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I’m finally at the point of accepting that I need an easier way of transporting my/the kids bikes. Our current solution is a roof rack and bike carriers which is quite longwinded because I have to fit the roof rack (they’re all locked together so it’s a max strength job plus a load of aligning and then doing up the foot clamps) and then manhandle the bikes into place (and although my car isn’t an SUV it is an MPV and I’m not that tall). And one of the places I ride with my kids has a height limiter on the car park which adds a load of hassle with the bikes on the roof.
So if we’re going away I take the line of least resistance and leave the bikes at home. (I’m not comfortable leaving the rack/carriers on the car all the time because I feel it advertises that we have bikes to steal). And now I haven’t been MTBing in a fortnight and I don’t like it.
Our bikes are mix of my Levo, my hardtail and then three kids bikes of gradually increasing size (actually the biggest of them is a small women’s hardtail). If we’re taking bikes for all five of us Mrs Guru can ride one of my two (or take her Brompton if it’s not off-road). The big two are both full 29” with 1230mm wheelbase so they’re a lot smaller than current XXL enduro bikes but obviously much bigger than road bikes. 770mm bars on both the big bikes.
It all feels painfully expensive up front but if I can get decades of use out of a rear rack (and just have to get a tow bar fitted whenever I get a new car - I’m only on my third in the last 20 years) then over time it should work out decent value.
I’m feeling it might be stupid to get anything less than a four bike carrier unless the four bike carriers are so inconvenient that I don’t use them. I doubt we’ll be taking all the bikes on long family holidays overseas so the extra one or two can go in the boot at those times.
(I have nowhere to store a trailer before someone suggests that!)
Atera Strada with the 4th bike adapter. Not perfect but not bad. Super easy to attach to the towball and, with practice, not too hard to load 4 bikes. It slides & tilts away from the car so good for rear access.
£440 + £85 for the 4th bike adapter at the Roof Box Company. (Who are great to deal with). They do also come up used on eBay & FB quite a lot.
The Thule 4 bike models are ok too.
Don't buy any of the ones that you need a spanner to bolt it on the towbar - if you have to do it regularly it's a pain in the backside.
Just be mindful of the weight of the bikes and rack adding up to more than the nose weight rating of the tow bar.
Yes a tow bar can take enormous temporary loads vertically, but the car may handle oddly with lots of weight hanging off the back.
I'm only saying this from the perspective of someone with experience of once towing a badly nose heavy trailer, the car wanted to wander about even on the straight ahead.
Yakima JustClick is super easy to fit and eBike rated
https://www.brenderup.com/gb/trailer/open-trailer-low-built
Been using mine for 20 years now.
Indeed. Good point. You can look up nose weights for all cars. Long, heavy MPVs & Estates have the highest numbers.
It's a scary feeling if you have too much weight & you can hardly steer! 😮
I'm selling this on behalf of a neighbour for £100
This is a thread that will run and run, mostly in circles so, chiefgrooveguru, don’t get bogged down!
My experience is of a Thule towbar mounted rack - clamped to the ball and lockable. I used it for over ten years for my own bicycles and collection/delivery for customers. It was never defeated by any shape, type or size of bike and could transport safely, locked and without damage. It is now in use for personal use including on the motorhome.
The advantage of the tilting mechanism shouldn’t be overlooked - so you can still access the boot, and the ability to easily lock on too. I always reinforce the locks with Kryptonite New York and heavy duty cable when parked up overnight.
Nose weight for your vehicle shouldn’t be overlooked either as it can adversely affect handling! With a lot of vehicles it’s round about 95 Kg but some vehicles can adjust suspension to suit. I’ve found that a fixed towbar is better as with a removable bar the very slight play is magnified when on the move. A good quality rack is for life, not just for Christmas. Hope this helps.
Also worth checking compatibility of clamp mechanism to towball, not all fit everything. There is a new breed of shallow ball ones, notably the electric retractable ones such as on the current BMW’s. Neither Thule or Yakima fit… Atera Strada does though….
I have a van now so no longer use a rack, but having done so for many years I'd advise cleaning any bikes that have been on a towbar rack during the winter thoroughly when you get home. The sal****er sprayed up behind a car at speed will get into everywhere you don't want it to and will cause corrosion and wear out components way faster than usual
I was thinking of posting a very similar thread, I took a look over a few similar threads from the last year or so and came to a similar conclusion to wheelsonfire1. I currently have an Atera Strada Evo 3 with the 4th bike kit (I've never tried it with the 4th bike kit). It was seemingly the STW darling of towbar racks when I bought it back in 2017. I find it pretty effortless to fit to the car, and fitting 2 bikes is a doddle (I generally use spaces 1 and 3). But carrying 3 bikes is pretty fiddly to do. I've generally had to spin the bars on the middle bike and take off a couple off pedals which I'd really rather not do.
My daughter now has a nukeproof 24" cubscout with boost spacing, I was thinking it was going fit more easily with 2 grown-up enduro bikes (given it's that bit bigger) but that doesn't seem to be the case. I've seen lots of praise for the Yakima Just Click on here and wondered if that'd be the answer to my issues.
Living in NE Scotland I totally agree with the point about salt on the roads, I wondered if folk had any smart solutions to that (other than put it in the boot or buy a van). It's especially problematic when staying somewhere self catering and going out riding, you can't was the bikes off when you get home. It's always a hassle getting home in the dark, trying to get tea sorted, empty out the car, wash all the kit, get the kids settled and you need to wash all the bikes in the freezing cold darkness.
I really don't want a van but I am maybe a bit trailer curious, perhaps even a box trailer 😮
Our Zafira has a 75kg nose weight limit although I note it’s the same for all models. Our CDTi one’s engine/transmission is 120kg heavier than the lightest model and all that weight is on the front axle, so I’m assuming that’ll help.
We’re on the south coast so the roads are rarely salted, just a handful of times so far this winter.
The width thing does seem the biggest issue. We’ve got boost forks and flat pedals on my two bike and eldest’s, and wide bars on both of mine. In position one on most racks, is their room for ~800mm bars if you have a vertical-ish tailgate?
I’ll be getting a towbar fitted for the bike rack so it’ll be whatever is best for the rack to fit on. Are there issues with the towbar confusing the reversing sensors?
You can normally temporarily disable reverse sensors.
I don’t know if they’re available/legal in the UK but vertical racks are really easy to load quickly.
The nose weight issue is also important from an insurance perspective. If you’re involved in an accident with an overloaded car you’ve Buckley’s chance of being covered.
Not sure if it’s relevant there, but here in Oz there’s also the issue of overhang - the furthest point can’t extend more than 60% of the vehicle’s wheelbase.
Are there issues with the towbar confusing the reversing sensors?
Shouldn't be if the towbar electrics are fitted properly, the vehicle system should be programmed to turn the sensors off when reverse is selected.
Are there any vertical style 4 bike carriers that fit a UK style 50mm tow ball?
OP
I have one of those racks that vortexracing is selling for his neighbour.
It does need a "spanner". Actually what it needs is a 19mm socket and smallish ratchet that massively speeds up fitting.
Fitting.
It's marginally annoying as you have to get it on the ball so that the three bits that go round the tow ball are recessed - NOT flush but recessed. Sometimes it just seems to be bloody stubborn and you just have to lift off and start again.
Then whack the bolt up tight with the ratchet.
On a bad day it takes me 5 minutes from shed to fitted on a good one about 3.
Using it...
Good
- If you fit it properly it's very sturdy
- All the wheel cups are adjustable so you can stagger bikes
- It's lighter than a tilter so less impact on nose weight
- I think there is more flexibility on space / alignment than with a rack that uses holding arms for frames
- I've had loads of different bike combinations on it without reconfiguring it. I just set the wheel cups at max width on each arm. If your children are on 24" wheels or smaller you will need them narrower to start with.
Bad
- Getting the first strap round on each bike isn't as easy as just popping an arm on it
- The fitting needs to be spot on or it rotates behind the car (see comments above)
- It does not tilt but when unloaded you can fold the support arms flat to access the boot.
- Before we had droppers on all our bikes turning one set of bars was sometimes needed (but if you can find a rack that would not need some juggling you're doing very well).
Overall....
I wish I'd bought a tilter but only because of ease of dog access.
The fitting mechanism will not suffer the same wear or any other maintenance issues as fancy lever fitted ones.
It does work well and the small amount of faff is definitely worth it vs the utter pain of getting four bikes on the roof of an MPV (I know from experience).
If you can deal with roof rack loading on an MPV you can definitely deal with most tow bar racks 🙂.
Re the reverse sensors, my 2010 Kuga with home fitted tow bar just does a continuous “something is very near” beep with a rack or trailer connected, which has saved my bacon when I’ve forgotten a trailer was on there.
My wife’s much newer car turned the sensors off, both were acceptable.
@chiefgrooveguru
On the Buzzrack I easily have room for my 800 wide bars between the rack and tailgate of an SMax.
No boost bikes amongst ours but we regularly have a combination of large 29r + hardtails with anything from 26 to 29inch wheels. All with flats and saddles of all sorts of heights and 720 I think is the narrowest bar on there regularly.
If you go for "vehicle specific wiring" then the reverse sensors will cut off when the tow bar electrics are plugged in. If your car has front sensors they will still work. For £50 or so more than a bypass/clip in wires it's totally worthwhile.
V useful!
It looks like most of the tilty racks won’t let a Zafira still open its hatch, but it’s hard to suss out which will - the Atera ones do but it seems only the Evo has the width for boost axle bikes.
I am quite forgetful so I fear that getting a rack that has to be unloaded to access the boot could be quite disastrous…
I see you're South Coast. If you happen to be vaguely regular at QE park in Hampshire then you'd be welcome to have a look and test load of our Buzzrack if timings align with me riding there with my boys (we are usually there a couple of times a month on a Saturday).
Zafira tourer automatically disables the reversing sensors if something is plugged into the towbar socket, or if something is still behind you when you drive forwards. It will beep like crazy when you reverse off the drive though.
The altura has tonnes of room with the zafira, I think a tilty Thule would also have enough space. It's worth noting the altura has straps you're meant to use to hold the back up when loaded with a 4th bike which is a faff. I don't bother as we only use the rear 2 for small kids bikes. Also it flexes loads when laden with 2 or 3 bikes. Might be the rack or the towbar but there's a lot of movement
I'm just north of Brighton if you want to look at an altura rack or a Thule Xpress on a zafira
“I see you’re South Coast. If you happen to be vaguely regular at QE park”
Sadly I haven’t ridden QECP in years, I did the first few day/night enduros there, so much fun!
“I’m just north of Brighton if you want to look at an altura rack or a Thule Xpress on a zafira”
That would be really useful as I live on the northern edge of Brighton! If I could come over with some of my bikes I could see if they fit ok. I’ve watched quite a few YouTube videos but although they often show fitting one bike they don’t show the potential Tetris of getting the second, third or fourth on! I’m sure it’s easy with retro bikes but modern MTBs have such big tubes and suspension and small triangles etc.
I have a buzzrack and it's very simple to fit - mechanism is trivial, spin down and then tighten a clamp, no tools required. It is quite heavy (more an awkward shape), though, as you would expect for something that can safely transport 4 adult bikes. I have to remind myself to lift it properly at my advancing age. Great spacing between 1/2 and 3/4 slots but central spacing is narrower, so need some care if you're taking 4 bikes. Easy tilt (no tools) and adjustable wheel trays etc. All in it's great.
I don't really know how big a deal the car nose weight is for a bike rack, but you might be way over at 75kg if you're looking to load one up. I have an estate that I think is rated around 140 and it's not something I really notice, but I don't generally pick up on stuff do with driving.
So I did a Surrey Hills outing with two full-sus bikes and my hardcore hardtail on the roof and although it wasn't that bad to fit the roof rack (about 20 minutes the night before) and get the bikes up there (a step helps so much), removing it at the end of the day in the dark was pretty bloody annoying. When I got back from the ride I'd said "a roof rack is fine" but by the time I'd removed it I'd concluded that life is too short, lost time can't be bought but more money can be earned.
It's looking like the Atera Strada Evo 3 + 1 is the way to go for something that will take my ebike and a mate's (with the tow bar weight limit I can't put three ebikes on) or my ebike, my hardtail, one adult-sized gigs bike and one smaller kids bike, or something in between.
Any more thoughts?
When you spec your tow bar ask them if there are any known clash issues with reverse sensor when it's not in use.
Until I had the current car I'd always had fixed towbars. When I booked the current one to have the tow bar fitted I was told there's a known issue with that generation of SMax and Galaxy where the fixed ball is 50/50 on interfering with the sensors. If I leave the ball fitted ... Beeeeeeppppppp
Both the previous cars had reverse sensors and fixed towballs without issue.
Tow bar racks are the business for a family.
We've a Thule Euro something or other. Had it 10 years. Used most weeks. Been to France and Spain with 4 bikes on. Roof rack took another bike if needed so the 5 of us could go.
Worth the investment - and there's usually a good selection secondhand.
I personally prefer Thule, having find Atera not quite as good quality.
It’s looking like the Atera Strada Evo 3 + 1 is the way to go for something that will take my ebike and a mate’s (with the tow bar weight limit I can’t put three ebikes on) or my ebike, my hardtail, one adult-sized gigs bike and one smaller kids bike, or something in between.
Ive recently (well, 6 months ago) gone from a Strada DL3 to a Buzzrack E-Scorpion. I’ll never buy another rack where you have to thread the arms through the bikes as they’re being mounted. The DL3 nearly sent me over the edge a few times. You get your technique sorted then change 1 thing and it all goes to pieces.
E-Scorpion involves no faff for 2 bikes then the extender arm is completely removed so really easy to thread through when in use.
Would have been happy with the E-Hornet (non-folding) but being able to fold it is very handy for me. On that version you’d just have to thread through the arm for the outer most bike
The altera strada is what we have on the back of our zafira tourer, not sure what the evo does differently. 3+1 works well with kids bikes but moves quite a lot, not sure I'd want 4 big bikes on it (you're meant to use the extra straps for 4 bikes which is a faff).
Thule user here on the back of a VW Caddy with a tailgate door and 13 pin electrics that work with reversing sensors. Its rated at 75kg load and can take Lev's and fatbikes. Its got the lever fitting which with a little car and WD40 is working really well. Batteries out of eebs do help. <br /><br />Tilt... the back door didn't clear the handlebars when it was tilted. Simple solution was a small drilled metal piece which I think came from an IKEA kitchen. It extended the wire and dropped the tilted bikes enough for the read tailgate to open.<br /><br />Very happy and I think it will last years. Very confidence building looking at stuff in the rear view mirror and nothings moving. Lithuania and Poland have terrible roads and everything survived....
“Ive recently (well, 6 months ago) gone from a Strada DL3 to a Buzzrack E-Scorpion. I’ll never buy another rack where you have to thread the arms through the bikes as they’re being mounted.”
Unless I’m getting confused (easily done with bike racks!) the Evo rack has removable arms so you don’t have this issue.
With the Buzzracks as far as I can see the choices are 2 ebike or 3-4 normal bikes, whilst the Evo 3+1 is rated for 2 big e-bikes or up to 4 normal bikes (or in my case 2 e-bikes or 1 ebike and 3 normal bikes).
It looks like most racks don’t tilt far enough to open the vertical tailgate on a Zafira. And as far I’ve seen the much cheaper non-tilting racks aren’t rated for e-bikes…
I've had and used all sorts. My bikes are XL 29ers and don't fit on a lot of them.
I've now started using a pendle bike. The plate attaches to the tow bar and stays there.
The bars then sit into the plate. Installs in seconds.
Picked it up for £20 on Facebook. Then added a few Thule arms I had laying about that hold the bike in place.
Its not perfect but it is quick to install and remove. Lightweight, compact to install and perfect for 1 or 2 bikes.
Unless I’m getting confused (easily done with bike racks!) the Evo rack has removable arms so you don’t have this issue.
That would be very handy if it did, I thought Atera has stopped doing removable arms (they bloomin' swapped my removable ones for fixed when it was in for repair!). Went looking on their site and Roofbox, but didn't notice it mentioned. Admittedly was just a quick scan so I could've missed it.
I’ve now started using a pendle bike. The plate attaches to the tow bar and stays there.
Just highlighting this. I like the Pendle I had years ago when I got a tow bar mounted instead of just a ball. Doesn't look like they have any ball mounted options these days. OTOH their trailers always get my attention...
Another Atera Strada 3+1 fan here - getting on 8 years old and still fine.
Easy to get on and off. Slides and tilts away giving good access to the boot. You soon figure out the best way to juggle bikes to fit.
A proper installation will mean the reversing sensors are deactivated when the tow bar plug is connected to the electrics socket. Do not forget this.....
Nose weight is easy to misjudge - the rack and 4 lightish hardtails get very close to the noseweight on our Octavia estate, steering is noticeably lighter.
"A proper installation will mean the reversing sensors are deactivated when the tow bar plug is connected to the electrics socket. Do not forget this….."
This is the next question! If I'm going with a Strada Evo 3+1, what towbar should be fitted to my Zafira Tourer and who should I get to do the installation? I've seen kits you can install yourself and although I'm decent at this stuff I have to admit that the whole reason for the switch to a tow bar rack is the lack of time I have (when do children start looking after themselves?!!) and whenever doing anything for the first time it always takes ages longer than if it's something you do on a daily basis...
Don’t buy any of the ones that you need a spanner to bolt it on the towbar – if you have to do it regularly it’s a pain in the backside.
I've still got an Aiston rack that goes on with bolts, the phrase cold dead hands comes to mind and if someone rear-ended me I'd be more worried for their car than the bikes! The "faff" of pipping up the clamps with a spanner is offset by the lack of plastics, moving parts, etc which means it lives out in the elements on my driveway 24/7/365. From walking out the door with a bike to driving off is easily <5min.
I picked up a socket/ratchet set from the middle at Lidl years ago, which along with a set of allen keys for doing bolt through axles lives in the car boot. A little 'luxury' that saves a lot of knuckles and swearing if either the car or bike gets a puncture!
I've had a chat to the useful roofbox.co.uk people and they confirmed that you can move the arms around on the Strada Evo - and said that people sometimes fit them to the bike first and then put the bike on the rack before clamping on the other end of the arm. It seems that if I want to carry 2 big ebikes, 1 bike plus 2 or 3 bikes or just 4 normal bikes and be able to open the tailgate on the Zafira then the Strada Evo is the only option.
One limitation I've noticed which won't affect me (my bikes are both about 1235mm long) but could affect anyone getting a lift who has a bigger bike - the max wheelbase is 1250mm. What happens with these racks if a bike is 20/30/40/50mm longer than the max wheelbase for the rack? It it impossible to fit a longer bike securely or is it a viable occasional bodge?
I'd imagine fitting the arms to the bikes then clamping to the rack would be equally as tricky as doing it the normal way. Plus the clamps onto the rack are a bit crappy.
You mount the bikes alternately nose to tail. The arm for bike 2 comes out between downtube & forks of bike 1. The longer arm for bike 3 is trickiest. It'll have to go over it through the triangle of bike 1 then probably between fork & downtube of bike 2 but all bikes are different so you have to juggle things a little. The arms all curve slightly so you can spin them round to thread through gaps at slightly different angles. Once you've got a system then stick to it.
Bike 4 is easy coz it connects directly to bike 3 with a "handcuff" clamp.
I had a new fixed swan neck fitted to my Galaxy for £250. Inc wiring.
You don't have to code it to the car. You can just turn off the reversing sensors manually.
Oh yeah - you can mount longer bikes. You slide the wheel mounts right to the end and one wheel might drop slightly over the edge but the strap holds it ok.
"Oh yeah – you can mount longer bikes. You slide the wheel mounts right to the end and one wheel might drop slightly over the edge but the strap holds it ok."
Thanks! How much leeway do we have with that? Could a 1300mm wheelbase bike sit safely on a 1250mm limit Atera rack?
my 1270 wheelbase 29er is fine on my strada dl.
This is the next question! If I’m going with a Strada Evo 3+1, what towbar should be fitted to my Zafira Tourer and who should I get to do the installation? I’ve seen kits you can install yourself and although I’m decent at this stuff I have to admit that the whole reason for the switch to a tow bar rack is the lack of time I have (when do children start looking after themselves?!!) and whenever doing anything for the first time it always takes ages longer than if it’s something you do on a daily basis…
I got ours from eurocarparts and fitted it ourselves. Does the reversing sensor integration but it isn't needed (as I sometimes use a thule xpressrack without a lighting board)
edit : looks like they don't sell it any more. was a brink kit.
I've got the Yakima Just Click and been using it for about 3 years not. Most of the time it's really, really easy to load up. I normally have two full fat ebikes on the back, but often have three normal bikes on the bike as well.
There's two issues:
1. The arms - The long arm can clamp to the second bike needs to thread through/past the first bike. With the click on attachment, the arm connects two bikes together rather than going back to the rack - that's actually a lot easier and although I've got no issues with it, it does feel a little less secure.
2. The wheel mounts - The furthest away (from the car) wheel mounts don't move, so you'll need to buy the XL wheelstraps so it'll work with a longer wheelbase.
I've also had the cable that secures the rack stretch a bit which has caused some issues with taking it on and off, but it just means you need to pull the cable rather than push down on the bit on the outside of the rack to take it off - which, if anything, is probably even more secure!