Towbar Bike Racks

[Robbe]

My S4 has a factory fit towbar and am thinking of getting a bike rack to take 2-3 bikes on holiday this summer and have some questions.

What would you recommend?
does having a bike rack on the towbar affect my insurance?
Do i need to tell them?

any advice would be helpful.

 

[SRB93]

My S4 has a factory fit towbar and am thinking of getting a bike rack to take 2-3 bikes on holiday this summer and have some questions.

What would you recommend?
does having a bike rack on the towbar affect my insurance?
Do i need to tell them?

any advice would be helpful.

Check with them to see if they consider it a Modification.

Also, do this through a live chat or email asking for a new quote or something... as an inquiry so it doesn't affect your current insurance.

 

[SteveMcB]

My S4 has a factory fit towbar and am thinking of getting a bike rack to take 2-3 bikes on holiday this summer and have some questions.

What would you recommend?
does having a bike rack on the towbar affect my insurance?
Do i need to tell them?

any advice would be helpful.

Must admit I'd never given notifying my insurance a thought, wouldn't do any harm though.

Thule have a good range of bike carriers, a few years back I paid about £100 for a basic 2 bike platform style (looks like the £195 one on the link), it does the job fine but the downsides with it being the 'cheapie'- it needs a spanner to tighten it up or to tilt it, it doesn't have frame clamps, the fabric straps aren't nearly as good as the rigid ratchet style, it's a bit on the short side for my Stumpjumper Evo, normal stumpy is OK though.

I always add on a load of my own bungie cords as well.

Velospace XT looks the nuts - not cheap though

https://www.thule.com/en-gb/gb/bike-rack/towbar-bike-racks

 

[hmy7k]

I have an Altera 3 bike rack and its very good. Tilts to allow you to access the boot whilst fully loaded.
fitting 3 road bikes on it is easy but 3 mountain bikes it is harder because the handle bars conflict.
I suspect they all have the same issue as they try to make them as short as possible.

Its a lot easier to use these than bikes on a roof bar, especially after a long ride.

 

[Buck]

We’ve got an earlier version of this

https://roofracks.co.uk/thule-velocompact-927/

Works really well and the tilt function even with 4 bikes on means you still get access to the boot.