We are trying to decide between a towbar cycle carrier or a strap on one (Audi A4 Estate) for our camping trip to The Dordogne from London this summer. We need to carry 2 adult bikes and one childs one. Which is better? And safer? I have heard from a friend that the strap on ones sometimes come loose so he needed to stop regularly to check it. This doesn't sound ideal to me. But this is all the advice I have been given regarding either of them so if any of you could share your thoughts, advice or opinions I would really appreciate it.
If you've got a towbar i'd get a towbar one, much more stable. I've got a Maxxraxx, which is really good but if you've got a mountain bike with suspension and funny shaped frame you need a false crossbar to hang it from. I'd probably go for one of the ones where the wheels go in grooves if i got another but then they've probably got their drawbacks too!
Well the best ones are roof mounted racks imho but there's no denying they increase fuel consumption. Best option if you're ever likely to be towing though.
If you've got a towbar already the towball or towbar mounted ones are a darn sight more secure than a strap on one and a great deal less fiddly to use. We use an older design of Witter towbar mounted rack and it's not given us a moment of bother in the last 16 years, has been simple to move between cars when we've bought a new car and which is easy to fit and store. You can even buy a second mounting block if you have two cars. Strap on ones are less secure in general and have to be bought to fit the car in question so if you change to a radically different car you often need a new rack. Not economical. I wouldn't fancy carrying bikes all the way to the Dordogne on one tbh.
Oh, whatever you buy get one to fit three adult bikes. Big children's bikes often weigh as much if not more than adult bikes. Make sure your chosen design of carrier can accomodate unusual frame designs if you or your sprog prefers fat tubed Y-frame double suspension mountain bikes, or is likely to. And if you're thinking about another child anytime soon just get a 4-bike rack and be done with it. A good well chosen bike rack can last a very long time as we've found.
And remember to tick the box on the ferry booking form for rear bike racks. People have run into problems with this before now. An estate car is a pretty long thing even without adding a back bike rack.
We use a Thule 902 EuroClassic Pro, fits on the towbar and is rock solid, and you can still get access to the boot,even with 3 bikes still loaded.
Well over 5 years old now, and it gets used a lot, still in perfect working order.
Did try one of the strap on bike racks, before I got the towbar mounted one, forever stopping the car, to adjust and check the straps, I had borrowed it of my Bro, and I gave it back to him the next day, after that I was convinced that towbar mounted bike rack is the best solution.
Thule don't make the 902/3 anymore, which is a pity as it folds up when not in use, the new Thule models don't fold.
WESTFALIA make a very similiar model to the Thule EuroClassic 902, in fact having seen one, I would say it's an improvement on the Thule version.
Thanks everyone. Well it seems like a no brainer really doesn't it. A towbar one it will have to be then. Our main hesitation at this originally was that we have the added cost of getting the actual towbar fitted aswell and besides this my husband fears too that the towbar may mess with our rear parking sensor even when we don't have the bike rack attached? Does anyone have any experience with that? But maybe this is a small price to pay anyway as we definitely want to take the bikes with us the safest way possible. So will start looking at the Thule, Westfalia and Witter ones.
Thanks again for all your advice. Is really helpful :-)
We have got a strap one and last time we used it it damaged our car, we pulled the straps too tight and it damaged the body work on the top of the tailgate rather badly so we will be looking at different options, never had a problem with having to stop to tighten straps but to be fair we havent really gone further than about an hour and halfs drive. Trouble is you dont know its going to damage your car until it happens, we have used it on 3 different cars prior to this one and its never happened before but we darent use it again now just in case
Another vote for Thule towbar one. Excellent. Roof mounted ones will involve damage to the roof at some point. Do you need to tow at the same time though? Unless you have a 4x4 this is pretty much impossible due to tow bar weight limits & lack of space for turning.
No we won't be ever towing (I don't think??) but it is amazing how quickly we are deciding we need more and more stuff! ;-) We went on our very first camp last year to La Rochelle and within the year the amount of camp goodies we have collected is incredible. So we have upgraded from a saloon to an estate and have a roofbox on top of the car and are going to get the bikes on the back. So who know? Maybe this time next year we will be towing? ;-)
We've used roof bar, bars on a trailer, tow ball, rear carrier and carrier on back of the folding camper .... don't think there are any other exterior methods!
Never had a problem with roof carrying ... but does increase fuel consumption.
Rear carriers ... have had one 'release' and damaged two bikes (luckily at low speed on a side road ... the mind boggles as to what the outcome would have been on a motorway).
Tow ball, never gave a problem ... lots of types, but very secure.
We now use a rear carrier for two bikes and carry the third on the back of the trailer.
Thule are best. Look at their site to match your car.
I have used roof mounted, rear fixed via straps and towbar. If not towing towbar is best and easiest and better mpg. If towing use the roof ones as the caravan noseweight would be affected. had a strap one come off at 50mph so would never recommend personally.
We have a witter tow bar one great - we also tow a caravan so suits us down to the ground. We were very much like you with the camping gear and ended up buying a trailer to fit it all in. Good job as I fell pregnant not long after so needed room for pushchairs etc etc.
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Topic: Bike carrier advice please!
