Towbars and cycle racks

[patosullivan]

I have a 2007 CRV and live in Austria. I want to use a cycle rack with the vehicle and favour the towbar mounted types, I want to carry a maximum of 4 bikes. I am finding it extremely difficult to get any information here about what type of towbar and rack I should use. Not speaking German doesn't help. Has anybody got any experience, bearing in mind EU rules etc, of what would be the best type of towbar to fit and the best type of cycle rack to match to it. Honda dealer here will fit a towbar but the price is outrageous.

There appear to be many options on UK websites but whether the products are suitable for continental Europe is unclear to me.

Any assistance/experience appreciated.

[Mammon]

Not sure if this is any help or not but I'll give it a go...

Here in the UK, I have a 2006 CR-V Executive which had a towbar fitted by the previous owner. My previous vehicle - a LandRover Freelander had a towbar mounted bike rack included when I bought it and I was able to transfer the bike rack mounting plate to one vehicle from the other without any bother. The bike rack is swan necked obviously to get round the spare wheel, but on the Honda I had to take the wheel cover off as otherwise it wouldn't fit. So far so good and we have used it on a number of occasions without a problem.

On the subject of EU law, I drove my Freelander to France a couple of years ago with the bike rack mentioned above and recall checking everything with the AA here and they said it was ok as long as lights, registration plate etc were visible - in other words as per UK regulations.

Good luck!

[patosullivan]

Thanks a lot for that info. I have just about sorted it all out. Your point about the number plates and lights is an important one in Austria at least and it seems Europe wide. I finally ended up getting a towbar through a UK firm with a European supply outlet, a Bosal detachable swan neck at a pretty reasonable price. I'm still trying to get a car specific wiring kit for it. The same UK outfit offers them in Europe but with a warning that they are designed for right hand drive vehicles - a bit odd considering there aren't too many of those in Europe.

On the bike rack front after extensive research and communication with various firms, again mostly UK based I decided on an Atera Strada 3 bike rack with an extension for a 4th bike. A bit pricey but it comes very highly recommended and once I get the wiring kit sorted it will solve all problems of visibility etc in the one package. What finally put me off the hanger type racks was all the extras u needed - locks, straps, light plates etc. With all these the price pretty much matched the all inclusive price of the Atera.

Thanks again.