Transporting an E-Bike.

Ex-Call Centre Chimp

Ex-Call Centre Chimp

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I may be over thinking this but how difficult is it to carry an E-Bike on a towbar mounted bicycle rack?
I have a 3 bike Thule 9403 bicycle carrier which says it has a max load capacity of 45 kgs - it sits on my car towbar.
Does this mean I could safely carry 1 E-Bike that weighs up to 45kgs on my existing bike carrier without making any adjustment to my tow bar?
I know it's probably a daft question but I've heard from friends who've moved to E-bikes that they've had to by new carriers and get their towbar reinforced.

As ever, TY in advance Comrades. 👍
 
You won't have a 45kg ebike...more like 25kg. It will be fine on the slot closest to the towbar, I'd not advice putting it on the farthest most one....simple physics. (We have a Thule 4 bike towbar rack, no issues at all with wife 25kg ebike plus my 10kg bike)
 
I've a towbar on my Volvo xc60 - not factory fitted, but after market - and I recently bought a two e-bike tow ball mounted carrier which is advertised as being able to carry 60kg. When I was researching the purchase, I found that many tow ball carriers did not offer the carrying capacity for two e-bikes although they were probably ok for one. Most of the second hand carriers I saw were not up to the weight of e-bikes
 
I carry two ebikes on a 30 year old tow bar mounted Thule two bike Carrier on the back of my camper with no issues, I always remove the batteries as this saves nearly 10kg hanging off the back. My ebikes are 20 &18 kg each without the batteries.

Al.
 
We used to carry 2 e-bikes on the 2 bike version of your carrier and never had an issue.

To be honest I never even checked the maximum weight for the carrier and just trusted to luck that Thule would have a massive safety factor above their maximum weight.
 
I’d recommend taking the battery out and keeping it in the car. - it’ll be even lighter then.


In any case - A lot of reports of leckkie bikes being stolen from bike racks reported on the MotorhomeFun forum.

OK Motorhomes not cars but either way don't forget your pound of butter or whichever security measures you choose.
 
You’ll have no problem carrying an Ebike on a Thule towbar mounted bike rack. I have a detachable one on my Merc and have carried my emtb for over 4 years without any problems whatsoever. :thumb
 
Oldrat said:
I’d recommend taking the battery out and keeping it in the car. - it’ll be even lighter then.


In any case - A lot of reports of leckkie bikes being stolen from bike racks reported on the MotorhomeFun forum.

OK Motorhomes not cars but either way don't forget your pound of butter or whichever security measures you choose.
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Yeah, if you’re daft enough to leave them on show on the back of your van and then sod off shopping for the day then you shouldn’t be surprised when they go awol! :blast
 
We had 2 e-bikes pinched off our motorhome at Imola and the cheeky twats broke the locks on the luggage area so they could get the plastic tub containing the head units and other assorted bits and pieces. They were locked on with an 8mm stainless steel cable because the locks on the carrier were shit but they still got them.
 
AndyB_11 said:
We had 2 e-bikes pinched off our motorhome at Imola and the cheeky twats broke the locks on the luggage area so they could get the plastic tub containing the head units and other assorted bits and pieces. They were locked on with an 8mm stainless steel cable because the locks on the carrier were shit but they still got them.
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Sorry to hear about that, despite your best efforts. Infuriating, I'm sure.
 
Kitsilano said:
Sorry to hear about that, despite your best efforts. Infuriating, I'm sure.
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All you can do is say shit happens, report it to local police so you get an incident number and claim off your insurance. It’s a pain in the arse when you need them for the rest of your holiday but we just went into Rimini and purchased two human powered bikes :D
 
AndyB_11
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Arch 5, Court Street Creative Arches, Leamington Spa, CV31 2DH
 
They look like a good product but unless I’ve missed it I’d like to see the weight if I’m using something on a pushbike. On a motorbike or for home use it’s pretty much irrelevant but on a push bike, especially a human powered one, I think it’s important.
 
Ex-Call Centre Chimp said:
I may be over thinking this but how difficult is it to carry an E-Bike on a towbar mounted bicycle rack?
I have a 3 bike Thule 9403 bicycle carrier which says it has a max load capacity of 45 kgs - it sits on my car towbar.
Does this mean I could safely carry 1 E-Bike that weighs up to 45kgs on my existing bike carrier without making any adjustment to my tow bar?
Click to expand...
I have been using same thule rack for over 5 years with 30kg ebike in outside slot. Modified it by fitting 2 aluminium pockets on either end of rack where wheels normally sit, and put an aluminium cross brace between the pockets. Bike is now secured with 1 strap to mid point of bike only, since wheels sit in pockets instead of having to be individually strapped to rack.
Much better than original design, where one has to strap each wheel to rack as well as mid point.
Makes bike a 1 person 5 second on and off manouvre.
 
As others have said , take the batteries off . You don’t want that much weight on your rear of the car . Even caravans have less nose weight .
 
Don't forget to include the weight of the carrier when looking at towbar nose weights - rack can be 20Kg on its own.

Both our e-bikes weigh c.30Kg ready to ride.

So together = 80Kg (towbar rated at 75Kg - I realise that would probably be OK).

I remove batteries, seat and rear bags, all to reduce weight and, more importantly I think, windage. Saves 10Kg each, so towbar load is then 60Kg.

I used one of those cheap travel scales for your luggage off Ebay (£3.99) to weigh each part/assembly.

I checked it's calibration by weighing the complete bike rack for which an exact figure is published (mine was 18.4Kg, scale read 18.4Kg, happy at that. I then used the same scales to check my torque wrench - another story!).

HTH

A
 
Thank you, that's something I've never heard of. Apparently the maximum nose weight on my car is 100kg.

Edit: Bike rack weighs 12kg.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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