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Hi,  I'm thinking of getting a bike carrier, but I don't know which type is best to go for.  We have a volvo S40 and we tow a caravan, so is a rear one or a roof one best? Do roof ones cause a lot of wind resistance?  Do rear ones weigh the back end down?  I only want to take the kid's bikes, not ours.

Any advice / experiences would be gratefully received.

A towball mounted rack would be my first choice with a TT too...that`s what we used when we had a TT, in fact. But a caravan has a higher noseweight and as such you might not be able to use a towball mounted rack.

But I agree...strap-on back racks are the least reliable of all the alternatives.

we could do with a bike carrier really and are unsure of what sort to get. i tow the caravan everywhere, but, i've got this thing about having bikes on the roof - it sorta scares me a bit. hubby says i'm mad - if i can tow the van to the south of france then why can't i tow up the road with a bike on the roof??  i dunno, but i feel like i'd be ducking all the time.

You do have to watch out for low barriers in car parks and such, but you`d be doing the same for the caravan, yes? You`d get used to it, honestly. I`m so used to it I still think twice about every barrier I go under, even when i`m going to Tesco. The "duck" response is a good one when it comes to barriers!

Quote: Originally posted by firstclass67 on 27/5/2006

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  Hmmm - maybe there are some good points for rear ones??????

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For....

They are cheap. Well, some are cheap, some are expensive.

Against...

Fiddly to fit.

Can`t open rear door when in use.

Have to be fitted every time used...and 100% right every time, otherwise can be dangerous.

Need lighting board and electrics for most kinds, if not towing.

Did I mention fiddly to fit? And that they had to be 100% right every time?

 

 

We carry a lot of bikes, sometimes up to three tandems/triplet tandems on the roof plus three or four solos on the back towball rack. The top rack is always the one that we use first. I can`t lift a tandem up without help but I can do the solos if I stand on the kerb side. (I`m 5`4".) Once up and locked on correctly they are as solid as rocks.

 

But....if the kids bikes are very small ones, you could just get away with lying them flat on the floor over the axle of the caravan. Just watch the loading weight.

 

The bikes aren't small - largish one for 12 year old and smaller one for 9 year old.  However - I went on to ebay last night and I've bought some roof bars for a volvo S40 that weren't too expensive, so now we may be in business! 

 My OH is worried about the weight on the car as the van is just within our towing weight limit, but I think with roof carriers the weight is evenly distributed, innit?

Quote: Originally posted by firstclass67 on 28/5/2006

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 My OH is worried about the weight on the car as the van is just within our towing weight limit, but I think with roof carriers the weight is evenly distributed, innit?

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This might be a question to ask over on the caravan forum, unless some of them are reading here. I have a feeling that the safe weight to tow is not the same as the total weight a car can both carry and tow, but that the amount you can carry inside or on the car is affected by how much you`re towing. And your average adult bike from Halfords would be around 30+lbs, btw.

But no, a roof rack won`t affect the noseweight, which is basically the total downwards pressure on the towball.