bike weight limit of car bike carrier explained

[izeman]

i'm planning a trip and want to take my bike with me. it's 30kg straight w/o battery. (corrected: 30kg NOT 39kg!!)
i have a thule euroway 920. it clamps to the hitch and is able to carry 46kg max. a single bike's weight limit is 24kg.
and idea why a single bike can't be 30kg if the carrier can handle 46kg when loaded with 2 bikes.
i'm a bit afraid the carrier and/or bike could get loose on the highway while doing 150km/h.

this is the carrier http://www.amazon.de/Thule-EuroWay-...F8&qid=1375716767&sr=8-1&keywords=euroway+920

any help very much appreciated

 

[mattrb]

I want to get this carrier for my similar weight bike and was wondering the same EXACT thing. Construct a bar that latches on the edges hook that up to the top part of your car as a backup in case of Thule failing. Go 100 km/h and have your buddy take notice of the wobble. The bar should help prevent destruction.

Help the community,


Thanks!

 

[Hillhater]

and idea why a single bike can't be 30kg if the carrier can handle 46kg when loaded with 2 bikes....

Probably to allow for the idiot who might put a 46kg bike on the outermost mount ( furthest from the car ).
If it were me, i would not worry with a 40kg bike on the closest mount point.

 

[bowlofsalad]

Being close to a weight limit of something is certainly something to worry about. Frankly, it might be hard to know if it can really withstand what it claims to be able to.

The idea of reducing leverage by keeping the bike closer to the body of the car seems like a wise suggestion.

I have some other suggestions that might also be of use. I don't know what your trip is like, what sort of excess carrying capacity you have, but I imagine there are a couple of things you can do to reduce the load on this bike carrier of yours. First, I imagine there must be somethings you can take off the bike and put else where, surely anything is better than removing nothing. Whatever you can do to make the bike lighter, it might help. Next, this might require a whole lot of creativity, but I bet you could create a sort of suspension system that involves a series of straps. I don't know what your vehicle is like, but if it's a four door, you could keep the windows cracked on the rear doors, and run a long rope in an X patter from each window, so the left window rope attaches to the right side of the bike, and the right window rope attaches to the left side of the bike. This is probably a bit more involved than you'd like to be, but my next suggestion might be far more involved. You might be able to reinforce your rack, but this might be a tough call to make depending on various conditions within your frame.

If nothing else, this rope system can be used to take up a bunch of excess weight and if the rack should fail, it might prevent things from totally falling apart on the road involving a bike and rack smashing into a vehicle behind you.

Personally, I think the best course of action would be to sell that thing, maybe use it as some sort of template, and get some sort of welder (stick and flux core welders are very affordable) so you can fabricate your own that isn't a light weight, ready to fail under the weight of a single bike piece of over priced junk. I cannot read what this amazon ad says for this bike carrier, but I saw the word aluminum, if it's made out of aluminum, I'd certainly get rid of it of you were considering doing something like getting close to over loading it. Steel will bend, aluminum will crack or shatter. If you want to learn more, look into fatigue limit.

 

[amberwolf]

This post was about a rack on the back of a bike itself, but some of what it says is applicable to this or any other rack that's on a moving vehicle over typical roads (instead of on a perfect unbumpy railway or something):
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=52298&p=775885#p775898

Primarily this part:

Just as a note: In my experience most of the "weight ratings" for racks like this seem to be an absolute maximum *vertical only* limit, and does not account for the forces applied to the rack when hitting bumps or potholes or the side-to-side sway they will experience (even minutely) from pedalling actions or the change in loading during leaning in turns, or when a bike is leaning while on it's kickstand.

Long before I got into ebikes I used all my bikes for cargo carrying, often heavy things, and I found pretty quickly that most racks can't actually hold more than a quarter or less of the weight they list, because of the above things that either change the angles at which stresses pass thru the structure, or multiply the forces on the rack tremendously for an instant here and there, probably well beyond the ability of it to support that "weight".

 

[Hillhater]

My personal solution was to carefully consider both bike and vehicle before committing to either..
Twice a week i take some friends ( and my bike ) to the city and i ride whilst they are doing training runs.
Hence i went with a mid drive bike,..(such that i can have quick release wheels), with a quick removable battery pack.
This allows the bike to be disassembled easily in less than a minute and packed into the trunk of a suitable family sedan ( or hatch)
The car ( 4 door sedan) was carefully checked to endure the disassembled bike will fit easily into the trunk,wheels and all.
Packing into the car allows me to leave the whole lot parked anywhere with no worry about theft or damage as well as carefree freeway travel.
This would not be possible/practical with a hub motor or a fixed battery.. unless you used a wagon or a SUV.

 

[dnmun]

tie the bike to the trunk lid with hooks over the front edge of the trunk and try to keep the speeds under 100kph. the wind forces can tear it off. they alone could be more than the 40 kilo. maybe 70kilo at 150.

 

[bowlofsalad]

Another suggestion might be to rent a small trailer, or make one if able.

 

[dogman dan]

Using a cheaper steel swagman rack, I have seen bent wheel holders, and eventually bought some new ones. Being made from fairly soft steel, I wasn't too concerned about it. Lots of the time, carrying the bike is done on really bad 4x4 roads, so the overloaded rack is getting the worst possible treatment.

I don't see a big problem with one bike, that doesn't exceed the racks max weight for two bikes. But if the wheel holders are aluminum, I'd keep an eye on them. Once bent, then they would fatigue much more than mild steel. Even if the racks receiver mount is alloy, you won't be loading the entire rack more than it's designed for. Carry the bike on the inner side for long trips of course.

Strap the bike to the rack well, so even a broken off wheel holder will not drop the bike to the ground, and you are good to go.

 

[mdd0127]

This has been the sturdiest rack I've ever seen and had no problem hauling two 50lb bikes through rough trails. It came with screws that were too short to reach the nylon in the nuts though so I had to replace them all but after that, it was bomb proof!

http://www.bikemania.biz/vehicle-racks/jeep-overland-ii-hitch-mounted-bicycle-rack-system-2-receiver/

 

[izeman]

after reading all your comments, most of you guess it's the aluminium bars where the bike's wheels are put on?
seems logical to me. i hope it will not brake.
100km/h on the autobahn? no way, i drive a bmw and not a camper no. i will keep it below 150 and hope the best.

 

[izeman]

tie the bike to the trunk lid with hooks over the front edge of the trunk and try to keep the speeds under 100kph. the wind forces can tear it off. they alone could be more than the 40 kilo. maybe 70kilo at 150.

i don't think that this will be a problem. the carrier has no problem to carry 2 bikes that are 46kg all together w/o a specific manufacturer's speed limit. so one bike should not be a problem regarding wind. don't you think?

 

[cal3thousand]

Hollywood racks makes a rack just for electric bikes:

http://www.amazon.com/Hollywood-Rac...&sr=8-1&keywords=hollywood+electric+bike+rack

Looks like the price just went down too!

I'm going to get one for my car and sell my last rack (which was able to hold 2 ebikes without batteries; it's normally a 3 bike rack)

 

[amberwolf]

i don't think that this will be a problem. the carrier has no problem to carry 2 bikes that are 46kg all together w/o a specific manufacturer's speed limit. so one bike should not be a problem regarding wind. don't you think?

Keep in mind that just because a manufacturer does not list a limit for a particular specification doesn't mean there isnt' a limit, just that they either don't want to say (becuase it's very low, perhaps?) or they haven't tested it, or some other reason.

 

[izeman]

sure there is a limit. afair it was 120km/h recommended. you may not know thule is SWEDISH. the same country volvo comes from. i think swedish kids wear helmet even when walking just in case they may fall
so thule for sure would write it down if there was a hard limit.

 

[dogman dan]

That Hollywood rack does look good. Basicly, very similar to the swagman rack, but better wheel holders, which was the weak point of my cheap swagrack.

Bear in mind though, my cheap rack never broke, it just bent some.

Thule stuff is definitely the bomb. I'd trust it with a 100 pound ebike anytime at all. I don't think autobahn speed will be near as much an issue as the 4x4 roads I typically take my rack and bike on. Just have some extra tie downs, so if a wheel holder did fail, the bike won't go all the way to the pavement. I see no issue with the main beam or receiver mount.

Do pay attention to one thing, make sure you don't have an exhaust pipe pointing directly at a tire. The new racks carry a bit higher, but my old swagman puts the tire in the path of the exhaust. On a long trip, I cooked and popped a tire. So Now my exhaust has some sheet tin deflectors, to keep the exhaust from hitting a tire directly.

 

[izeman]

yep. i totally forgot the 4x4 trails. autobahn surely doesn't put that much stress on the carrier as a rough trail.
back home i will support the aluminium wheel stands with a steel bar below it. i'm quite sure those aluminium bars are the weak point. as this carrier is really light weight (13kg/30lbs) it will surely be much sturdier with some steel support.
i now arrived at my holiday location. safe. thought it would be a good idea to let my wife drife. i'm more the sportive kind of driver. hmmmm. no good idea at all. top speed around 175km/h (105mph) and an average of 135km/h (85mph). the carrier took it w/o failure and now i'm gonna enjoy a nice ride in the mountains.

 

[mattrb]

Please provide images of the ebike on the carrier. Please do closeups of the mount points on the bike to the carrier.

 

[izeman]

Please provide images of the ebike on the carrier. Please do closeups of the mount points on the bike to the carrier.

damn. now i know what i forgot. i wanted to take pics before i took the bike from the carrier. will do so when i return home. will be on sunday. the car is parked in a garage a bit away atm.

 

[mattrb]

damn. now i know what i forgot. i wanted to take pics before i took the bike from the carrier. will do so when i return home. will be on sunday. the car is parked in a garage a bit away atm.

Thanks Buddy.

 

[izeman]

ok. here come the pictures. i arrived back home in one peace, but am not sure that i want to do it again. it seems to me, that the rails holding the wheels bent down quite a bit. there are two rails: one solid one for the second bike, and one, next to the car which is cut in two, so the carrier can be mounted. this is the one where the heavy bike is installed. i think it would be better to use the outer rails.
maybe i will mod this carrier with some steel support.

 

[cal3thousand]

ok. here come the pictures. i arrived back home in one peace, but am not sure that i want to do it again. it seems to me, that the rails holding the wheels bent down quite a bit. there are two rails: one solid one for the second bike, and one, next to the car which is cut in two, so the carrier can be mounted. this is the one where the heavy bike is installed. i think it would be better to use the outer rails.
maybe i will mod this carrier with some steel support.

Nice review.

Is that hitch on the F10 an option or did you install that?

I'm looking for a nice solution for my A6 Wagon, but it looks like I have to go custom to have it clean like that.

EDIT: I'm noticing that you probably have a Euro Spec version.

 

[izeman]

it's an option i ordered with the car. it's fully electric and folds below the car when not used. it's also fully integrated in the car electronics. so the car "knows" the weight put on it and can take this into calculation for eg. it's brake assist systems.