Bike Rack

Hi all, fingers crossed for light at the end of the tunnel!

A question. Our Warwick Duo fits into our 6 metre space in front of our garage with 5 mm to spare for closing the gates. Does anyone have a suggestion for an easily removable bike rack? Clearly no space for any fittings that protrude beyond the line of the bumper/rubber stops.  :-)

There are bike racks that fit on towbar. A normal towball will protrude beyond your bumper but there are detachable  towballs which may be one direction to look at. I don't know  if the racks can fit on that sort of towbar, its just an idea.

Paulmold wrote:There are bike racks that fit on towbar. A normal towball will protrude beyond your bumper but there are detachable  towballs which may be one direction to look at. I don't know  if the racks can fit on that sort of towbar, its just an idea.

Thanks Paul. I suppose i could cut a hole in the gate for the towbar. Bit like a cat flap! 

Both of our vans have Westfalia detachable towbars which add nothing to the length of the vehicle when removed, and I have a Thule tow-bar mounted bike rack which fits either without any problems.

Good morning all, look at the Witter ZX88, on our Kemerton XL we have two Raleigh Stowaway's, just take seconds to fit & remove rack, easily stored either in or under van when on site so back door access immediately available Plate is bolted between towbar flange & toe-ball, if toe-ball not required can be just bolted direct to toe-bar flange, with your limited clearance may have to be unbolted each time, but only two easily accessed bolts.

mikee wrote:Good morning all, look at the Witter ZX88, on our Kemerton XL we have two Raleigh Stowaway's, just take seconds to fit & remove rack, easily stored either in or under van when on site so back door access immediately available Plate is bolted between towbar flange & toe-ball, if toe-ball not required can be just bolted direct to toe-bar flange, with your limited clearance may have to be unbolted each time, but only two easily accessed bolts.

Thanks, i will def have a look!

Roopert wrote:Both of our vans have Westfalia detachable towbars which add nothing to the length of the vehicle when removed, and I have a Thule tow-bar mounted bike rack which fits either without any problems.

Thanks. How are they attached?

Victor Johnstone wrote:
Thanks. How are they attached?

The towball "plugs in" to a socket on the underside of the towbar, which is hidden inside the bumper. The bike rack is held onto the towball with a clamp on the rack that looks rather like a handbrake lever - which has a lock built-in so that someone can't just nick the whole rack and bikes as one piece!

Roopert wrote:

Victor Johnstone wrote:
Thanks. How are they attached?

The towball "plugs in" to a socket on the underside of the towbar, which is hidden inside the bumper. The bike rack is held onto the towball with a clamp on the rack that looks rather like a handbrake lever - which has a lock built-in so that someone can't just nick the whole rack and bikes as one piece!

Thanks again,

So the toe ball is quickly detachable? That would make things much easier! What make is it?

Cheers

Roopert wrote:Both of our vans have Westfalia detachable towbars

I should add that I find the towball fiddly. It's not physically hard, but you have to put the key in and do a sequence of pulls and turns of the control knob before it will come out. It's like it because you really don't need it dropping off when you don't want it to!

Roopert wrote:

Roopert wrote:Both of our vans have Westfalia detachable towbars

I should add that I find the towball fiddly. It's not physically hard, but you have to put the key in and do a sequence of pulls and turns of the control knob before it will come out. It's like it because you really don't need it dropping off when you don't want it to!

Ah, sorry. Missed that bit!

Hi Victor, I purchased a 2 year old 14 plate Kemerton a few years ago that already had a westfalia tow bar kit fitted with the removable ball, the ball part of the tow bar fits vertically upwards into a tube.
Because of the way the rest of the tow bar kit is fitted to the van it is almost invisible unless you get down to ground level which I think is aesthetically pleasing not affecting the look of the rear of the van when the tow ball part of the kit is not in place and not affecting the overall length of the van.  
Because the tow bar was already fitted when I purchased the van I purchased a westfalia folding tow ball mounted bike rack on which I carry 2 E-mountain bikes although I remove the batteries to keep the weight down, I have driven over 12000miles with this set up both in the UK and Europe and would recommend both the tow bar set up and the rack to anyone.
The rack folds up to a sensible size when not in use so is easy to store.
The only negative I have found with this set up is that although the rack has a tilt facility that can be used with the bikes on its not quite enough to fully open the back doors.
Hope this helps

Hi 'Arry

That sound just what we are after. 

Thanks for your info and same thanks to all from newbies  to AS.

Good peop!e!