A2 compatible bike rack

Ken Long

Ken Long

Member
Pondering getting a rack to carry my mountain bike. Normally I use my van but we're going to my mum's for a week and we'll need the car. So I don't want to spend a tonne of cash on something that will get occasional(at best) use.
Our A2 doesn't have a towbar so I think I'm looking at either a rear tailgate one or something to mount on roof bars. I lean towards a tailgate unit but am happy to be educated by the more knowledgeable A2 Hivemind.
The bike is Cotic Solaris which is a steel hardtail, weighs around 15kg or so I guess.
 
Back seat(s) & false floor (if fitted) out, thick polythene or a tarp etc on the boot floor, front wheel off bike, carry it inside.
 
That would be fine if we didn't have luggage for two, a cat carrier (with cat) and cat litter tray. Also, we'll need the back seat when we're taking mum out and about. She might grumble about being plonked on a tarp, you know what mum's are like!
 
Ah, I see your problem now ... sorry I didn't quite realise the volume of other stuff to be carried at the same time. With the spoiler, there is basically no solution to go on the tailgate (there was a specific one once, but it was expensive and I don't think it ever really took off). Roof bars and bike carrier on them would seem to be the way.
 
It might be possible to fit it in with the seat folded forward. I may experiment in breaking the bike down to see how compact I can get it.
 
Evening Ken,

You should easily be able to fit your bike in the back with the seats down. When communing to Lincoln I used to carry my Bianchi C2C Centostrade 100 road bike - medium (54) frame. I used to take the front wheel of and it fitted nicely. I knot the handle bars will of course be wider on your MTB but carrying limited basic tools to loosen the stem will be a breeze to twist them.

I always had more than enough room but then I never had the addition of an occupied cat box.

It’s certainly worth a trial pack to see if you can fit all you need into the rear of the car with just the seats down.

Kind regards.

Tom
 
If I can do it I'll no doubt post some pics. The one issue might be modern mountain bike geometry (Long, Low and Slack™) and the fact that my frame takes 29" wheels (which make the frame a bit longer again!
 
Suspect your best option is to take one back seat out, if you have 4 seater. Both wheels off the bike seatpost out bars off. It'll then stand upright. I've done this in the past and tied frame and wheels to rear grab handle to keep upright. That or something like Thule roofrack mounted carrier. Cheers
 
Five seater so seat will have to stay, and seat post is an internally cabled dropper post, which is a pain to remove (particularly as I've got it set just where I want it!)
I might be able to get the forks between the front seats, with the handlebars behind the headrests. As I say, I'll have to play around with it. It would be great if it would fit inside as then our mpg won't be compromised in the way any sort of external attachment would.
 
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