bike rack warning sign

storma63 · May 6, 2015

Hi Group,
I'm looking for advice on fitting a warning sign for the bike rack when travelling around Europe. Which country require them and what design is legal. I plan this years tour around Holland Germany Belgium and France.

Steve

owen_h · May 6, 2015

A few weekends ago I went through France, Belgium & Holland with 3 bikes on the back but no warning sign. Didnt have any problems. I have also done Germany, Austria & Luxembourg in the past with bikes on the back, again no issues.
Spain & Italy need them I think (it might even need to be made of aluminium). Possibly Portugal.
Fiamma make them if you do need to get one.

WelshGas · May 6, 2015

The only one certified in Italy is the Flamma Aluminium sign.

jeff · May 6, 2015

I pretty sure you need a aluminium one for Spain, Portugal and Italy .

Gavinskii · May 7, 2015

For £12 delivered for a Fiamma, I wouldn't risk it without

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FIAMMA-RE...672?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2a4c4e3e90

calicasas · May 7, 2015

Don't need one for Spain. Have been for many years with bike rack with no warning sign with No problems ever.
Portugal and Italy definitely require them. Has to be the Aluminium type in Italy.

estresao · May 7, 2015

In Spain it's mandatory. It's called sign V-20 (placa V-20 in Spanish). Here some explanation http://n332.es/vehicle-laws/sign-v-20/

calicasas · May 10, 2015

Hi Estresao, It's an Interesting link.
Last summer I was followed for some 20mins by police car travelling to la coruña and was not stopped.
I was stopped in Ainsa at a traffic lights, the police looked over the vehicle but didn't say anything about the bike rack.
The article link appears to say that if the overhang is 10% or 15% the vehicle length or less then a warning sign isn't required. I am not clear since the English translation is poor.
The Cali bike rack overhang is 600mm so approx 12% of the vehicle length.
As with many things in Spain, they have laws but the police rarely implement them (in my 40 years of travelling through Spain)
I don't think I will be buying a warning triangle anytime soon....

estresao · May 10, 2015

They do, but maybe mostly against Spaniards (someone have to pay the corruption).

I guess things are more flexible with turists because they assume laws abroad are different and, for this king of thing, maybe they are not so picky. Other point could be the language barrier.

But it is mandatory.

calicasas · May 10, 2015

You are probably right.
Did you understand the 10% or 15% permitted overhang? It seems to me that if the overhang is not too large, it is permitted not to have a warning plate.
The site link you have provided is not the official DGT site and I will try to dig the official government version in Spanish as it may be more clearly explained...

sue.h · May 10, 2015

buy the sign - its cheaper than the fine! i was on a campsite in Caseres, (2014) and met several dutch and uk people who had been fined for not having the sign on the cycles

storma63 · May 10, 2015

Some excellent advice, thanks all.

estresao · May 10, 2015

Here a DGT summary for bicycles http://revista.dgt.es/es/reportajes/2014/07JULIO/0729-Como-llevar-las-bicis-bien.shtml#.VU9ccqBwaBY

Basically it says you have to fit the V-20 sing if you're carriying a bicycle in the rear side.

You need no fit it whe yout bike rack is empty.
A V-20 is very cheap, so as sue.h said, get one.

The overhang usually apply when the transported object exceed the wide of the vehicle. As a general rule, it it do, set two V-20 signs showing and inverted V. In the following picture the green strip depicts the vehicle wide.