4 bike carrier - tow bar

winlikefin

Hi

I am looking for views on a 4 bike tow bar mounted bike rack - http://www.carracks.co.uk/487000.html

It seems to have all the features I want and is lower priced than some of the competitors.

Has anyone here used this rack? Any problems/concerns?

Any alternatives?

The rack will be mounted on a Grand Scenic and will be used to carry both MTB and Road bikes.

I will also be posting this in the Road Buying Advice forum!

Thanks

F.

The Rookie

Halfords do one for £150 http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... 65477#tab1
No direct experience, but the store where my daughter works has sold several and no had anyone come back and complained...

Simon

Shackster

I've got one of these, got it after seeing a mate's one:

http://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehs ... e5u%7D%7Do

Roofbox also do ones like you've linked. I would have liked one like that, as it would have been better at keeping the bikes apart, but you have to watch the nose weight - a carrier like that plus four bikes and you're getting very close to or over the limit on some cars.

The Moose one is very well made and rock solid on the car. It takes some practice to load quickly, and if you've got small framed bikes or frames where the rear shock sits under the top tube then you might also need a top tube adapter thing from Halfords (an extra bar that sits between the seat post and stem).

I've got three full sized bikes on this, and two adult/two children's bikes (mine went on the outside as it was lightest ). Four adult bikes would be possible but you'd be taking front wheels off to turn the bars, removing pedals etc. You also need some pipe lagging to protect your frame and in particular your fork stanchions ( a lesson learned too late for me ).

winlikefin

Thanks for the comments & suggestions.

I had been looking at a platform style because of the extra faffing required to load up the kids bikes - especially after they have been liberally hosed with mud!

The Halfords site is down at the minute so I'll need to check that later.

Northwind

You might also want to check the towbar loading limit for your car. Loads of people ignore this to be fair and don't seem to die but 4 bikes + rack is a pretty substantial amount of ironmongery.