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Bike rack with support wheel?
Posted: 20 Aug 2021, 10:01pm
by ratherbeintobago
I’m sure I saw a car today with a tow bar mounted bike rack which had a support wheel underneath.
Did I imagine this? My google-fu is failing me.
Re: Bike rack with support wheel?
Posted: 20 Aug 2021, 11:47pm
by AndyK
Re: Bike rack with support wheel?
Posted: 21 Aug 2021, 7:54am
by ratherbeintobago
Thanks - that looks like the one
Re: Bike rack with support wheel?
Posted: 21 Aug 2021, 1:02pm
by jb
"enjoy a reverse gear without turning" ??
Does that mean it's rigid on the back?
Re: Bike rack with support wheel?
Posted: 21 Aug 2021, 1:29pm
by thirdcrank
Here it is on youtube in action, reversing starts about 37 seconds in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE2juGjwszE
Re: Bike rack with support wheel?
Posted: 21 Aug 2021, 2:24pm
by jb
Ah ha so it's a big castor. I hope it has dampers otherwise it will shimmy like a supermarket trolley at sixty mph.
Re: Bike rack with support wheel?
Posted: 21 Aug 2021, 2:45pm
by ratherbeintobago
It looked a bit… different but seemed to be coping with motorway speeds.
I wonder what the benefits are over eg. the Pendle 6-bike trailers?
Re: Bike rack with support wheel?
Posted: 21 Aug 2021, 3:06pm
by Jdsk
Low permitted loads on towbars of EVs?
And the increased weight of eBikes?
Jonathan
Re: Bike rack with support wheel?
Posted: 21 Aug 2021, 3:12pm
by thirdcrank
They have specific models for ebikes
Re: Bike rack with support wheel?
Posted: 21 Aug 2021, 3:15pm
by ratherbeintobago
It looks like Mottez make a four-ebike trailer.
Re: Bike rack with support wheel?
Posted: 21 Aug 2021, 7:19pm
by Nigel
ratherbeintobago wrote: ↑21 Aug 2021, 2:45pm
It looked a bit… different but seemed to be coping with motorway speeds.
I wonder what the benefits are over eg. the Pendle 6-bike trailers?
Can't say how stable the mono-castor trailer would be in practise, but the tow-bar ball appears to be a solid-clamp (like a clamp-on carrier), then limiting movement to pivoting just behind the ball in only vertical, no steering swing. So, there shouldn't be any movement as its rigid to the vehicle. The castor would appear to be a partial weight carrier, splitting the weight between towball and castor.
Compared to the Pendle trailer? Half the price and smaller to store (the little rollers suggest its designed to stand up against a wall).
No idea if its legal in the UK as I've not poured over the trailer regulations, but probably legal under EU type approvals, even post Brexit.
- Nigel
Re: Bike rack with support wheel?
Posted: 22 Aug 2021, 2:11pm
by fastpedaller
The forces on the towball bracket could be excessive when reversing, or it will cause a lot of tyre scrub - possibly not a problem due to limited occasions it would occur though. I'd be happier with this arrangement than a lot of others.
Re: Bike rack with support wheel?
Posted: 22 Aug 2021, 2:44pm
by thirdcrank
I've not looked carefully but I've not found much in the way of a definition of a trailer. Here's the RTA 1988:-
“trailer” means a vehicle drawn by a motor vehicle.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/19 ... ection/185
The con and use regs have this, which doesn't really take us any further:
Interpretation
(....).
(2) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, the expressions specified in column 1 of the Table have the meaning, or are to be interpreted in accordance with the provisions, specified for them in column 2 of the Table.
(....)
trailer: means a vehicle drawn by a motor vehicle and is to be interpreted in accordance with paragraphs (9) and (11)
(....)
(9) The provisions of these Regulations relating to trailers do not apply to any part of an articulated bus.
(....)
(11) For the purpose of the following provisions only, a composite trailer shall be treated as one trailer (not being a semi-trailer or a converter dolly)—
(a)regulations 7, 76 and 83;
(b)paragraph (2) of, and items 3 and 10 in the Table in, regulation 75;
(c)item 2 in the Table in regulation 78.
(Edited as indicated (....)
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/198 ... ion/3/made
Based on that, I'm by no means sure it's legally a trailer, rather than an extension of the vehicle it's mounted on, supported by a wheel - which is how the OP described it.
Re: Bike rack with support wheel?
Posted: 22 Aug 2021, 3:40pm
by Mick F
Our car has the gross vehicle weight the same as the train weight.
Toyota Yaris Hybrid.
Yes, you can buy (legally) a tow ball for the car so you can fit a rack ................ but is this allowed legally?
Re: Bike rack with support wheel?
Posted: 22 Aug 2021, 3:50pm
by robgul
Back in the late 1950s when cars were substantially smaller it was a common to see cars in France with a very similar "trailer" having a platform or box for transporting stuff (usually camping equipment) - my memory is a bit hazy on the detail but I think it was attached to the rear of the car on the brackets that would have held the rear bumber and over-riders.
I can recall Citroen Traction Avants and Simca Vedettes with the trailer.
Google - et voila!
https://www.alamy.com/ajaxnetphoto-2019 ... 13457.html
