How to make a do-it-yourself bike rack for a towbar

The main problem with the rear bike rack is that the car should already have a hitch. For large vehicles with permanently fixed spare wheels, hauling cargo on them is a worthy alternative to mounting on a tow hook.

Seeing an unusual device on someone else's car, a supporter of a healthy lifestyle will want to make a bike mount for a car on a tow bar with their own hands. Find out what it is for and whether it is worth taking on the job yourself.

Mounting device for a bicycle on a tow bar

The need to purchase an outdoor bike rack for a car often arises among lovers of two-wheeled transport in attractive parts of nature. It is even more interesting to do this not alone, but in the company of friends. Therefore, interest is shown in means that allow transporting several bicycles at once (up to 4 pieces) on one passenger car. There is only one technical solution here - mounting outside the car on a special trunk.

Types of fasteners according to the method of installation on the machine:

• top transportation on the roof of a car;
• hinged mount on the back door (for station wagon and hatchback bodies) or an external spare tire (jeeps, minibuses);
• installation based on a tow hitch (on a tow bar).

Each type of bike carrier has its pros and cons.

Bicycle engraving on a lighthouse

The device with fastening to the tow hook consists of a support unit that rigidly fixes the entire structure to the tow hitch of the towbar, as well as a bracket or frame on which bicycles are mounted. For reliability, locks or clamps are provided to keep the load from falling. On expensive versions, additional lighting devices are possible, duplicating the rear lights of a car if submerged bikes cover them.

Factory solutions of ready-made high-end bike racks are offered by the leading brands of this market. The Swedish Thule catalog contains more than a dozen models with different price levels, but even the cheapest versions of these devices cost from 350 euros, the flagship versions of Thule EasyFold XT 3 are about 1000 euros. Therefore, the desire to make a bike rack for a towbar of a car with your own hands is quite understandable. Let the appearance be far from the brand, but this is quite possible.

Drawing for making a do-it-yourself mount

To make a bike mount on a car towbar with your own hands, you will need:

• welding machine;
• drill with drill set;
• Bulgarian;
• several bolts and other fasteners;
• metal hand tools.

If all of the above is in the workshop or garage, you have a minimum set of skills for handling metal, then the work will not be difficult.

Select the type of device you want to repeat. They come in two varieties: platforms, on which the wheels of the bike are fixed in the grooves, and hanging holders, where the bicycle frame clings, and the rest of the parts remain suspended.

As a blank for a primitive hanging bike rack on a car towbar, take a square-section steel pipe and a piece of metal sheet with your own hands. The design is simply a V-shaped bracket with protruding "horns" fitted to the size of the bike frame. The only difficulty here is the support assembly, with which the device is rigidly fixed on the towbar support ball or screwed instead of the ball.

The device is rigidly fixed on the towbar support ball

Making a bike rack for a car towbar with your own hands will cost a lot less than buying a ready-made one, even if you order parts according to the drawing of a turner and welder.

Advantages and disadvantages of a towbar bike rack compared to other options

None of the methods of transporting bicycles on an external suspension can be considered the best - each has its pros and cons. Let's compare the installation of the roof rack on the tow hook with two other solutions.

Compared to roof mount

The tow hook mount has advantages over the most common type of bike rack:

• The aerodynamics of the car does not suffer even when driving at a decent speed. Fuel consumption increases quite a bit, there is no unnecessary noise, power loss.
• The vertical dimension of the car does not change. There is no unaccustomed threat of trying to drive under the low crossbars of gates, garages, bridges with disastrous results.
• Loading a bike on a low platform is much easier than hoisting it with outstretched arms to the upper tier.

Roof bike rack

There are also disadvantages:

• difficult access to the trunk;
• an increase in size seriously interferes with reverse maneuvers;
• more lateral buildup of cargo when driving over bumps;
• the most serious disadvantage: the likelihood of problems with the traffic police due to the fact that bicycles block the visibility of lighting equipment and license plates.

The main problem with the rear bike rack is that the car should already have a hitch.

Compared to spare tire mount

Due to the considerable weight of several bicycles together with the bracket (up to 60 kg), mounting them on an external spare tire is only possible on large vehicles with large wheel sizes.

Pros:

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• spare wheel fasteners are simpler, take up less storage space, are easier to install and remove;
• better control over the behavior of the load in high-speed maneuvers;
• lower price;
• do-it-yourself bike mount for a towbar is more difficult to make than a simple spare wheel suspension.

Cons:

• difficult access to the rear door when the spare wheel rests on it - with additionally mounted bicycles, lifting will become impossible;
• if the wheel is mounted on a side-turning bracket, then the additional load will quickly break the axles.

For large vehicles with permanently fixed spare wheels, hauling cargo on them is a worthy alternative to mounting on a tow hook.

Do-it-yourself bike rack on a car / Bicycle tail / Electric bike