Bike racks: I picked up a Thule hang-on 4 for peanuts off eBay, and that should do for most short trips. Then you lot got me looking at towbar mounted luggage carriers, and I spent a while looking at those until I remembered that I drive the best towing car in the UK, so why not just get a trailer. Perfect for all our camping gear, and if I get a hard top, I can leave everything in there when not in use.
So, any trailer recommendations from all you good people?

Thanks!

So far, weight of the bike carrier is showing 20.9kg (manual says says it should be 14.5kg)and 3 (not 4 bikes) showing a combined total of 90.9kg… surely a RR with a factory fit Towbar can cope with a Halfords bike rack and 4 standard mountain bikes…

In pure weight terms it's fine, but it's the way the force is applied that's the challenge. A trailer will flex on the ball, whereas a bike rack won't so it's acting like a lever. That is why the spec is lower for bikes vs a trailer that can have a nose weight of 200kg.

For that reason, if there is any material wight difference, load the heaviest bike closest to the car & the lightest one furthest away.

On a smooth road, likely fine - but on a bumpy surface, it should be putting quite a stress on the tow bar as it bounces up and down.

MonkeyMan wrote:

Bike racks: I picked up a Thule hang-on 4 for peanuts off eBay, and that should do for most short trips. Then you lot got me looking at towbar mounted luggage carriers, and I spent a while looking at those until I remembered that I drive the best towing car in the UK, so why not just get a trailer. Perfect for all our camping gear, and if I get a hard top, I can leave everything in there when not in use.
So, any trailer recommendations from all you good people?

Thanks!

Ifor Williams

I've had 2 - a flat bed and a box van - both have been absolutely fantastic to tow.

I thought bike rack - make my own, how difficult can it be. Not quite from scratch as I needed to cannibalise a tow ball clamp from an old rack. Worked fine bike only fell off twice (well down actually, wheels remained fastened to rack) only slight damage to bike and additional strap fitted to rack to prevent repeat of bike falling - so far so good. Another of my engineering triumphs 😩 Geoff

MonkeyMan, another suggestion for a hardtop camping trailer:
https://www.anssems.eu/en/trailers/hard-top-cover-trailers-en/

These are really well built and the double skin alloy construction means they don’t get condensation inside. I’ve had two. Both were really good. The worse thing about getting a caravan was parting with my camping trailer!

We got one from a trailer place in Rowlands Castle in Hampshire. And the next one from Leyland Leisure in Lancashire. Both places were great to deal with. 2004 L322 4.4 V8 Vogue Bonatti Grey
(205,500 miles and counting.......)

Thanks for all the trailer suggestions, wisdom shared is greatly appreciated.

I have been trying to keep the budget small, as I have a load of money that I need to spend on bits around the house this summer. However, I just know that aim going to do what I walkways do and I’ll get carried away and buy something mental that will be awesome.

I went out to spend £10k on a discovery, and ended up spending 3 times that on an L405. I’m a sucker for features. Currently searching ebay for high sided hard top trailers with bike racks on them….

pld118 wrote:

… surely a RR with a factory fit Towbar can cope with a Halfords bike rack and 4 standard mountain bikes…

Could have just edited my last post full of poor maffs but… all my mistook. Got the arithmetic wrong.The weight of the carrier and 4 adult size bikes is all coming in at less than 80kg which, as per Alistair’s post, is also the maximum nose weight for our car too (in respect of putting a bike carrier on the factory towbar).

Moral of the story is wear your spectacles, don’t rely on a rubbish calculator; and just use a pen and paper to do the rithmetic 🙆

The purchase remains a good piece of kit and good vfm

We managed to try the ‘new’ carrier this afternoon. Very sturdy piece of kit, very slick/ easy to connect onto the towbar and felt very secure when being driven with bikes on it 👍🏻

Want to buy a few more ‘bike to carrier’ lashing straps (through preference for maximum safety and security).

And had to acquire a 7 pin trailer adapter like the below because the 7 pin bike carrier rear lights plugs doesn’t fit our factory towbar connector:

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Ryan, as you aren’t using the grey socket for the rack, there is a smaller converter available which just does the black plug to 13 pin.👍🏻 There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

Thanks, was lucky enough to be able to borrow the double adapter but for it to fit requires removal of the plastic cover that surrounds the towbar because the double adapter is otherwise too bulky to fit on. 👍🏻

I use one like this.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Waterproof-Electr...&psc=1 There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

Ordered Mark, cheers 👍🏻