Transporting E-bikes are a nightmare!
- Thread starter kingsknight
- Start date
I use one of these:So I've hit my biggest issue with owning e-bikes now! My wife and myself both have an ebike each and decided we would like to get a bike rack for the car like we did years back for our normal bikes.
So we would buy a rack, put it on the back of our car and drive to where we wanted to go right? Wrong.... Turns out that you cannot use a standard bike rack for the car due to the weight of the bikes so you have to buy a special rack which connects to the tow bar of the car.... The tow bar which neither of our cars have! So we are looking at around £1000 to buy the rack and have a tow bar fitted to our car just to take the bikes on holiday with us!
Has anyone found away around this issue? We can't fit the bikes inside the car as we have a baby and a bunch of stuff now.
Am I being completely stupid here because I cannot see any cheap ways to attach the bikes to our car
https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-racks/towbar-mounted-bike-racks/exodus-3-bike-towbar-mounted-cycle-carrier
Actually, I tell a lie (Halfords used to sell it) - this is the one I use:
https://www.cyclerepublic.com/exodus-2-bike-towbar-mount-cycle-carrier.html
https://www.cyclerepublic.com/exodus-2-bike-towbar-mount-cycle-carrier.html
Oh wow
they really are expensive these days, I remember paying about £160 for one years ago.
Its the dedicated wiring kit which is nearly £400 on its own. If you choose to risk any canbus issues and just solder/scotch lock the wires in its much cheaper. Its how cars are made now to give us all this fancy tech that we neither want or need that makes them difficult to modify.Oh wow
Looks like the bike is suspended from the crosbar.. mmmm.. An inexpensive rack that takes little room in the garage, but I wouldnt dare transport 1 ebike, let aone 2 on this type of rack. .. Your first link states not suitable for e-bikes..
If putting a bag out at the wheelie bin at the end of our long off road drive I'm getting out first to get it out the back before my journey, this stupid bleeper kicks off within a second. It's the same if you get anything moderately heavy from the shops and put it on the seat....they're stupid people inventions, I'm fully aware of the law and fully aware of when it is on or off, and needs to be on. Idiot lights(telling me when to gear change? can it read the immediate road ahead coming up ffs??) and bleepers are a scourge of modern motoring and have even crept into e-bikes from the off (gear changing on the Bosch....NOOOOOOO!)
Everything beeps at you these days, I've got used to it.
What really bugs me is the wailing wenches blaring at you from the PA systems wherever you go, shopping centres, coffee shops, pubs and restaurants.
I could cheerfully strangle all the the Maria Careys of this world.........
What really bugs me is the wailing wenches blaring at you from the PA systems wherever you go, shopping centres, coffee shops, pubs and restaurants.
I could cheerfully strangle all the the Maria Careys of this world.........
I've never had a problem and I must have transported my (Woosh Big Bear) ebike over a few hundred miles at least using this type of carrier - though I agree, I wouldnt fancy carrying 2 ebikes. Having said that, it all depends on the total weight.
By the way - this is the one (Halfords used to sell it but, apparently, not anymore). £35!:
https://www.cyclerepublic.com/exodus-2-bike-towbar-mount-cycle-carrier.html
I bought a nice Thule 2-bike rack off Gumtree locally. £160. I find it quite easy to get on/off and the rack has a foot pedal at the rear to allow the bikes to be tilted at an angle to allow access to the boot.
I also made up a plinth that I attach to the rack so it is a level platform for using as a mini-trailer to take stuff up the tip. With this I actually took a front-loading washing machine weighing 60kg to Manchester from Poole, so it has proved a very useful addition. As I have a trailer factory, the first thing I do with a new (to me) vehicle is add a towbar - even though my factory is 12,000 miles away!
I also made up a plinth that I attach to the rack so it is a level platform for using as a mini-trailer to take stuff up the tip. With this I actually took a front-loading washing machine weighing 60kg to Manchester from Poole, so it has proved a very useful addition. As I have a trailer factory, the first thing I do with a new (to me) vehicle is add a towbar - even though my factory is 12,000 miles away!
As long as it is within the certified nose weight of the tow-hitch there is no problem. I was followed up the M5 for about 20 miles by a highway patrol car, they saw no issues.
I have folded (or removed) the double rear seat, of my Berlingo, leaving the single rear seat. I can now get 3 bikes diagonally into the back, 2 adults and a child or 3 adults if a front wheel is removed (not 29" wheels tho!) and have seats for 3 cyclists too. Nice and safe, dry too. I do have a 3 bike towbar mounted carrier too, but since it is of the hanging down bikes, and ebikes are heavy or require false crossbars to hang, I do not use it much. No way would my new Trance E+3 travel outside!!
Update: The one I use has now been superceded by the Thule 970. Still a reasonably inexpensive way of carrying 2 bikes (lighten the load for a e-bikes by removing saddle, battery etc etc) - £60. (Although it does need a car with a towbar - and a "trailer board" - still a cheap option)
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As said, a lot depends on the car. I got a decent towbar for my 1995 Peugeot from a UK supplier on Ebay for £70 and DIY fitted it (very simple). My 2007 BMW has fully computerised electronics which are tempramental even as standard, any connections to the wiring need to be done using factory wiring kits and the car then "coded" so dashboard warning lights behave as they should, £1500 at a dealer sounds about right
Ah! but with a Berlingo you can take out the double seat and the front bike wheels and store parallel inside leavinf 1 back seat and plenty of space for the other stuff.
