Tow ball mounted carriers

Hi All

This is my first post here but I did do a google search of this group for a
similar question and found only one other mention of the Tradekar carrier.

I'm looking at two carriers at a price of about £150;
http://www.roofbox.co.uk/cgi-bin/bik...et&query=TR437
and
http://stores.channeladvisor.com/tow...%20tow%20 bar
or http://preview.tinyurl.com/5lxdnw

Does one appear to be better than the other, or do either actually look any
good at all?
We currently use a tow bar mounted hang-on carrier, but it's pretty much
useless for 4 bikes.
Our bikes are not particularly lightweight, weighing in at just under 60kg
total. I could remove the saddles to save a couple of kilos ;-)

Thanks for any comments.

On 30 Aug, 17:08, "Grumps" wrote:
Hi All

This is my first post here but I did do a google search of this group for a
similar question and found only one other mention of the Tradekar carrier..

I'm looking at two carriers at a price of about £150;http://www.roofbox..co.uk/cgi-bin/bi...et&query=TR437
andhttp://stores.channeladvisor.com/towbar/Items/a007p4rafv?&caSKU=a007p...
orhttp://preview.tinyurl.com/5lxdnw

Does one appear to be better than the other, or do either actually look any
good at all?
We currently use a tow bar mounted hang-on carrier, but it's pretty much
useless for 4 bikes.
Our bikes are not particularly lightweight, weighing in at just under 60kg
total. I could remove the saddles to save a couple of kilos ;-)

Thanks for any comments.

I bought the tradekar carrier a couple of months ago. Used it a few
times now and am very happy with it. Seems quite miraculous how it
hangs on the towball, I added a couple of extra straps from an old
door-mounted carrier because I couldn't believe it could just balance
on the towball like that, but I don't think it really needs them.
Very easy to load and unload, especially compared to threading several
bikes onto a hanging rack, and also the bikes are kept apart so they
don't scratch each other. Only complaint is that it only comes with 3
arms to hold the crossbars and you need 4. Very odd as the 4th isn't
in any of the pictures or parts list but gets a mention in the
instructions, I made one up for a couple of quid.

In article , Grumps wrote:
I'm looking at two carriers at a price of about £150;
http://www.roofbox.co.uk/cgi-bin/bik...et&query=TR437
and
http://stores.channeladvisor.com/tow...%20tow%20 bar
or http://preview.tinyurl.com/5lxdnw

Does one appear to be better than the other, or do either actually look any
good at all?

The "But not the TAKE FOUR! You step into the carrier, grab the frame holder
(which is on the point of balance) and walk the carrier onto the tow ball."
looks convenient, but I don't have any practical experience of it.

(I can fit the cheaper holder I have single handed because I'm fairly large,
but it is rather awkward.)

There was a thread on tow bar mounted carriers not long ago, but I'm failing
to find it on Google.

Double-take...

I read the thread title as "Town hall mounted carriers".

I'll get my coat.

In message , Grumps
writes

Our bikes are not particularly lightweight, weighing in at just under 60kg
total. I could remove the saddles to save a couple of kilos ;-)

Probably ok.

The key thing to check is the nose weight on the tow bar for the car,
(on both of our cars - Punto and Mondeo it is 75Kg, which should be ok
for a rack and four bikes)
--
Chris French

On Aug 31, 12:17*pm, JNugent wrote:
Double-take...

I read the thread title as "Town hall mounted carriers".

I'll get my coat.

Why do I think you haven't pulled!

{translation: leave your coat where it is, you probably haven't pulled
with that line}

You need to check the load capacity of the towbar. As an example, IIRC, the
limit on mine is 50kg, and the weight of the bike carrier chosen + bikes
came into a sniff under this.

On Aug 31, 5:32*pm, "wafflycat"
wrote:
You need to check the load capacity of the towbar. As an example, IIRC, the
limit on mine is 50kg, and the weight of the bike carrier chosen + bikes
came into a sniff under this.

You may also need to consider a Trailer board, lights and number
plate.
I've seen several cops giving tickets to folks who obscure their rear
lights and number plates with towbar bike carriers.

On Sun, 31 Aug 2008 11:16:20 -0700 (PDT), JP
wrote:

On Aug 31, 5:32*pm, "wafflycat"
wrote:
You need to check the load capacity of the towbar. As an example, IIRC, the
limit on mine is 50kg, and the weight of the bike carrier chosen + bikes
came into a sniff under this.

You may also need to consider a Trailer board, lights and number
plate.
I've seen several cops giving tickets to folks who obscure their rear
lights and number plates with towbar bike carriers.

And the French Police at channel ports are very keen on handing out
tickets to rosbifs for the same reason too.

"JP" wrote in message
...
On Aug 31, 5:32 pm, "wafflycat"
wrote:
You need to check the load capacity of the towbar. As an example, IIRC,
the
limit on mine is 50kg, and the weight of the bike carrier chosen + bikes
came into a sniff under this.

You may also need to consider a Trailer board, lights and number
pate.
Ive seen several cops giving tickets to folks who obscure their rear
lights and number plates with towbar bike carriers.

Thanks for all of the replies.
The nose weight is a max of 90kg, so 4 bikes + carrier is well under this.
And both carriers that I'm looking at come with the light + plate holder.