richlar3glen Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 Having just bought a 2012 Autotrail Tracker 632U privately, we are left wondering what the best solution is to the fitting of a bike rack with the spare wheel carrier on the rear panel? The vehicle has a towbar so could go with a towbar mounted bike rack, but I wonder if anyone has experience of a rear panel mounted bike rack such as a fiamma and whether it needs to be specialised to allow removal of spare wheel in a puncture emergency? If going with towbar mounted option it would have to be on the bracket rather than the tow ball as we will on occasions be using an A Frame. The issue of obscuring rear lights can be overcome by a lighting board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 Fiamma at least do a special version of their bike rack for the Autotrail. You may find the discussion on these previous threads of interest: http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Bike-rack-on-Autotrail/32511/ http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Anyone-got-thule-omni-bike-rack-on-an-autotrail-/32614/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly58 Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 See picture Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sydney1 Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 If you are looking to carry 3 rather than 2 bikes you may need to check the capacity of the rear panel, especially if they are heavy mountain bikes. We have an AT Scout and because of the rear window (which reduces the capacity of the panel), we were advised to go for a tow bar mounted carrier. Most of them have an integral lighting board so pretty smart looking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richlar3glen Posted October 6, 2014 Author Share Posted October 6, 2014 Which towbar mounted bike carrier did you go for? Thanks for the gen on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richlar3glen Posted October 6, 2014 Author Share Posted October 6, 2014 Thanks for the steer on this. With the large window on the back I'm going to explore both options carefully. It's down to a. rear panel load capacity, b. Obscuring rear vision, c. Height for mounting bikes on the rack. The towbar mounted option needs to be considered but would need to be robust enough to be preferable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolandrat Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 If you're 6ft 6ins tall then all well and good otherwise you might need a step to mount the bikes. The spare wheel used to be stored low down at the rear under the floor out of the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sydney1 Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 We went for one of these as we were impressed with the quality although you can get cheaper versions http://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel4_tab.php?AR2603 We have a very long overhang on the Scout so the tow bar was pretty expensive but very pleased with the overall setup and very solid. I'd suggest it was more robust than the rear panel mounted option, although if you only have 2 bikes then I can't see it being a problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 We had Autotrail fit a Fiamma rack to our Dakota as this was there recommended carrier. Excellent rack with a max 50KG loading. As previously stated due to the spare wheel, the rack does end up quite high.... and yes i do have a set of steps... but with bikes at 22kg it still takes a degree of physical strength getting them on and off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 I have a Dakota with a rear bike carrier fitted, it is a bit to high so investigated a tow ball one, I would recommend that as they are a lot lower and easier to use, mine also tips. It is also portable if you decide to change vans...I managed to get mine of ebay for £80 it is fab, unfortunately I do not have the link but it came with the lighting rig and has a large payload which not all of them do, it carries my two electric bikes with ease, obviously with out the batteries.. :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter lambert Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 We also have a Dakota and have invested in a Thule Towball mounted rack. We have electric cycles, which are heavy and a real pain to hoist up onto a high rack. The rack we have can also be used on our car, as we have a tow ball on that too. Several makes are available, but check the load capacity of the racks to make sure that they will take the weight of cycles you will be loading. They're not cheap, but you get what you pay for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Dwight Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 We have a Tracker FB. When buying from new 2 years ago part of the deal was the bike rack, Autotrail advised a lifting bike rack as it would be above the spare wheel, this make it easy to put the bikes on the rack then wind the rack up, it also makes it more difficult for anybody to get at the bikes. We are very pleased with the set up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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