Bike rack upgrade

[Vleisie_ZA]

Hi everyone,

We have an older generation Thule hold on 3 bike rack that has worked alright for our old 26" mountain bikes. However, we have recently upgraded to 29" mountain bikes, and even just transporting 2 bikes with this rack seem troublesome.

After putting the bikes on the rack, I normally tie the bikes down with either a rope or bungie cord to keep the wheels and steering from turning too much. However, the bikes still tend to move position quite a bit and the rubber straps on the Thule also move position a bit. This causes either damage to the back of our bakkie (brake levers rubbing against the back), or the bikes themselves (frames of handles rubbing against the other bike's seatpost etc).

Am I doing somethin wrong, or is this basically just a limitation of the hanging type bike racks? If so, we would consider upgrading to either a tow bar bike rack or a hitch rack on top of the bakkie's tonneau cover. Any suggestions on what would be the best between these two options. 

I also have a few questions regarding the tow bar covers specifically.

* Will a 3 or 4 bike rack have enough space between the bikes to fit 29" mountain bikes?

* Is Holdfast a good alternative to Thule?

* Recommendations for a good second hand bike rack market in Gauteng

[MTBRIDER1234]

12 minutes ago, Vleisie_ZA said:

Hi everyone,

We have an older generation Thule hold on 3 bike rack that has worked alright for our old 26" mountain bikes. However, we have recently upgraded to 29" mountain bikes, and even just transporting 2 bikes with this rack seem troublesome.

After putting the bikes on the rack, I normally tie the bikes down with either a rope or bungie cord to keep the wheels and steering from turning too much. However, the bikes still tend to move position quite a bit and the rubber straps on the Thule also move position a bit. This causes either damage to the back of our bakkie (brake levers rubbing against the back), or the bikes themselves (frames of handles rubbing against the other bike's seatpost etc).

Am I doing somethin wrong, or is this basically just a limitation of the hanging type bike racks? If so, we would consider upgrading to either a tow bar bike rack or a hitch rack on top of the bakkie's tonneau cover. Any suggestions on what would be the best between these two options. 

I also have a few questions regarding the tow bar covers specifically.

* Will a 3 or 4 bike rack have enough space between the bikes to fit 29" mountain bikes?

* Is Holdfast a good alternative to Thule?

* Recommendations for a good second hand bike rack market in Gauteng

I can fit 2 29er large mountain bikes on my thule 3 bike rack. It is a little bit tight, but they do not hit each other. It may take an extra few minutes to get them on nicely, but it is worth it when your bike remains unscratched.

I have never personally used a holdfast rack, but I have heard that they do the job.

Also for a bakkie, a tailgate pad is a no brainer. Get a good one and it will last years and it is super easy to use; and much quicker to take on and off.

Edited August 14, 2022 by MTBRIDER1234

[ChrisF]

17 minutes ago, Vleisie_ZA said:

... limitation of the hanging type bike racks? 

 

Yes.  The hanging racks and modern MTB frame layouts are tricky ....

 

 

Platform racks are significantly better.

[MTBRIDER1234]

50 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

 

Yes.  The hanging racks and modern MTB frame layouts are tricky ....

 

 

Platform racks are significantly better.

Yep. Putting my PYGA on a hanging type rack is extremely awkward, due to the triangle shape by the seattube and the way that the toptube is very wide where it meets the headtube. It sticks out to the side and I have to remember to be conscious of that haha

[tinmug]

* Will a 3 or 4 bike rack have enough space between the bikes to fit 29" mountain bikes?

A Thule 3-bike rack (Euroway, I think it is) works well with two 29ers and a gravel bike in my case

 

* Is Holdfast a good alternative to Thule?

Not in my experience, the Swede is a LOT better (for a range of reasons); specifically referring to more recent-model Thule racks (some of the ancient models are fiddly)

 

* Recommendations for a good second hand bike rack market in Gauteng

BikeHub Classifieds ... 😉

[dave303e]

If you are not too concerned about losing some space in the bin, then a tailgate pad rack is an amazing thing for the price. As mentioned above. R1300 for the rack, a few straps and you can easily get 4 bikes on there all clear of each other

[Vleisie_ZA]

41 minutes ago, dave303e said:

If you are not too concerned about losing some space in the bin, then a tailgate pad rack is an amazing thing for the price. As mentioned above. R1300 for the rack, a few straps and you can easily get 4 bikes on there all clear of each other

We might be taking the bikes along on holidays and then the space in the back is still important. However, since the tailgate pad is not too expensive, it could still be worth getting at some point for the short local trips with friends.

[Vleisie_ZA]

This seems like a decent deal on a Buzzrack 4 bike rack

https://www.cwcycles.co.za/product/buzzrack-buzzracer-4-bike-rack

I can also pick up a 2nd hand Thule Euroway G2 for about R6k. Any opinions on how these two stack up against each other?

[dave303e]

3 minutes ago, Vleisie_ZA said:

We might be taking the bikes along on holidays and then the space in the back is still important. However, since the tailgate pad is not too expensive, it could still be worth getting at some point for the short local trips with friends.

That is fair enough, we actually do the same. 90% of the time it is the tailgate pad and then if we need the space we have a few older racks to choose from. I have a lot of short pool noodle sections with short straps we just put in the places to stop damage. The hollow pool noodles wrap around bars and seat posts really well. Because it is only for the odd longer trip then we don't mind spending more time protecting bikes from each other.

[tinmug]

3 hours ago, Vleisie_ZA said:

This seems like a decent deal on a Buzzrack 4 bike rack

https://www.cwcycles.co.za/product/buzzrack-buzzracer-4-bike-rack

I can also pick up a 2nd hand Thule Euroway G2 for about R6k. Any opinions on how these two stack up against each other?

One of them is the benchmark. 🤷‍♂️

[stephenplumb]

I have a buzzrack 3 bike carrier that handles 2 pygas pretty well. This is not the hanging type, but the one that has rails that hold the tyres in place and then some bars that grip the bike frames. 

For my purposes I fitted one of those tow pintel tow hitches that are available at Midas. That is the one with the vertical pin and tow hitch. This moves the whole thing about 2-3 inches further out and works great on my hilux with canopy. On the madams fortuner, there are no clearance issues as the rear window slopes away from the handle bars.