Bike Racks - Disco II

Dave Liquorice uttered summat worrerz funny about:

We hang two adult bikes off a Halfords 4x4 bike carrier which hangs on the spare then gets strapped on too. No problems other than I need to replace the spare wheel mount.. that's nowt to do with the bike rack though.

I'd not put it on the 110 though .. that would probably rip the door skin. (makes me wince as it sounds worse).

On the Disco you're unlikely to open the door with the bikes on due to the likelyhood of damaing the bodywork / lights anyway so don't worry about hinges if the door is shut.

I think Ours is rated for 4 bikes but two is enough TBH.

I'll probably be using the 110 for bike trips and remove the front wheel's. I'm partway through building a cage in the back for this.

The ones that mount on the tow point still count towards tow point loading so keep that in mind.. besides you won't be able to open the door till the bracket is removed. Unless it's a wide affair it may get in the way of modern caravan stabilisers hitches if that's your cup of tea.

Lee D

On Sun, 18 Feb 2007 23:31:50 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Liquorice" wrote:

Dave, I similarly didn't fancy a spare wheel mounted one (having already had new hinges on the tailgate...someone opened it 'quickly' on a wrong way hill and then couldn't close it...but I digress!) so investigated the tow ball mounted jobs.

There was a Paddy Hopkirk one but it seemed dead flimsy to me.

The Witter one and a Pendle one I looked at (not sure it was the same one as your ebay Witter item) required a mounting plate to be put twixt bracket and ball. The rack bracket would have precluded the future use of the electric socket on my LR genuine bar so these were discounted without further thought. Also meant getting a lighting board and a big set of bungees. Hadn't seen the Cycle Safe one but it seems a bit of a faff from the pictures. Have you seen the 'stand on' type? Tradekar,Twinny Load and Atera? ( A good website with piccies of all is

I couldn't get anyone to confirm to me at the time that any of the Atera or Tradekar had sufficient clearance from the upright to clear the spare wheel so went for a 2 bike Twinny Load Off Road. It is noticeably more expensive than the witter type but very solidly built, bikes are well secured to the rack. You can open the tailgate (just! - well enough to get your bags/rucksacks/helmets out) with the bikes in place and can open tailgate fully with rack in place when you've taken the bikes off. You can lock it to the tow ball. You can lock bikes to the rack. I'm not saying VERY securely, but better than a few bungees. I was very concerned about whether the rack would hold securely on the ball but it never moves a bit if you remember to wipe the grease off before installing. Wiggle have it on offer at the moment - as they did when I gotmine last year but they didn't actually have any in stock and couldn'tget one for me so I ended up at whomI would not fault for service.Mine does only take 2 bikes (3 wasn't an issue for me) but they do atrio adaptor (more cost) to convert it. I THINK this can be used onthe 'off road'. I've just been looking for my instruction book to beable to confirm but cannot find it at the moment. I did however findthe manual for the strimmer that was stolen about 8 years ago though! HTH

Ian

Please reply to group - email address is not monitored Ian

Dave,

I use one of these.

With four adult bikes loaded, it has been fine to the South of France. Also good for taking fridges freezers etc. to the dump.

I tried the type that fit on the spare wheel bracket(Simbar). With 4 bikes loaded, the rack welds failed before the door was damaged. The scary bit was the weld failed when on a bumpy Belgium motorway. Some rope around the roof bars saved the day.

Andy

Dave Liquorice wrote:

Not sure if mine is a PH one, but it's a generic Halfrauds-type one. Maker's stickers long gone. It's made out of square-section steel, packs flat and pops into place with R-clips, so it's dead easy to put up. It has a kind of jaw arrangement that clamps over the towball and locks into place with an over-centre bar that can be padlocked, so it's pretty secure. It looks like it wouldn't work, but in fact it is the dogs and has carried two adult bikes at unfeasible speeds round France on several occasions and never let us down. Best thing is, remove 3 R-clips, heave one bar upwards, and it's off the towball, packed flat and away in the boot. 20 seconds max. Wouldn't be without it. It carries two adult bikes comfortably, but there's no room for another. I'm sure you could find a version that would take more. (Now I think about it, it came with a natty steel number-plate holder that I built into a lighting bar and I use all over the place.) Great bit of kit, just looks very modest.

nospam uttered summat worrerz funny about:

Does any one use those roof rack carriers like in the image on that site (the carrier bit)?

I'd imagine that some scary moments with low bridges and trees could be a problem. Not to mention getting the bike up top in the first place.

Lee D

I use Thule Aero bars fixed the Disco's roofbars coupled with their 510 Tour racks. Expensive but well made racks. Getting the bikes on/off isn't too difficult but I only have three. Four would be a bit of a squeeze!

Thanks all.

A nice gotcha, good warning.

With three bikes on the back a light board will be required full stop I think.

No more so than any of the others of the vertical arm type. The gotcha with them is not being able to open the rear door until removed.

That seems to be the better choice and I like the idea of the bike standing on it's wheels. I notice that there is a Pendle stand on as well. Being able to fully open the door with only bikes removed strikes me as a good thing.

Looks like some form stand on type be it Bak-Rak (nice and verstile) or one of the dedicated ones from Tradekar, Twinny Load or Atara is the best option.