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So possibly a random question. Can anyone recommend a good tray type tow bar bike rack available in the U.K. or EU for my van? I really like the idea of the clamp on the wheels type rather than the clamp on the frame. Scratch on my carbon frame 😱😱-never.
Many Thanks in advance.
Is your bike an MTB? If it is you will get far more scratches, chips, random marks on the trail than you will ever get from a bike rack. I have a Thule tow bar rack it's low and easy to mount the bikes, clamps the wheels and has a wide mouth clamp for the frame, it also pivots backwards so that I can open the tailgate door without taking it off of the car. My Stumpjumper is carbon and I use a cut up wheel barrow inner tube to wrap around and protect the very large down tube from getting marked by the clamp. Downside is that Thule are expensive, mine was just over £300, quality costs. Last week I had two bikes on there with a total value of over £7k, so for me they are worth the extra expense of a good rack.
I have a Buzzrack Scorpion which is excellent - use it on carbon frames no problem
Also look at Scorpion Rack (different company) for a different solution that does not clamp the frame
Gazzab, which Thule rack do you have? The velocompact look like a winner for bigger MTBs.
Wildgravity - Its a Thule Velocompact 2 - I got it from Halfords for just under £300 (April 2016), they had a sale on at the time. I needed one that would also take heavy bikes as my wife had an e-bike that weighed in at 26kg! She now has a much lighter one.
https://www.thule.com/en-gb/bike-rack/towbar-bike-racks/thule-velocompact-2-7-pin-_-925
You got lucky on the price there! Is it plenty big enough for two large Enduro bikes? (Apologies for hijacking The thread OP).