Rear cycle rack in France

Midnight64

Can anyone tell me if there are any particular rules with regard to carrying bicycles on the rear of a car in France? Are they more or less particular about wheels being in front of the rear light clusters?

N.B. I do not have a towball (so no tailboard connection) and we will be full of camping gear so there will be no space inside or on top.

Thank you in advance.

Pinch Flat

Drove from Roscoff to the far side of Bergerac last year (about 800km) with a rear mounted rack. It's the one with the fabric straps that are apparently not to well liked (but still perfectly legal) in France. I was carrying my own bike and a kids bike.

Strictly speaking rear lights and registration plate should be visible at all times. I was concious of this and had read stories about the Gendarme pulling people over - especially coming off the ferry.

I took off both wheels and kept the rear lights visible - reg plate was still partially obscured. Some people had second reg plates that they had fitted.

Had no issues at all - in fact, it was potentially worse on the way back as I had picked up a new bike in Orleans.

Raam

We were stopped in Italy for having the reg and lights obscured by bikes and took a hefty fine for it. I have heard that the French police are fussy about it also.

2 Wheels Good

Drove from Calais to the Alps and back with a Thule rack on my Golf a couple of years ago. Reg is low so I don't think it's obscured, and I just had one night of late driving. But, from my research then, I don't remember the rack being a major issue, lights, spare bulbs etc needed to be in order though going through France.

bcmf

Done it many times thru France but never without a backboard.Won't do it either. If you can stretch your budget get a towball. So much better and safer

Jeffm587

I have been making a five hour trip down from the Ferry twice a year for about the last 6 years now in different cars with different bike racks covering the plates and or the clusters and never attracted any unwanted attention. I only realised from reading on here and similar places that its taken seriously so I made up another plate and cable tie it on now.

cdaly_

Raam wrote: »

We were stopped in Italy for having the reg and lights obscured by bikes and took a hefty fine for it. I have heard that the French police are fussy about it also.

Yep. They did us on the roadside one sunday evening. Were threatening to make us stay over until the car was road legal but let us go on when I adjusted stuff to make the lights more visible and tied on the warning triangle behind the bikes. Cash fine on the spot also.

Car has no tow hitch but I fitted a trailer electrics socket and added a trailer light bar for the trip home. On subsequent trips, the light bar is bolted to the back of the roofbox and plugged in. No messing about with lights and bikes thereafter.

OTOH, my brother in law uses just a number plate tied to the back of the bikes and the lights show through the wheels.

cdaly_

Midnight64 wrote: »

N.B. I do not have a towball (so no tailboard connection)

You can wire up a tailboard connection pretty cheaply, under €30 I would have said (If you DIY).

2 Wheels Good wrote: »

I just had one night of late driving.

Don't forget that it's not just at night time that you need lights. Indicators/brakes must be visible at all times.

Midnight64

cdaly_ wrote: »

You can wire up a tailboard connection pretty cheaply, under €30 I would have said (If you DIY).

I can do a little DIY but it is company car so I would rather not and they would not shell-out for anything like that (I have been quoted E650 for a towball install inc. electrics). Can they do the electrics without a towball?

bcmf

Midnight64 wrote: »

I can do a little DIY but it is company car so I would rather not and they would not shell-out for anything like that (I have been quoted E650 for a towball install inc. electrics). Can they do the electrics without a towball?

I will drop you a pm...

cdaly_

Yep. A towball is just a suitably shaped lump of steel bolted to the car. Electrics is a separate process done at the same time. In my case, I just bought the pre-wired socket and wired that up to the car and stowed the socket in a storage compartment in the boot.

You should save the cost of the hitch and some of the fitting labour.

motivation

don't touch company car or you;ll be in big trouble

fixie fox

Raam wrote: »

We were stopped in Italy for having the reg and lights obscured by bikes and took a hefty fine for it. I have heard that the French police are fussy about it also.

Yep - they started taking road safety seriously a few years ago and actually enforcing laws on the roads. It had a big effect on reducing deaths. So, lights and number plates are meant to be seen

JMcL

We've been a number of times and have a spare number plate that we strap to the bikes/rack with bungees (drilled holes in the plate and cable tied 2 bungees to the back). Our lights are visible, but could be more so, but we've never gone to the expense of a full light board. Cdaly__'s experience would probably change that, but I'll defer worrying about it til next year

fixie fox

JMcL wrote: »

Our lights are visible, but could be more so

You could try taking off wheel(s) and strap them up