Tow bar mounted bike rack for new defender.

[mjw0321]

I am picking up a 6 month old defender 110 with an electrically deployable towbar. I would like to find a bike rack which can carry 3 to 4 bikes, one of which is a 25kg emtb. Does anyone know of any racks which would work?

[QuickQuack]

I have the Thule VeloCompact 3 bike carrier. It has a maximum loading capacity of 60kg and up to 25kg for an individual bike. You can get an extension kit to add a 4th bike as well. It tips away from the tailgate so that you can get into the boot with all the bikes loaded which is a very handy feature. It's pricier than others but it's worth it.

[Bill]

I have an Atera Strada that's brilliant. It slides away from the rear as it tilts which might work better for the Defender rear door.

[mjw0321]

Thank you very much. I’ll look into them.

[mjw0321]

QuickQuack said:

I have the Thule VeloCompact 3 bike carrier. It has a maximum loading capacity of 60kg and up to 25kg for an individual bike. You can get an extension kit to add a 4th bike as well. It tips away from the tailgate so that you can get into the boot with all the bikes loaded which is a very handy feature. It's pricier than others but it's worth it.

Do you have this rack with a defender? I’m just checking it would fit with the rear mounted spare wheel. Thanks.

[Cold]

Does the deployable towbar have a limited nose weight?

[MarcelM6]

Thule Velospace XT. I have the 3 bike version. It's bigger (a beast of a rack) than most bike racks to accommodate emtbs. I think you can do max 2 emtbs on a towbar mounted rack though due to total weight. Maybe 3 if they are on the light end of the spectrum.

[mjw0321]

Cold said:

Does the deployable towbar have a limited nose weight?

The handbook says 350kgs

[Cold]

mjw0321 said:

Cold said:

Does the deployable towbar have a limited nose weight?

The handbook says 350kgs

Nice, that's a usefully chunky amount.

[mjw0321]

Bill said:

I have an Atera Strada that's brilliant. It slides away from the rear as it tilts which might work better for the Defender rear door.

Can I just check; does this rack fit with a rear mounted spare wheel. From what I am reading, many racks need some sort of extender.

[Bill]

No idea, sorry. I use it on D4. It's far enough away that my circa 760mm bars don't hit the rear door though.

[QuickQuack]

mjw0321 said:

Do you have this rack with a defender? I’m just checking it would fit with the rear mounted spare wheel. Thanks.

I have it with an L322. I can put up a picture of it attached to the car in the morning to show how far back it would sit from the tow bar and how far it would tilt.

[QuickQuack]

There isn't enough space for a rear mounted spare wheel but I think I might've found a solution.

One really good thing about the VeloCompact is that you can extend it to a 4 bike carrier with an adaptor.

https://www.roofracks.co.uk/velocompact-bike-adapt...



I have also found this adaptor which just seems to replace the straight up rear bar with a bendy one so that you can fit it to a car with a rear mounted spare wheel although it does take up one bike space:

https://www.roofracks.co.uk/spare-wheel-adapter/p/...



You'd have 2 adaptors, but I think you'd be able to carry 3 bikes, 2 of which could be ebikes as the 4th bike adaptor isn't suitable for an ebike. Having said that, a 3rd ebike would be well over the max weight capacity of any bike carrier anyway.

[mjw0321]

QuickQuack said:

There isn't enough space for a rear mounted spare wheel but I think I might've found a solution.

One really good thing about the VeloCompact is that you can extend it to a 4 bike carrier with an adaptor.

https://www.roofracks.co.uk/velocompact-bike-adapt...



I have also found this adaptor which just seems to replace the straight up rear bar with a bendy one so that you can fit it to a car with a rear mounted spare wheel although it does take up one bike space:

https://www.roofracks.co.uk/spare-wheel-adapter/p/...



You'd have 2 adaptors, but I think you'd be able to carry 3 bikes, 2 of which could be ebikes as the 4th bike adaptor isn't suitable for an ebike. Having said that, a 3rd ebike would be well over the max weight capacity of any bike carrier anyway.

Thanks for taking the time to find this! Definitely looks like an option.