Due to the inability to put roof bars on an L405 without permanent rails, I bought one of these to put extra luggage on the back.

The car was absolutely packed and I ended up with over 100kg on the rack - even though it is only rated for 45kg, it didn't move in over 800 miles of fairly brisk progress and a mix of roads,



It did attract a bit of dirt though, so I was glad I decided to use pallet wrap on the bags - which I was able to just cut off when we arrived and carry clean bags up to the appartment

I'd love to be able to use one of those, but need access to the boot on journeys (see signature ). I take it that the luggage rack doesn't have some miraculous "swing out facility" to make this possible? (I'm clutching at straws here! )

Unfortunately not, but the way I loaded it with just 2 big bags would mean you could unload fairly quickly. If I’d kept it, I’d have adjusted the back piece to be a bit shorter, so only top bag needed removing to open the upper tailgate.

Having an ice hockey goalie in the family meant that we had some suitably large bags

I took a bit more stuff this year

That beats a roof box. A little extreme though, but I bet the car was comfier than when you posted pics of it stuffed with snowboards. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
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The trailer was pretty full - but towed a dream - I was glad it was a warm, dry day when we arrived and no snow on the roads though

Red Merle wrote:

I'd love to be able to use one of those, but need access to the boot on journeys (see signature ). I take it that the luggage rack doesn't have some miraculous "swing out facility" to make this possible? (I'm clutching at straws here! )

It's just down to not being able to open the tailgate once the rack is fitted and loaded.

Never enough room!

I have the permenant rails, but am currently on the search of a larger box trailer, I have a smaller unbraked Ifor Williams, Alistair - looks like you have all bases covered!

I have an Atera Strada DL bike rack - it slides away from the car to allow the boot to open https://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel...5K%7BW%7D. We used it on the FFRR down to the alps last summer with 3 bikes it was perfect.

I;m wondering whether, with one bike on the rack, we could strap a large bag (say 250L) onto the empty part of the bike rack. We need to take our labrador with us and need therefore to access the boot during the journey down to the south of france.

i will give it a try and report back. The bag will not slot into the bike rack like the thule bags do onto the thule easybase but with some rachet straps one should be able to secure it properly?? something like these straps https://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel...ure%60i0A6 rated for very heavy weights Current
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Those straps are a bit OTT - the important thing is finding something to fix them to - and anything with a hook on it, can come unhooked more easily than you'd think, especially with a soft bag.

Something like these or thse might actually work better even though they are lower rated.

I used those and also a couple of these which i threaded back on themselves - you can probably see from the photo's above.

Trial & error, but any hook that can slide, will work its way loose......

Singh911 wrote:

I have an Atera Strada DL bike rack - it slides away from the car to allow the boot to open https://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel...5K%7BW%7D.

I have one of these - solid piece of kit https://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel...C4urewinks

Yes the Thule is a solid bit of kit. I looked at both that and the Atera I ended up buying.

The major factor for me was I wanted the best possible clearance and access to the boot when the bike carrier was in its slide away position. This I needed both for long distance trip and also (Icycle a lot) when going out cycling, I can slide the carrier away and sit on the split tailgate when open and change into cycling shoes etc.

Having seen both in the flesh, the Thule did not clear away as much as the Atera. Its legs were much m ore of an obstacle when slid away than the Atera too.

I would have preferred the Thule as I think it s an even more solid bit of kit than the Atera. Having used it to the alps and back, and lots over here within the UK, the atera is absolutely fine and crucially for me offers excellent access to the car when slid away.

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Interesting thread, I’m in the same boat.

Singh911,

Whatwas the outcome of your experiments. I too need more space but don’t want roof rails, I have the Strada carrier already from D4 days but have yet to try on our new L405. Need to be able to carry one bike and our sons university stuff, how did you get on?

Also, on the D4 and with 4 bikes onboard I used to use webbing straps for additional support, these clipped over the top of the tailgate, something that the RR’ s tailgate spoiler gets in the way of. Did you find a workaround or not bother?

Thanks for your help.

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