when not in use.

The most solid option I've seen is the Thule 908/909. Again, it has channels to carry the bikes on their wheels, but it's nearly 3 times the price of the one I got, and I can't see that it's worth that (for what I need anyway) as the extra rigidity means extra weight, making it a pain for storage.

BTW, the links above are all to a shop called Cooks Motor Spares. They are pretty close to me, based in Chesham, so I can pop in there but their prices and stock availability has proved itself astounding. The reasons I got the 970 for my friend are that Cooks had them in stock when no-one else did, and they were £10 cheaper than most other places. Very knowledgeable staff (two brothers run it, I think the old man owns it) and it's a very "old skool" car spares shop, good guys, also highly recommended.

 

[fuzzyfreak]

Norm, what a brilliant and comprehensive reply - thanks very much! I will probably pop into my local cycle shop in half an hour and ask them about Thule, I know they are a dealer. I just need some advice on getting a tow bar fitted to a Yaris now.

thanks alot!

 

[JtB]

Is this any help?
http://www.cyclechat.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=37321

 

[HelenD123]

Norm, what a brilliant and comprehensive reply - thanks very much! I will probably pop into my local cycle shop in half an hour and ask them about Thule, I know they are a dealer. I just need some advice on getting a tow bar fitted to a Yaris now.

thanks alot!

Fuzzy,

I got a quote from a Toyota dealer (just out of interest) for getting a tow bar fitted to my Yaris and they wanted £600+. A local towbar specialist quoted about £200. I couldn't quite justify the expense of getting a towbar fitted so got a Hollywood Express 3 which fits on the tailgate. It's a bit fiddly to fit but it very solid once on the car.

 

[Norm]

If you are still planning the tow-ball fitting, I can also recommend a removable tow ball. I didn't even bother trying Mercedes to get a price for mine, my local under-the-arches towing specialist, in Windsor, wanted about £250 for a fixed ball or £350 for a removable.

For me, with an estate which is frequently used to carry dogs, kids (7-seater), shopping and the like, that extra £100 was not a decision I wasted very long considering. Aside from anything else, if you have reversing sensors, I understand that they will essentially be rendered useless by a permanent tow ball.

 

[Panter]

Just a quick thought, the towbar mounted option is the best, IMO anyway, but it does add a lot of weight to the rear suspension because of the way that the bikes are carried.

I carry 3 bikes on the back of a 4X4 which has uprated suspension (for towing purposes) and you can feel the extra load even on that.

May be worth asking Toyota for some guidelines?

 

[Norm]

As in Shaun's link, it's all about the nose weight., which should be in your owner's manual. I can't see it online. I've got the maximum braked towing weight for the 2009 MY at 750kg but I can't see the nose weight anywhere.

 

[Panter]

Is it just noseweight though?
As the length of the rack increases, the leverage would increase.
To take it too it's extreme, if the rack was 100' long, you could probably just put your foot on the end and flatten the rear springs.

If it is just noseweight then the Yarris probably won't have much capacity there either will it?

 

[JtB]

I would say the additional force exerted on the rear springs due to the leverage is negligible compared to the additional force exerted due to the actual weight of the bikes/rack (which is covered by the nose weight).


The leverage due to the bikes/rack behind the rear wheels is more than compensated for by the driver and passengers sat in front of the rear wheels (although to a lesser extent by the rear passengers since they sit only just in front of the rear wheels). However, even ignoring the driver/passengers, the leverage of the bikes/rack is insignificant compared to the leverage of the engine. So on the whole, I would say the maximum nose weight of the vehicle is a good indicator of the maximum bike/rack weight.


Where I would say the leverage becomes an issue is in relation to the integrity of the bike rack/tow bar mounting as too much weight distributed towards the rear of the rack (i.e. furthest away from the vehicle) will have a tendency to snap off the bike rack/tow bar mounting especially as the bikes bob up and down due to the bumps in the road. However, to mitigate this effect, the heaviest bikes need to be placed towards the front of the rack (i.e. closest to the vehicle) while the vehicle speed needs to be moderated.

 

[02GF74]

insdie the back of a volvo estate.

tip - if you ever fit a roof rack, don't forget that if you have bike on top, you are unlikely to get under the garage door or car park barriers.

 

[nosherduke996]

Sell the car and get yourself a van.I have a pergoet expert and it is the mutts nutts.
I can get three bikes in the back, all standing with bungees around them, perfect no damage or taking them apart. Just ride out the back and nobody nows they are there.

 

[Gerry Attrick]

Sell the car and get yourself a van.I have a pergoet expert and it is the mutts nutts.
I can get three bikes in the back, all standing with bungees around them, perfect no damage or taking them apart. Just ride out the back and nobody nows they are there.

+1
I have a VW Caddy with a Thule clamping bar in the back. I can get two bikes, camping gear and all the necessaries (and many un-necessaries) in there no probs.