Bike Rack

[Leigh]

We have a swing away wheel carrier which sits to the right on the rear of our LC120. We want to take two bikes with us but don't want to carry them on the roof. Does anyone know of any bike racks that would suit this situation? I am reluctant for a tow bar mountable one as that would add an additional access step (e.g. remove bike rack, swing away wheel carrier, open rear door).

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[clivehorridge]

Hi Leigh,

You could consider a rack that mounts onto the swing-away. It depends on the weight of the 2 bikes you intend to carry. If they're modern road or MTBs then they won't be too heavy. If they're full on downhills then they may be considerably heavier and overload the swing-away.

I'm looking at similar options for the ARB rear bumper/wheel carrier for my 80 but that has barn doors, not a hatch. There are Hatch hook-ons but then there's the problem of whether the hatch rams are strong enough to hold the bikes up as well. We come back to weight again.

 

[Graham]

Hi Leigh,

Which LC 120 have you got?
I guess it didn't come standard with a swing out rear spare wheel carrier.

Why not just buy the bits and bobs, and have the spare mounted under slung, like the LC5 and some LC4 ?
Then adapt the current rear mounted swing away carried to hold the mountain bikes.
perhaps a breakers yard would have the brackets and the chain lifting stuff needed for the under slung spare?

Gra.

 

[Leigh]

Thanks Both

It is an LC5 - the spare was under slung but put it up recently but a bike carrier wasn't included in the design. I was thinking of something rigged up like this (http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?start=13 ... x=97&ty=44) but there is no mention on the Rhino website that it is able to be configured this way....

 

[clivehorridge]

I'd say that's just what you need. I've seen them on other trucks and they look OK.

I've never used one and I want a rack for 4+ bikes from somewhere. At the moment I can get 5 on the roof with ease, but there's all the clambering up there, and trees and stuff...

But it looks ideal for 2 and the use that you have described.

Go for it!

 

[Neil Stone]

We have a swing away wheel carrier which sits to the right on the rear of our LC120. We want to take two bikes with us but don't want to carry them on the roof. Does anyone know of any bike racks that would suit this situation? I am reluctant for a tow bar mountable one as that would add an additional access step (e.g. remove bike rack, swing away wheel carrier, open rear door).

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

I'd be interested to know how you get on with it (the search for one and indeed how you get on with it when you get one).

 

[clivehorridge]

I'm looking for something like this...
http://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehs ... C4ure5HXEB

But, I don't want a tow-ball mount, I want a 40mm (or is it 2"?) square tube mount to fit into the rear ARB bumper receiver. It will need some mounting point mods, but the bike rack part won't need modification.

But I also have a rear swing-out wheel rack (and the wheel's too big to go under) so I'll have a problem with the rack fouling the spare. I've thought to get a length of the square tube and take it from the receiver, up and to the left, to avoid the spare and raise the bikes up to rear window level. The square tube is very strong so I don't think it will flex too much. I need to play with the tube part first, before I lash out on an expensive bike rack that I may not be able to fit.

It will need to be strong because I want to carry 4 (or more if I can) freeride/downhill bikes and they're not so light. Maybe 120-200lbs in total.

 

[dyladams]

So in an attempt to bring this thread back to life....

My Mrs has bought a new shiny carbon bike that I now need to take on road trips while she does triathlon events. As you can imagine she is pretty particular about this new toy.

I am looking at a Thule towbar mounted bike rack that supports the wheels, however my concern is that I have a rear mounted spare wheel carrier that might hinder the bikes being installed. Has anyone come across this before and what was the solution.

I don't really want to get hanging type carrier where the frame is supported or mount it to the spare wheel and stress the mount.

Any suggestions would be awesome. Pictures even better.

Thanks.

 

[Towpack]

If you can find one get one of these. Not sure what make it is or if they're made anymore but it's very strong (I can do push ups on it at 110kg+) and it easily cleared the rear door mounted wheel when I had the Disco. I've had 4 steel framed bikes on it.



Hmmmmmm..was going to add a pic but looks like we can't upload pics anymore!
sorted

 

[Gary820]

I had to take the spare wheel off the swing out, I'll be modifying the bike carrier so the spare stays on though.

I wouldn't hang my carbon framed bikes on a carrier, prefer them to be supported by the wheels.

 

[chapel gate]

I used to be well in to my mountan biking, without doubt the best carriers ive used were tow bar mounted with the wheels dropping into channels.

pendle. Cheap, strong, heavy.
Thule. expensive, strong. light.

 

[Towpack]

I used to be well in to my mountan biking, without doubt the best carriers ive used were tow bar mounted with the wheels dropping into channels.

pendle. Cheap, strong, heavy.
Thule. expensive, strong. light.

Aha!
Nice one CG. Looks like mine is a Pendle!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pendle-TA...689717?hash=item2832f63b75:g:t6AAAOSwBOtY~P8Q

 

[Towpack]

I wouldn't hang my carbon framed bikes on a carrier, prefer them to be supported by the wheels.

Even if the rack arms were padded?

 

[Gary820]

Even if the rack arms were padded?

No wouldn't use one personally, it's only a small chance of damage to the frame but they weren't a small price.

Plus the shape of my mtb wouldn't actually fit on one and the cables/brake lines run under the top tube ( another thing to consider)

 

[clivehorridge]

Even if the rack arms were padded?

I don't think hanging a carbon frame will do it any harm, of course it would have to be suitably padded, but that would go for any frame, steel or 'luminum.

JMO of course, but it wouldn't put me off a frame-slung mount.

My concern is always the potential for a texter to run into the back of the truck. Just a small tap from a smart-car would do a huge ££££ amount of damage to bikes.

That was the reason for my idea to extend the mounting, to get the rack part up high, to rear screen height, away from the usual height of a car front bumper and bonnet.

Just thinking aloud really, I've done nothing about getting this rack built for the last 2 years of thinking about it.

 

[clivehorridge]

No wouldn't use one personally, it's only a small chance of damage to the frame but they weren't a small price.

Plus the shape of my mtb wouldn't actually fit on one and the cables/brake lines run under the top tube ( another thing to consider)

Shape is another problem, gone are the days when bike frames were a simple triangle! My two DH / FR frames would be a real PITA to hang, but at least the brake lines run on the top/side of the alloy tubing.

Wheel trays will be the way my fag packet design will go, if I ever get my pencil out. Tough-dog in the US do some nice receiver mounts, I'm considering an adaptation.

I've also got a receiver in the middle of the spare wheel (ARB swing out).

 

[Towpack]

Fair comment about some frame designs being difficult to hang! I'd forgotten just how weird some of the modern frames are. Having bought various CF motorcycle components over the last 30 years the 2 main problems with CF are surface damage which can lead to structural weakness and sunlight degradation. CF tends to be used mainly for cosmetic and non structural parts these days, brought about mainly I suspect from catastrophic failures in the past.

 

[Rob Cowell]

I have a wheel support pendle rack. They sell longer arms to clear the rear mounted spare wheel on my 120. It feels a bit bouncy but doesn't seem to move in motion. Cart bikes up and down to southern France with it.

http://www.pendle-bike.co.uk/shopping/ws-rack.php

 

[Gary820]

We used to have to inspect the carbon fibre body shell on i8's and i3's, didn't take much to be classed as damaged!

Iirc my road bikes handbook says to not hang it by the frame, the mtb has no mention but it's shape is a factor

 

[chapel gate]

[QUOTE="Rob Cowell, post: 1445379, member: 7023have a wheel support pendle rack. They sell longer arms to clear the rear mounted spare wheel on my 120. It feels a bit bouncy but doesn't seem to move in motion. Cart bikes up and down to southern France with it.

http://www.pendle-bike.co.uk/shopping/ws-rack.php[/QUOTE]
Thats the one i used to have but the four bike version for going out with the lads. A also had a little double thule one for when i went on my own or with a mate.

we actually snapped the ball off my tow hitch with the big pendle fully loaded once. The hitch came with the truck so i had no idea of its rating though..