Bike carrier advice

[JasonB]

Hello all, I have a bit of a quandary. I am going to buy a tow ball mounted bike carrier for 3 bikes.

Now, I only have one eMTB (my Haibike XDuro), one ladies hard tail mountain bike and a youth sized mountain bike.

There are carriers specifically for e-bikes but these are for multiple e-bikes. If a carrier has a total capacity of 60kg but a single bike limit of 15kg, would having my Haibike at 21.5kg plus the two others present a problem? As the total weight would be below 60kg but one bike exceeds the single bike limit.

Hope you get what I mean.

Jason

 

[ajh2001]

Hi Jason,

This is one of the things that I've been wondering and has so far slowed down my purchase of an ebike, so I'll be interested to hear what others say!

We have a 4 bike rack, but often now only carry 3 bikes, two of which are very lightweight road bikes, the third would be mine - potentially an ebike. So we should be well within the max 60kg limit. My concern is that the weight is balanced from side to side. Initially I was looking at a rear wheel motor and rear positioned battery, obviously the battery would be removed, but the ebike I hired was still particularly rear end heavy, which might cause some imbalance from side to side and we were worried it might therefore cause some movement or instability on the rack.

I am now erring towards converting a lightweight(ish) hybrid, with a front motor and rear battery. The idea being that we could remove the battery AND the front wheel and it would weigh the same as a non-electric bike, and that should my cycle hating older son want to ride he could use it with a 'normal' front wheel attached!

Angela

 

[Wander]

... but the ebike I hired was still particularly rear end heavy, which might cause some imbalance from side to side and we were worried it might therefore cause some movement or instability on the rack.

Picking up on that point Jason's Haibike XDuro will have a mid mounted crank drive so probably won't have the same issue as the bike you hired.

Have you considered a crank drive? Good idea to remove the battery when being transported but removing a front hub motored wheel sounds like it is going to start being a bit of a faff.

Jason, I'm no expert however I would think if you had the Haibike as the one nearest the tow hitch then it would probably be okay. With the battery removed it would probably only be 2-3 kg over the 15kg.

 

[JasonB]

Thanks for the replies, chaps. I am now leaning forward a heavier duty one, purely for peace of mind.

 

[Jimod]

Thanks for the replies, chaps. I am now leaning forward a heavier duty one, purely for peace of mind.

I have a Thule 3 bike carrier. 60kg limit and 20kg per bike. My ebikes are probably only 20kg without the battery fitted. They sit very secure when on the rack and I've done some fairly high speed runs with it on, It sits very secure and doesn't move when clamped on properly.

It's this one: http://www.freeborn.co.uk/thule-929-euroclassic-g6-3-bike-towball-carrier

I had to buy the adaptor to make it fit my 7 pin socket on the car, the rack comes with a 13 pin plug. I recommend it.

I've just looked at the Thule site. It states 25kg maximum weight of a single bike.
http://www.thule.com/en/gb/products/carriers-and-racks/bike-carriers/towbar-mounted-bike-carriers/thule-eu

 

[Smart eBiker]

I have a Thule 3 bike carrier. 60kg limit and 20kg per bike. My ebikes are probably only 20kg without the battery fitted. They sit very secure when on the rack and I've done some fairly high speed runs with it on, It sits very secure and doesn't move when clamped on properly.

It's this one: http://www.freeborn.co.uk/thule-929-euroclassic-g6-3-bike-towball-carrier

I had to buy the adaptor to make it fit my 7 pin socket on the car, the rack comes with a 13 pin plug. I recommend it.

I've just looked at the Thule site. It states 25kg maximum weight of a single bike.
http://www.thule.com/en/gb/products/carriers-and-racks/bike-carriers/towbar-mounted-bike-carriers/thule-eu

I bought a Thule Easybase http://www.freeborn.co.uk/thule-949-easybase-base-unit and a couple of these bike attachment kits, you can get a single but it wasn't that much more for a double, so I'm using 3 and have a spare https://roofracks.co.uk/thule-easybike-948-2/ (Click on the video tab on this link to see the available attachments). Its also a handy load base and you can get a box or Easybag to put on it for extra space in the car http://www.freeborn.co.uk/thule-9484-easybase-easybag You tube has videos of them, some in English