living with a heavy bike on the tailgate

[WelshGas]

Really? That's news to me. I know it's not legal to carry the battery with you on a plane, but to remove it while driving, sitting on the back of your car..? Seems a bit far fetched to me, but they might have their reasons. I think it´s a big hassle on mine to do that as well. It's made so to save weight I guess.

More prone to damage and ignition in a rear end shunt.

 

[Jdorling]

Nice! It's a good compromise, and I will probably go for that one, if I can't make my swing away dreams come true. Makes sense with the ladder on the hitch, and the bike rack on the towing ball. I've been climbing my Fiama rack in the past to get to the "ski box", as we call them here, which is not quite by the book, but no problems so far though. This looks safer.

What about cover for the bike? Do you use it? Drive with it on? I would hesitate to leave the car without one. Bike is almost as expensive as the car..

I’ve got a cover I used over the bike when I get to a camp site to keep it a little less obvious

 

[kp64zl]

This isn't much different to my family trips with 4 bikes on the back. Can't open the boot.
My solution is to pack the stuff that's not needed in the "boot" and access the rest from inside.

 

[ejmoore]

We have a washing line prop (from Wilko I think) to keep the tailgate open with two bikes on. Though usually one of us just holds it open while the other gets whatever out of the boot.

 

[Hantshog]

Atera DL3 swings back to give you access to tailgate but I think I read it only works with factory fitted towbar, not aftermarket fittings.
I never understood why people opt for a tailgate fitted bike rack unless you need the tow ball for towing. Heavy, obscured rearview, increased height clearance, possibly reduced fuel consumption even when not carrying bikes, difficulty opening rear door when loaded, expensive too.

 

[Wesel]

Atera DL3 swings back to give you access to tailgate but I think I read it only works with factory fitted towbar, not aftermarket fittings.
I never understood why people opt for a tailgate fitted bike rack unless you need the tow ball for towing. Heavy, obscured rearview, increased height clearance, possibly reduced fuel consumption even when not carrying bikes, difficulty opening rear door when loaded, expensive too.

But the style

 

[Ch1pbutty]

Atera DL3 swings back to give you access to tailgate but I think I read it only works with factory fitted towbar, not aftermarket fittings.
I never understood why people opt for a tailgate fitted bike rack unless you need the tow ball for towing. Heavy, obscured rearview, increased height clearance, possibly reduced fuel consumption even when not carrying bikes, difficulty opening rear door when loaded, expensive too.

Tailgate rack used to come with the van as standard. Towbar, bike carrier & electrics can work far more expensive and are not great in tight car parks - VW rack clears the bonnets of most cars when reversing.

Altera rack is quite heavy if stored in the garage, my partner refused to put it on our old T4, but would happily use the VW tailgate / Fiamma rack, so found it easier if using every day.

Each have their +/-.

 

[Richard Love]

Really? That's news to me. I know it's not legal to carry the battery with you on a plane, but to remove it while driving, sitting on the back of your car..? Seems a bit far fetched to me, but they might have their reasons. I think it´s a big hassle on mine to do that as well. It's made so to save weight I guess.

In France, illegal to have battery fitted to an externally

 

[vmaxkiddy]

Atera DL3 swings back to give you access to tailgate but I think I read it only works with factory fitted towbar, not aftermarket fittings.
I never understood why people opt for a tailgate fitted bike rack unless you need the tow ball for towing. Heavy, obscured rearview, increased height clearance, possibly reduced fuel consumption even when not carrying bikes, difficulty opening rear door when loaded, expensive too.

For drying towels on

 

[DavidofHook]

We have an Altera rack which is brilliant. It takes our 2 bikes & folds down with bikes on to give access to the boot etc. on site we download the bikes but rarely remove the bike rack. I stopped using the VW rack as it needed the strength of ten men to put the (non electric) bikes on it.
We never bother with a cover, bikes are for external use after all but the rack has it’s own locking system & I also use an independent lock as well to deter bike enthusiasts who might want to try ours without permission

 

[ejmoore]

Atera DL3 swings back to give you access to tailgate but I think I read it only works with factory fitted towbar, not aftermarket fittings.
I never understood why people opt for a tailgate fitted bike rack unless you need the tow ball for towing. Heavy, obscured rearview, increased height clearance, possibly reduced fuel consumption even when not carrying bikes, difficulty opening rear door when loaded, expensive too.

The tailgate bike rack was on the van when we bought it; and there's no tow-ball.

 

[Chris Jones]

Hi, I've been wondering about what to do living with my new heavy e-bike. My tailgate won't stay open after raising it, and taking the bike off every time is not an option. I wonder how people solve this issue with a heavy load on the tailgate? I've been thinking about if changing the gas struts to something more heavy duty would work, or perhaps going for some American 2 inch hitch rack system, with a swing away bike rack. The last one though is not really legal in EU I think, which is a bummer, cause it looks quite convenient. How do you guys do it?

 

[haydnw2]

Our Thule VeloSpace XT3 worked perfectly for two eMTBs on our T5.1 Cali. The towbar was an aftermarket affair rather than factory. The XT3 has two 'tilt' settings, the furthest of which allowed us to open and close the tailgate with gay abandon. The only thing we had to bear in mind was to use the outermost two bike slots, because the one closest to the van meant that 800 mm handlebars touched the windscreen. XT3 also worked with 2.6" tyres and 1200mm+ wheelbases.