Cycle & Tow Racks
Hi,
Just wondering if anyone has a great idea for for carrying two cycles and still tow.
If it helps we have a Quashqai and a swan neck detachable bar
I don't fancy the roof as am short !!!
Comments
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Discussed in several places such as:
In summary:
You have to work within your loading capacity and tow ball load if you don't use the car roof or inside car (difficult unless folding bikes?).
May be able to get a rack which fits to swan neck but possibly unable to attach to van?
IMHO safest way is on car roof (will caravan step or even light stepladders help?) otherwise you may suffer restrictions on opening hatch, manouvering on site, weight on tow ball, use of van en route, MTPLM of caravan, potential instability (although that is often rubbished) from rear mounted rack.
See if the search helps or come back with more specifics that others may be better placed to advise on
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I have the same problem, I have just noticed that the new swift caravans have fixing points for a bike rack on the back of the van. Could these points be reto fitted to my 2012 challenger ?
When they design the walls they put strengthening in to spread out the loads. They also fit blocks or similar to stop the wall being crushed when the brackets are tightened. Only way would be to rebuild the back wall ..
Caravans with bike racks on the back seems to be a new idea.
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....not in Holland
im sure continental caravans must be made differently (properly?) over there.....Germans, Dutch dont have an issue with bikes on rear caravan racks.
however, if carrying on a car roof, there are swing up racks that take the effort and risk out of carrying in this way
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I previously used a tow bar carrier which would take up to 4 cycles made by Pendle. However it would only work with a fixed ball as it had to be bolted behind the ball. It was a taller version so the bikes cleared the caravan A Frame. Although Pendle and others make a variety of designs I doubt whether they would work with a detachable. My main point I would stress that you would have to include the weight of the carrier and bikes to your vehicles max tow hitch weight. The likes of Landrovers at 150kg are ok but you would need to check your Quashqai.
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if the weight at each end is matched, then surely there is no more pendulum effect than if the two ends were matched at a lighter weight?
are you saying that a van weighing 100kg more than another is suddenly much more unwieldy than a lighter one despite them both being balanced the same?
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I am saying that putting weights to the very back of a caravan could make it unstable. Caravans are not intended to be balanced BB, we need noseweight to remain stable.
As the caravan club "experts" all agree and have done so for many years. Look in the handbook
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so, 30kg at the back (2x10kg bikes and a 10kg rack), 30kg at the front to balance it, doesnt this maintain same nose weight?
surely 'any' caravan can cope with a paltry 60kg....otherwise whats the point of them if you cant carry anything?
or, if necessary) take 60kg out of your van (clothes, food, books, general detritus etc) and stick it in the towcar....
if there is so little flexibility that you cant even take your bikes with you ....
all this talk about milligrams yet i bet only a tiny percentage of CTers have actually weighed their towcar and caravan fully loaded
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We have had bike racks on the back of two caravans (total, nearly 20 years) and it is by far the best way to carry bikes.
There is absolutely no noticable difference in stability, whether the bikes are on the rack or not.
I believe that only Swift fit the necessary reinforcing blocks to take a rack (and yes, they can be fitted to older Swift caravans - our first one was an Abbey - a predecessor to Swift).
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so, 30kg at the back (2x10kg bikes and a 10kg rack), 30kg at the front to balance it, doesnt this maintain same nose weight?
Same nose weight, but quite different moment of inertia. 30kg multiplied by distance to front/rear from centre of axle. Times two. A bit like 60kg swinging about at the length of the caravan.
This is why users are advised to load above the axle.
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Thanks Nav.
No offence to BB intended but I am not a physicist and spending the next hour and 50 posts trying to expain what is in the handbook just did not appeal hence my somewhat less than serious answer.
Ian, Thats perfectly fine, i did say, many have had no issues but I won't be doing it as I reckon it's only when something happens on the road and you need maximum stabillity that a problem would arise.
I am happy to load my caravan as I have been doing for quite a long time now.
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Hi,
I would opt for the roof - carry ours on an S-Max; I also have small pair of fold up steps to help getting them up/down.
Tried carrying in the van but they are a pain to get in and out. On the roof, they are out of the way until you need them.
Cheers - Darren
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We carry our bikes on the car roof. But I think that it's fair to assume that Swift know enough about towing stability to have considered all aspects of hanging bikes on the back of a caravan. In the opposite corner we have the "avoid rear weight and pendulum
instability" faction, who post their beliefs with an almost religious zeal. Pause for a minute to consider that almost half the weight of a 1.5 Ton caravan is behind the axle. Is that of so little consequence that adding two bikes is likely to bring about
a calamity? If our swift van had the necessary reinforcing we'd put bikes on the back to offset its high nose weight - max payload seems more of an issue to me.0 -
Hello, would like help fitting a bike rack to my Autotaril Eks Tracter, is there a bike rack on the market to fit around the spare wheel to avoid the bikes being too high, And not drilling through with the rear shower wall .
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My caravan's kitchen, with all the associated heavyweight domestic equipment, is to be found between the tow bar and the single axle Behind the axle is the spare tyre and a few bits and pieces in addition to the bed. To add two bikes and carriers to the rear (30KG has been mentioned) would likely give me problems in attempting to achieve the desired nose-weight of 90KG at the hitch. Let alone the increased pendulum effect of a greater weight at the circumference of the arc, from the fulcrum (tow ball.)
Whilst Ian has noticed no change to stability - I have no wish to risk doing so.
I agree max. overall payload is an issue, but would ask why have not manufacturers given us this rear mounting before?
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