Heavy duty Ebike car rack required

Guru Maith Agut

Hey all. I have 2 Engwe L20 electric bikes. These things weigh a lot (34kgs each, without battery attached) and I want to take them to Spain on the ferry in a few months. I have seen some car bike racks online and the majority of them look too flimsey to take the weight of these. The nearest ones that I did find are the racks that support up to 60kgs and are tow bar attached.

Has anyone here been able to find an option for such heavy bikes, or am I just sh1t out of luck in this situation? 😓

Thanks in advance.

Squidgy Black

What car? For that kind of weight I’d imagine anything that straps over a boot would be a no-go, most have a 15kg per bike limit.

Even the towbar ones tend to top out around 70-80kg and you’d be getting close to that too

Guru Maith Agut

@Squidgy Black If you can show me one that tops out at 70-80kg I would go for it, because all I have found so far are ones that top out at 60kg.

And the car is a Renault Koleos. So decent size of a back on it. Tow nitch will be purchased after I know I can get a corresponding bike rack. Thanks

Squidgy Black

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122178893#Comment_122178893

https://www.rameder.eu/bike-carrier-mft-multi-cargo-2-family-fa0098.html

You also need to check the tow bar rating, some tow bars are only rated up to 70-80kg including the weight of the rack which is usually around 20kg so you might be well over that too unfortunately

edit: yeah quick google has a fair few places saying that the Koleos has a max trailer nose weight of 75kg so that’d put you well over the limit

nilhg

Would taking the batteries off the bikes and stowing them in the car bring the weight down enough?

Guru Maith Agut

@nilhg Already had factored that in.. Might see what else I could "strip off it", to bring weight down further. Saddly pillar for example..

Mefistofelino

Even lifting a 35 kg bike onto a bike rack is going to loose it's glamour pretty quickly.

Is there anything to be said, given that even a bike rack is going to require a tow hitch, for one of the small trailers that's used to carry a motorbike / ebike? Some you can lower to push the bike on, others have ramps

https://www.sawiko.com/en/Products/Trailer

cletus

If the car has a trailer nose weight of 75kg, I wouldn't be too happy cantilevering 85 or 90kg off the back of it.

Guru Maith Agut

@Mefistofelino Excellent!! Hadn't even considered a trailer, but these things look ideal.
Now, how do they handle travelling at 80mph down a motorway?! 🤣

. . . I jest, obviously. 😅

Schrodingercat

Would a roof rack carrier be an option? You could put one bike on the roof, and one on the back, but check the load the car allows if you are also using a roofbox.

loyatemu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122189103#Comment_122189103

I wouldn't fancy lifting a 34kg bike onto the roof, even if I was confident the rack would hold it. Also I don't think roof carriers can handle those thick tyres.

Trailer was my first thought.

paddydriver

I did some research on this as I have a long wheelbase eMTB that weighs in around 25kg and between weight and wheelbase the only real fit for towbar mounted was the Thule Epos - it has a max wheelbase of 1350mm and bike weight of 30kg. Its a fantastic bike rack but expensive.

Don't see you getting anything "Supported" that will support an ebike up to 34kg that - like many have said, having circa 70kg+ rack hanging off the back of your car is risky. I did wonder this too as to how you can tow a caravan of whatever Kg but yet cannot hang 60-70kg of bikes on a towbar.. but all sorts of calculations need to be taken into account.

Getting 34kg up onto your roof is going to be even more difficult and no way you can have any of the ones that go on the boot door or sucker pads either as just way too heavy.

Best of Luck on it.. hope you get a solution.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122180786#Comment_122180786

Just a couple of points on the trailer option.

1 You will need a place to store the trailer at home.

2 Extra fare on ferries for trailers.

3 If you are going for one maybe you would consider a trailer that could be used for other purposes as well as carrying bikes.

Good luck on your travels.

Calahonda52

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122190884#Comment_122190884

not just at home but also in Spain

blackbox

A trailer is limited to 90km/h in Spain, 80km/h in Ireland.

loyatemu

I did wonder this too as to how you can tow a caravan of whatever Kg but yet cannot hang 60-70kg of bikes on a towbar.. but all sorts of calculations need to be taken into account.

most of the weight of the caravan is being supported by it's wheels and when you're towing it's mostly horizontal force (which is what towbars are designed for), not vertical. When you hang a big weight off the back of a car you affect the handling, essentially the front of the car is being lifted off the road.

loyatemu

….

cletus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122192409#Comment_122192409

Yep, its known as a cantilever. All the force at the end of the arm (or bike rack in this case) is transferred back to the anchor point (tow hitch), causing shear force. Apart from anything else,the locking mechanism of the bike rack may not be designed to deal with that much load, which would be increased every time you went over a bump.

Large bottle small glass

weights, limits, cantilevers, dynamic forces ye are all gone very by the book…

I remember back in or about 1990 being at the local creamery buying fertilizer and my father (being a careful man) would only bring 6 or 7 50kg bags at a time in his small single axle trailer. We lived within 2km of creamery.

As I was leaving a met a rather risk comfortable neighbour with 20 bags (1 tonne) in larger but still single axle trailer being pulled by a mark 1( I think) passat. I said "she's fairly loaded Paddy?" To which he replied "you wouldn't chance the 2nd tonne?"

HIs farmyard was at about 220m

cletus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122192975#Comment_122192975

😁😁😁

Messing aside, the difference there is that the axle of the trailer is taking much of the vertical load, so even though there's vertical and horizontal load on the tow hitch, there's no shear force

magicbastarder

Sounds like it'd just be easier to cycle to Spain.

Calahonda52

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122192999#Comment_122192999

I would be more concerned about the tensile load on the bolts/ threads nearest the hitch, especially if the car went over a serious bump, the vertical downward load would be a multiple of the static loads. IIRC getting on/off the ferry can be bumpy

loyatemu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122195167#Comment_122195167

yeah, our 4-bike rack hit the ground going onto the ferry due to the steep ramps.