Towbar carrier for 4 bikes, 2 of which are kids bikes...

[TedMaul]

As per title (kids bikes are 12" and 16" wheel so v small), plenty of 2&3 bike carriers, not that many 4. Thule G6 928 looks the business, but not exactly cheap, especially when you add in cost of towbar and 4th rack, but not much deaere than buying 3 new racks for the roof (I have a single one for my bike) but am wanting to take all 4 bikes now and need all the boot space for other gear.

Any recommendations/experiances appreciated.

Ta

Mike

(apologies I wont answer any replies for a while, i'm not being rude, just one of those weeks)

[TedMaul]

Know what you mean about hang ons, I dont think it would work for my daughters 12" wheel bike either.

That Halfords one is stonking good value. It doesnt tilt by the looks of it so i'd have to put some thought into packing the car but its about 1/2 the price of the Thule. But i do have Thule gear for the roof. 10 Years old and its as good as the day I bought it and its survived 3 different cars....

Decisions, decisions!

[TedMaul]

CoolC said:

The Atera Strada is seen as the dog's danglies of rear ball mounted racks.

http://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel4_tab.php...

Light, tilts, adjustable etc. but VERY expensive.

That does look the business and cheaper than the thule, but can only carry 3 bikes max, even with an adaptor.

I think its between the halfords one and the Thule (tho the thule one is a few quid cheaper from roofbox)

[TedMaul]

CoolC said:

Sorry I linked to the wrong one. Here is the 3 - 4 bike version: http://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel4_tab.php...

Blimey, that looks neat, especially the sliding access mechanism and £100 cheaper than the thule. Now top of the list, thank you!

[TedMaul]

So towsure offering a discount on mobile towbar fitting and roofbox offering £70 quid of the Atera DL means I get the 4th bike expansion for free effectively, so have ordered the lot. £600 all in which I think is actually very good value given it should last until i'm too old to pedal. Plus its so much lessle hassle to fit to the car compared to 2 roof bars and 4 bike carriers. So the video makes it seem anyway..

Hope its all done & turns up before Friday as we are off to N wales for the long weekend!

Cheers for the advice and i'll post some feedback once we've used it

[TedMaul]

CoolC said:

Please do. I've been concidering getting a towball fitted to my next company car and using one. It's easier than having to get the right bars for each car for the roof carriers.

Ordered it 12pm Friday, arrived 12pm today, well done roofbox and well done TNT. Got home later than planned, but had it set up in 5 mins flat, just like the video. The 4th bike extention took about 5 mins too, would have been less if i'd read the instructions properly about which washer to use where (the biggest washers go on the shortest bolts not the longest)

Very good quality piece of kit, couple of extra features not documented. Number plate retainer is made of 2 small plastic clips, no screws, so you can swap plates in 10 secs, useful if swapping carrier between cars. Wheel chocks that sit in the aluminium tray are reversible - in all the pics they face outwards, which they need to on a 26" wheel bike, but you can knock them out and put them in the other way round which suits smaller wheeled bikes.

I have my Mount Vision, which is an awkward shape frame (2003 model, unsure if its changed) Mrs Mauls WSD Giant, my sons 16" bike, a BMX style kids bike and my daughters 12" 1st bike, all on in no time. Common sense said to put heavier bikes near towball, but it means feeding the arms through the frames of the two bigger bikes to reach the smaller ones. Logisticall, its easier to put the small bikes near the towbar, but its pitch dark now, so I will experiment later.

All in all, great product, great service. Will experiment with bike layout tomorrow if I get time, otherwise I will have to wait until Friday for its maiden voyage to North Wales!!!

[TedMaul]

Sadly, was told today that the 5 day install time for the towbar was optimistic so I wont have it for this weekend, will be June 11th, but summer is here, my youngest has just learnt to ride so its all good!

[TedMaul]

I have a good pic somewhere, i'll have a look on other computer

As per post above, the logical thing to do is put the larger bikes on 1st in terms of torsional force, but this is a mare so I do resort to putting the smallest bike on 1st, largest last, alternating facing left/right and alternating cranks up/down. The arms and the wheels chocks are all adjustable and the chocks themselves reversible. I put smallest bike on 1st, then 2nd bike on and put the arm over the frame of the smaller bike and repeat. It looks ungainly having the smaller bike nearer the car, but so much easier.

Its worth spending an hour or so well ahead of your first trip messing about with combinations, sliding each bike left/right by moving/reversing the chocks rather than leaving it to the morning of your trip. Once you have your system sorted, you can lock the chocks in place and its a 5 min job thereafter

Combinations I have tried (kids have grown since I bought it)

12"/16"/26"
12"/20"/26"
16"/20"/26"
20"/20"/26"
and now 20"/24"/26"

I did once take 12/16/20/26 as well but only once

I'll look for photo in a bit