Anyone use a Thule Hangon bike rack on a D2?

[Bill]

This may well turn out to be a what bike carrier thread...

I'm trying to find a suitable bike carrier for my D2 and had settled on a MaxxRaxx as I've had one in the past but their prices seem to have gone through the roof Thule do a ball mounted rack (Thule 9708/Hangon) for less than half the money but I'm not sure it'll clear the spare wheel. The bumper and tow hitch stick out a fair way though so I'm hoping to get away with it.

I'd rather not use a spare wheel mounted rack as 4/5 bikes weigh a fair bit and I'm not convinced the hinges or wheel carrier can take it.

[MaverickV12]

Bill said:

I'd rather not use a spare wheel mounted rack as 4/5 bikes weigh a fair bit and I'm not convinced the hinges or wheel carrier can take it.

I used this on the back of my car .....



When I fully loaded it, I strapped it up and tensioned the straps against the spare wheel and (in turn) obvioulsy the door. It put massive stress on the door and the latch etc which made them miss the catch plate I had to reset it when I got home. Its ok now, but I would not do that again, I will obviously load the carrier, but just not with too much.

With 4/5 bikes, that is not an inconsiderable weight, the problem is, the wheel is damned heavy as well, and if you take the wheel off and slamb the door, there is such a huge difference .....

For extra carrying ability I went for the top box, the one in the picture is the largest one they do. But for bikes, the sky is the limit on the roof.....

[MaverickV12]

http://thumbsnap.com/4q5EKFc3

[Bill]

We have a roofbox too, so that's out for bikes.

There are five of us and, while the kids' bikes are small, the load mounts up and 35+kg on a lever hanging off the spare/door seems like a spectacularly bad idea. And I can't see the Thule rack fitting.

[LFB531]

I used to hang 4 bikes off the back of my old D2 with a rack like the Maxxrax, it did always feel as if we were fitted with a rudder though. Eventually, I got cheesed off with the whole attaching things to the car/roofboxes etc and bought a Daxara aluminium trailer with a grp lid and bike rack on top. Disco never noticed it was there and so much easier to load. When kids outgrew all that stuff, trailer sold and almost all the money back.

Just like this one;

Edited by LFB531 on Thursday 27th March 13:59

[MaverickV12]

LFB531 said:

Just like this one

I've been looking at something like this, as it would solve a lot of problems for me and kids. However with the Swiss/French Alpes and the South of France being about 750-1000 miles away and as such a 2500 mile round trip being an easily attained mileage figure....... may I ask what sort of speed you could do with the trailer on?

I tend to hover around the 81mph mark everywhere we go (faster if I could but obviously can't ) ........ were you stuck at say 60mph everyhwere you went?

[LFB531]

To my knowledge (and I'll admit I've never checked properly), I'm not aware that there is a reduced speed limit for trailers in France, judging by what I've seen I seriously doubt it!

I did Morzine and Bordeaux as my furthest trips with the trailer and in reality, I doubt I would have gone any quicker without the trailer on. My D2 was quite happy toddling along c75mph on the autoroutes and was great without the added racket from a roofbox. The biggest plus however was getting into the back door, no matter how clever the rack, if those are on the back it was always a pain. Going on holiday with no clutter in the car as well is just great!

Bit of bloke advice though, whatever size you think will do, always go for the next size up. I had a 5' x 4' and could have used another foot, amazing what extra clobber you take when it's easy! A jockey wheel makes life easy and 13' tyres are much easier to replace that 12" if you have a problem.

Edit: I've just looked on the Caravan Club site, they say that combined rig not over 3.5t is normal limits, so 130kmh in the dry.

Edited by LFB531 on Friday 28th March 09:14

Edited by LFB531 on Friday 28th March 09:19

[Bill]

A trailer is a bit overkill for us tbh. If I was going down that route I'd probably get a small caravan so I could sleep in comfort too

[MaverickV12]

LFB531 said:

Going on holiday with no clutter in the car as well is just great!

Thanks for your response.

To the OP, I understand about the caravan, it just seems whatever the situation with a pile of kids, its just some sort of compromise. TBH, I'd do the top box and large trailer, which I think it great if its not too far. The problem being is the original road trip to get to where you want to go. If its Italy/Austria, then you are looking at a minimum of 1000 miles there and a 1000 miles back.

So the problem for me is not winding my way through the Swiss Alps, its the journey to and from ......

[SpannerMonkeys]

We have a tow ball mounted for the D2 and a spare wheel mounted one