Carrying recumbent on outside of vehicles?

[TPMB12]

Looking at getting a towbar mounted rack for 4 bikes including a recumbent SMGT.  How do you carry yours?

The SMGT has the best same wheelbase as my upright.  It's probably less than 20kg so no issue with weight on the tray holding the wheels. What about the boom? Rather not change where its set. Would such a boom stick out too much?

It'll be on the rack with 3 uprights. Would the USS bars be an issue due to width?

What's your experience with recumbent Bicycle?

BTW we're using a towbar rack on a camper as the only option due to barn doors and pop top roof.

[Kim]

I've never had it on a car rack, but my SMGT from chainring guard to rear mudguard is 1.9m; about 10cm longer than my Dawes Discovery (which is not a big frame) from front tyre to rear mudguard.  It usually fits on trains, unless the cycle space is one that isn't designed to accommodate an adult's road bike with the steering straight.  USS bars are certainly a pain width-wise (they're no wider than a MTB bar, but in an awkward place).  When advanced tetrising is required it's possible to overlap by hooking the top-tube of a suitably shaped DF bike over the USS handlebar.  You could probably remove the seat to gain a fair bit more wiggle-room (and a dry seat).

Weight is about 24kg, so while on a good day I can hang it by the rear wheel in a dangly bike space, a roof-mounted rack is right out.  I wouldn't expect much drama with a towbar-mounted rack.

Other recumbent bikes can be a lot longer than a Streetmachine.  I think the Red Baron is of the order of 2.1m.  This post refers: https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=79449.msg1630898#msg1630898

And obviously taller riders may have some scope for reducing the overall length by pushing the boom in further.  Would recommend some sort of alignment marks to make it easy to reproduce the right extension/rotation.


(In general, other than for BHPC events, car travel tends to cause me to resort to something more convenient to fit inside like the ICE trike or Brompton.)

[Mr Larrington]

I carried my Kingcycle to the S of France on a towbar rack shared with a Perfectly Good Gentleman’s Mountain Bicycle, but that's a pretty compact machine – shorter than any of my upwrongs – and adjusted for length by moving the seat.  The Speedmachine stuck out a lot more and I don’t think I ever tried Cosimo the Stealth Baron on the rack.

[Kim]

I can only imagine a Baron adjusted to Larringtonian proportions would require a 'WIDE LOAD' sign, flashing yellow lights, and outriders.

[Mr Larrington]

Especially coz Cosimo is the XL version which IIRC has a 10 cm longer wheelbase.

[rafletcher]

Maximum towing width in the UK is 2.55m. Assuming that’s evenly split, the extremity of your recumbent should probably be less than 1.3m from the centreline of your car.

[ElyDave]

Cruzbike fits on the rack quite well, FWD MBB does not sit much in front of the wheel.

I would not have put my M5 on the towbar rack though, longer wheelbase and longer boom, I'd have been worried about sidewiping peds even with the width of the previous Green Beast

[woollypigs]

I got a 3 "seater" towbar rack and a Azub 6 and it doesn't stick out more than the wing mirrors. Which is good as I can see the bike in them as a reminder to me that something is sticking out from the back. I often carry the Azub with a Surly LHT. The USS makes it a faff to put a third bike on the rack. I would think a two "seater" rack would be a right faff as you don't have the extra space.

[canny colin]

I know a lad who used to carry a ice trice trike . By bungee  the front wheels  to the rear spoiler and passing a bungee cord around the rear wheel then through the front of the hatch back . " Good for 80mph " he used to tell me .

[TPMB12]

My wheelbase is 110cm , probably 106cm if accurately measured,  which is the exact same as my upright bike. The full,  extremities length including wheels of my upright and boom of my bent is only a cm or two difference with the bent longer. Easily done by reducing the boom length to less than the bike.

However I reckon the bent could be centred by moving the wheels to one side. This might put the weight off centre.

24kg! I was thinking it was less than 20kg. Most towbar racks are 60kg limit for 4 bike racks, well 3 plus 1 racks. I'm looking at an atera dl3 with 4th bike accessory. That's 63 kg with the last bike no more than 20kg. Another cheaper option is 60kg with the 3rd and 4th bike totalling 20kg max combined weight. Not possible I think.

[Mr Larrington]

I know a lad who used to carry a ice trice trike . By bungee  the front wheels  to the rear spoiler and passing a bungee cord around the rear wheel then through the front of the hatch back . " Good for 80mph " he used to tell me .

I remember Bob Dixon rocking up at Curborough once with two Windcheetahs strapped to the top of an XJS cabriolet – the one with the fixed roll bar behind the front seats.  Seats removed, one set of wheels on the windscreen header rail and t'other on the roll bar.  Fortunately it wasn’t raining…

[Blodwyn Pig]

Only thing to remember is the extra weight. A GT is around.........16-18kg +, so put it nearest the van, and check max capacity of the rack.

[Browser]

I've got a Thule 853-2680 roof-mounted carrier for my M5, the only mod I had to carry out was to shprten the two 'arms' so the clamp engaged on the lower main tube of my frame. It's just long enough for the wheelbase and was cheap, which is a good thing 

[TPMB12]

When we only had the car I got a really good thule roof bar carrier. Once you lifted the SMGT and put the wheels into the wheel trays a hook arm could be pushed down into position to temporarily hold it while you strapped the wheels. Then a know was turned to tighten that hook until secure. I've never had a roof mounted carrier take less time to fix it than it did to lift the bike up to the carrier. So quick to fix your bike and it was so secure. The hook worked better on my recumbent than my upright bike too. Can't use it on the pop top van roof though so towbar is needed.

Most towbar carriers have about 60kg load with a few having extra restrictions on weight such as a max total for 3rd and 4th bikes from the vehicle. One I looked at it was 20kg for two bikes. I reckon that's only 2 kids bikes or a light road bike.

Yes, heaviest to the vehicle and lightest furthest away.  Although with the arm fixing system of many I wonder if you had a bigger but lighter bike in third will there be an issue? I doubt it but I've never looked at this type of carrier up close.

BTW thule carriers seem overpriced. Atera brand looks a good mid range one that's as good as a thule a few hundred pounds more.