Bike rack

Anyone had a go with one of these on a Defender yet?

It seems silly money...

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Reply to
William Black
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Yeah, they work with a scissor action to clamp to the towball.

They're s**te. The steel is actually pretty soft cheese and after maybe a couple of uses it doesn't clamp tightly enough. After 5 or more uses it is pretty much useless without adopting some heath robinson approach to tieing it to the back of the vehicle (I used it on my Disco) and payer .. ;)

I'd say at £2 it's too expensive .... We gave ours away ..

Seems at first like a great idea, but needs much stronger materials which would seriously add to cost and even then I have doubts they'd work properly.

Incidentally we only ever used it with my bike, a lightweight hardtail Mountain bike ... I shudder to think of anyone using it with two more normal weight bikes ...

Reply to
Paul - xxx

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OK, thanks.

Reply to
William Black

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If you've got a Defender, even a 90, bikes will go on the roof OK lay'd down flat (turn the 'bar's 90 deg too.) Less nickable up there also. OK, so a roofrack is a bit of a pre-requisite, but they are so useful for other things too (especially on a 90.) A "Wheel Step" will help you get to them. (Google, there are many choices)

Never understood the fad of towball or bumper mounted bike racks on vehicles with opening back ends. Guess you could adapt a swing-away wheel carier for bikes, but even then, except for kid's bikes, they'll stick out one side or the other enough to do something bad, plus you often need a trailer board to stay legal as well, more hassle, also they restrict the already limited visibility out the back..

Ho hum. Back under my rock.

DaveB.

Reply to
DaveB

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I had a 'ladder rack' but someone nicked one end and I didn't bother to replace it.

Also I'm a touch old to be throwing bikes up two meters, but I can lift one to 'spare wheel' height without any problems...

You used to be able to get a couple of steel bars with threaded sockets on the ends that screwed onto the spare wheel studs which were cheap and pretty obviously worked but I can't find anyone who makes them now and I refuse to pay about the same as I paid for the bike (£90) for a carrier.

Reply to
William Black

...

I had a Witter Bike rack for the Espace that I transferred on to the Disco

With that I also had a spare socket on the Dragons Clio

I wouldn't like to have some cheeep rack mounted on the back of any car

The cost of the bike rack doesn't come into it

Its tooooooooo easy for plod to pick you up for lack of number plate / lights / dangling bikes ( Insecure load ) on the back of a car

Having said that , I was on the M6 north of Preston a couple of days ago when a car towing a trailer passed me on the outside lane

He must've been doing 90

I was not doing far short of 70 and in the 4th lane

Reply to
DieSea

Well the ordinary cops won't bother with traffic stuff.

My experience of our local traffic police is that they are far too busy to bother about minor construction and use regulations unless there's some sort of accident.

As for a cheap rack, if it works and is reasonably robust, why worry?

Or are you someone who always buys Land Rover branded spares and accessories and always has his maintenance done at the main dealer?

Reply to
William Black

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