Looking for a recommendation - Towball fitter - Bike Rack fitting

[jonathanA]

and (more than one) with a Landover body/cab  on. 

 

this wasn't the one I was thinking of (seen on the bridgewater) but similar

 

[Hudds Lad]

3 hours ago, magnetman said:

VW ish but could be a Ford. I always have trouble telling them apart.

Well you would, it was a joint venture between Ford and VW, think there was a SEAT shared the same platform too  

[blackrose]

17 hours ago, Stroudwater1 said:

As the bike is around 6 foot long  it seems a reasonable thing to me rather than have it scratching the roof especially if it’s a hefty E-bike? 

 

Why would it have to scratch the roof? I have a couple of giant rubber scraper mats (1m X 1m) on my roof - the ones with holes - for coal, bikes, or whatever needs to go up there. They have little protrusions underneath and don't trap water. I thought everyone knew about them.

 

As the OP is a CCer I personally think hanging bikes of the back is even less recommend. Eventually they will hit something - lock gates or another boat. Although the well deck might be inconvenient, at least the bikes are within the profile of the boat and the only thing you have to worry about if they're on the roof is low bridges and you'll know if they're coming up. 

Edited September 26, 2023 by blackrose

[MtB]

14 hours ago, davehartley20 said:

P.S. I already have the bike rack, similar to the one in the picture. I don't have to use it in a solution just my starting point

 

 

Bikes on conventional narrowboats are a PITA whichever way you do it. Even if you use the bike rack on a towball idea, getting the bike on and off it is not going to be easy as on a car, one stands behind the car to lift it on and with a boat, that bit is the water. 

 

My own solution to the 'bikes on narrowboats' problem is to have tug-style boats. Then I just drop the bike anywhere on the tug deck like 12-year olds drop theirs right outside the door of the newsagent! 

 

When I need to secure it overnight, say, I bike-lock it to the tunnel lamp upstand. 

[IanD]

On 26/09/2023 at 00:57, Hudds Lad said:

Well you would, it was a joint venture between Ford and VW, think there was a SEAT shared the same platform too  

There was, I had all three over the years -- a VW Sharan VR6, a Seat Alhambra VR6 24V, and a Ford S-max 2.5T with the Volvo 5-cyl turbo engine -- the second two in particular were nice to drive and fast enough to embarrass hot-hatch drivers... 😉