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Looking for options to transport 6 bikes (all fairly lightweight xc bikes) on the back of the van. It doesn’t look like anyone outside of the states does a 6 bike rack - I had thought a vw tailgate carrier over the top of our towbar rack might have worked but looking at them they don’t look like they’d be high enough to clear the tow bar mounted bikes. Is there anything better than a bike park style trailer like this?
https://www.burtechtrailers.co.uk/bike-trailers
I used to carry 6 bikes on the roof of a Tourneo. Is that not an option - even a roof rack AND towbar?
Couple in bike bags inside?
Having towed many a bike trailer for work - they bounce and batter bikes compared to being in or on a vehicle. Just don't.
Roof rack and rear rack?
A couple inside and 4 on back?
We do 4 on the back, 2 on the roof.
Drop racks look great - never seen those before. Spendy right enough!!
The only challenge I have with roof racks is my office car park has a 2m restriction (as do plenty other places we visit) so leaving the bars on even without the bike carriers is a no-no.
Scotrouts - can you get 6 across on a transit or 2 rows? I guess ladders are involved??
Box trailer and lots of padding?
@petrieboy – 6 across the roof. One row. “Sardined”
The only challenge I have with roof racks is my office car park has a 2m restriction (as do plenty other places we visit) so leaving the bars on even without the bike carriers is a no-no.
Blimey, there’s only 1 post between your posts . Ultimate STW 😂
Having towed many a bike trailer for work – they bounce and batter bikes compared to being in or on a vehicle. Just don’t.
We have a club trailer that takes 10 bikes. That's built out of a normal braked flatbed trailer with a low profile hardtop lid, a load of roof bars over that and some top end Thule bike racks. It's sort of custom built out of off the shelf parts.
Bikes don't get knocked around at all, though it's probably not far off the tow limit for the car when it's filled up for a race weekend, tents, sleeping bags, race kit, food, stove, gas bottles and so on, so it certainly doesn't bounce around.
You could do something for 6 bikes using a small utility trailer.
those burtech trailers look horrific though.
I have a custom 1 bike VW tailgate rack thanks to this missus reversing it into a post. This and a tow bar rack gives us 5 on the back. I have one on the roof and one inside. I attach a ladder to the last bike as well has made putting the bike on the roof much easier.
Having towed many a bike trailer for work – they bounce and batter bikes compared to being in or on a vehicle. Just don’t.
Don't know what the Pendle ones are like? I know someone who bodged two Thule 591s on to the top of a small trailer and he reckoned it was fine.
I borrowed a pal's wire sided trailer and built an all-in-one wheel rack from 2x2 for 5 bikes, worked great.
We do 6 bikes across the top of our camping trailer using normal Thule bike racks on 150cm bars. It's tight, but we've not had any issues.
is there a reason you couldn't import one from us/canada? a lot of them are built in the far east. Alternately buy 3 of the flange mount scorpion racks and get some custom plate to mount them to the back of the van. The shred shuttle gets ~15-20 bikes on the back, its bigger than a transporter but it shows what can be done
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The shred shuttle gets ~15-20 bikes on the back, its bigger than a transporter but it shows what can be done
And I assume has uprated suspension and more. To hang 6 bikes off the back of a T6 surely takes you over nose weight?
Hearing those folk suggesting a trailer + 'proper' Thule racks - but that is both a damn expensive way (you could just put racks on the T6, no trailer needed) and keeps the pain that is a trailer on speed limits, reversing and parking. It would solve a lot of the bike damage issues though - I tied two Thule towbar mounted 4 bike racks inside a box trailer a few weeks ago to get 8 bikes to Comrie Croft.
How about 4 on the back (either tailgate rack or towbar-mounted) and the other two on suction-mount racks on the roof? Avoids breaching the 2.0m height when not using them that roofbars would.
That's far too sensible a suggestion @a11y and overly likely to work, so I'll fix it for you
How about 4 on the back (either tailgate rack or towbar-mounted) and the other two on suction-mount racks on either side so your van looks like it's got wings?? If you had a camper it would be perfect
@dangeourbrain, other driver's reactions when they see a VW Transporter with bikes stuck to the side of it like wings:
Needs a 2″tow ball
As a total aside, why don’t they make bike carriers that lock onto removable tow ball mount points rather than onto the tow ball? Feels like to two interfaces for the price of one.
I bought a small trailer for camping recently, 3' X 6'. And have Been creating my own rack for the top. Not finished quite yet but I'll get 6 bikes on it, all secured by front fork mounts, and although not without cost, it's not as much as a load of Thule racks. I confirmed those and event tried some cheeky bids on eBay before going this route. Busy currently but I'll try and post some details later or tomorrow. Summary, if a trailer is useful anyway, then on top of the trailer is worth considering.
The big American style racks look great but they seem to be for us spec square hole hitches.
I believe the nose weight of my towbar is 100kg which should be enough for us if only someone made a suitable rack
Hearing those folk suggesting a trailer + ‘proper’ Thule racks – but that is both a damn expensive way (you could just put racks on the T6, no trailer needed) and keeps the pain that is a trailer on speed limits, reversing and parking. It would solve a lot of the bike damage issues though
Yeah, they only did it for our club as they usually travel mob handed to events, also, the speed limits are mostly 90-100kph round here so you can easily roll along with a trailer at the speed limit. Near enough. Speeding is also _not_ endemic.
20 or 30 riders going to an event where most people have 4 or 5 seats in the car, but only 2 bike spaces is not a good use of resource! So they all meet up and stick 10 bikes on one trailer. Funny to see a 5000 quid golf towing 100+ grands worth of bikes... (it's well insured)
I've not personally had any issues with parking and reversing with a car + trailer or caravan (or lorry + trailer) though i wouldn't fancy it in a Tescos carpark on a saturday morning! Just a matter of planning and practice 😉
(i just had a look and i could do a 4 bike version for myself with second hand kit for about £6-700 on a 500 kilo unbraked trailer. With the added benefit that you can probably move it round like a wheelbarrow of you load it properly!)
I've bought these
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hot-Bike-Car-Roof-Carrier-Fork-Mount-Rack-Block-Quick-Release-M15x100-110mm-UK-/144351881884?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0
And these
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bicycle-Bike-Front-Fork-Quick-release-Car-SUV-Carrier-Alloy-Block-Mount-Rack-/224676893420?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0
And built a rack for the trailer using galvanized tubing and fittings designed for hand rail
https://leachs.com/collections/scaffold-tube-clamps?gclid=CjwKCAjwjZmTBhB4EiwAynRmDwp-kb6ZY0ktAyq-3HMxmUYs627JC5O58Yb5xoCjbblEJ0fx9LabCxoCvqcQAvD_BwE
Search for key clamp or q clamp. The tube cuts readily with a hacksaw so as long as you can drill a few bolt holes in the sides of your trailer it's a straightforward job to build up a rack for £100, plus the price of the bike mounts..._£200 ish all in
Thought I should update this for the benefit of other big families - went with a second hand Burtec trailer and we’ve just one our first fully laiden holiday. Once the wheel slots are adjusted and the straps are in place (once only task - bikes go in the same slot every time) loading time is comfortably under 10 minutes even with my paranoid checking of everything. Bikes don’t touch each other and only wheels and grips touch the trailer so no scuffs or dings
It was also helpful to be able to load up the trailer whilst decoupled from the car so that could be loaded separately. At the destination the trailer could also be wheeled out of they way whilst bags were unpacked.
The platform is a good size to take paddle boards for holidays or I guess a very large tent. or a bag of helmets and pads etc for local stuff.
Tows really nicely. It’s much more substantial than my old camping trailer so doesn’t bounce around too much. I’m happy at 60 on the motorway for MPG reasons anyway and it’s not noticeable at all. Overall, it gets a big thumbs up from us
