Carrying bikes?

[Brissie_Mick]

Hi guys,

Have a MY15 Tiguan with just the standard roof rails and no tow bar. I'm after some advice on carrying 3 or 4 bikes. Kids (teenage) bikes - nothing fancy / carbon fibre / precious.

Do I buy a towbar and then get a towball 4-bike rack?
Do I buy the roof cross bars and get roof mounted bike carriers?
Are the strapped on hatch mounted things OK and they don't damage the paint?
What $ am I looking at here?

I managed to squeeze in 2 bikes as well as 4 passengers and 4 days worth of luggage into the Tiguan recently, but this required too muck luggage tetris / origami for my liking and had one of the kids with a bike wheel next to their head for the journey, so looking for something simpler, safer and not too expensive.

Cheers,

MK

[arcadelt]

I think you'd have trouble getting four bikes onto the roof due to width, if not weight. This is my setup with two light-weight aluminium adult road bikes just so you can see how tight it would be.



I suggest you'd be better off with a rack on a towbar. The car has a high towing capacity (2000kg) and heavy-duty towbars (3000kg) and racks are available to fit four bikes.

Edit. I also suggest getting a rack that slots into a Hayman Reese square connector rather than bolts onto a towball.

[Hillbilly]

Just dont do what I saw a Tiguan do a couple of weeks ago Drove into the HN centre at Maroochydore with an expensive mountain bike on the roof rack. By the time it had put a few dents in the roof and demolished both its wheels then scraped down the rear and along the road both it and the car were looking second hand. Havent had such a good laugh in quite a while.

[Foxpuppet]

Gripsport is a local based carrier builder that does a no nonsense 4 bike carrier or brands like Yakima or Thule make nice fold down units that allow access to the boot without removing the bikes.

FourTimer - Products - Bike, Hitch | Yakima


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[Brissie_Mick]

Thanks for the info guys - sounds like the towbar & towbar mounted bike rack is the way to go. My 3 year lease is up in 6 months - not sure if I'm keeping or trading, so will contemplate for awhile!

MK

[GDG]

MK, Its heavily MTB biased but there a lot of good info on various bike transport options on this Rotorburn forum MegaThread.

BIKE RACKS AND CARRIERS FOR CARS MEGATHREAD - all questions asked and answered here

FYI - I'm currently running 4 x "Thule Pro Ride 951" Bike Carriers on Thule Aero Bars mounted via feet to the factory roof rails on my B7 Passat Alltrack.

Prior to July this year, in Vic, you had to remove a rear mounted bike carrier if there were no bikes on it (even when parked) so the roof mounted option made the most sense for my needs. Check the legal requirements for your state and any state you are likely to travel to before committing to purchase of a bike carrier system. It shouldn't be a problem with a Tiguan but exceeding parameters such as vehicle rear overhang could render some bike carriers illegal in some states on certain vehicles.

[Foxpuppet]

MK, Its heavily MTB biased but there a lot of good info on various bike transport options on this Rotorburn forum MegaThread.

BIKE RACKS AND CARRIERS FOR CARS MEGATHREAD - all questions asked and answered here

FYI - I'm currently running 4 x "Thule Pro Ride 951" Bike Carriers on Thule Aero Bars mounted via feet to the factory roof rails on my B7 Passat Alltrack.

Prior to July this year, in Vic, you had to remove a rear mounted bike carrier if there were no bikes on it (even when parked) so the roof mounted option made the most sense for my needs. Check the legal requirements for your state and any state you are likely to travel to before committing to purchase of a bike carrier system. It shouldn't be a problem with a Tiguan but exceeding parameters such as vehicle rear overhang could render some bike carriers illegal in some states on certain vehicles.

Good call on RB - the brains trust over there are sure to have years of accumulative experience with this.


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[Fitzwah]

Got a thule bar that works well

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