EMTB on Towbar Carrier?

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Oxon

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I'm taking the e-bike with me when I go on holiday in a couple of weeks time and it'll be on a towbar carrier on the car.

As it's the UK, there's every chance that it'll be raining at some point during the journey!

I've seen comments previously about Bosch recommending some kind of cover over the motor to keep spray from getting in other the motor and bearings. What do you guys do when you're transporting the bike?
Battery in or out?
Any covers on the motor?
 
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Grab yourself one of those full bike rain covers. This will keep thieving eyes off it and as a bonus, dirt and road grime thrown up around it when its raining.

Similar to these -

www.bicycling.com

The 9 Best Bike Covers, Tested: Keep Your Ride Dry, Clean, and Harder to Spot

Protect your bike from rain, UV, and bird droppings. These covers are made for daily lockups and road-trip transport.
www.bicycling.com www.bicycling.com
 
Bearing Man (aka emtb motor repair centre) reckons the constant full-on spray at the motor area from the vortices behind the car when driving is one of the major causes of water ingress into motors. But what would he know? :ROFLMAO:

Having said that, I stopped my Skoda Yeti while driving in a downpour on the motorway in order to put some protection around the motor, but found that the bike was completely dry! Obviously the vortices behave differently behind different shaped vehicles so YMMV.
 
Battery out if possible (makes the bike lighter to install on the carrier)
No cover

Never had a problem so far on any ebike
 
I don’t see bikes on roof bar carriers routinely covered, so not sure why a more sheltered position behind a car would be a particularly harsh environment?

I mean, the back of your car looks fine after thousands of miles of running in water/salt/dirt. Pressure washer water is travelling at 100mph+ so I can see how that gets past seals, a bike on a towbar carrier is being subjected to swirling spray at a fraction of that so all I do is clean the bike down with fresh water if I’ve driven on salty roads.
 
I regularly do 300 miles from South to North of the UK. I take out the battery (because I can), but I don't cover my bike even in the winter.

It will end up manky if it rains, so maybe lube up the lube-able bits and if it's winter, try and wash it down to get any salt off, but that's something I do more for the chain than the motor.

I don't cover the bike for a few reasons.

1. Removing the curiosity for nosey people. There's a reason why lorry drivers open the back of their trailers overnight. You don't want someone cutting into your £100 cover to see if it's worth nicking.
2. It will increase road noise & flap if it's not the expensive fitted kind, and it might actually end up trapping more moisture that can't leave.
3. I used to have a car that lived under a cover and it didn't offer much protection, the paintwork still can be damaged by the material rubbing on paint

I will add that you should still lock your bike to the rack, if you have more than one bike lock the bikes together too for maximum inconvenience to would-be thieves.
 
ozzybmx said:
Grab yourself one of those full bike rain covers. This will keep thieving eyes off it and as a bonus, dirt and road grime thrown up around it when its raining.

Similar to these -

www.bicycling.com

The 9 Best Bike Covers, Tested: Keep Your Ride Dry, Clean, and Harder to Spot

Protect your bike from rain, UV, and bird droppings. These covers are made for daily lockups and road-trip transport.
www.bicycling.com www.bicycling.com
Click to expand...
I looked into that last year. As far as I learned these covers are in most cases not recommended for use on bikes on tow bar carriers of a regular car as there could be to much wind pressure. Some manufacturers/sellers have safety notes for their products to use on van but not car.

However, recent test report on Promobil.

Optional there are motor and battery covers available, like this by Hilo:
 
Arminius said:
However, recent test report on Promobil.
Click to expand...

Yes there are going to be cheaper ones that shred themselves in no time, AliExpress has dozens for around $10 which would be in holes in days.

Some of the more expensive ones would be vehicle rated or on the extreme side, head to a canvas shop and get a bulletproof custom canvas one made for example say... a large 29er with width for 800mm bars, that should do a few years.
 
mcmcmc said:
I will add that you should still lock your bike to the rack, if you have more than one bike lock the bikes together too for maximum inconvenience to would-be thieves.
Click to expand...
That's an absolute must.
When I've got the bike on the carrier and going anywhere it's locked to the carrier with a nice hefty Almax chain, if there's two bikes on there then they're locked together and to the carrier. Also, we never leave the bikes unattended when they're on the car, usually as one of us will be walking about with the dog whenever we stop on a trip so they're always in sight.
 
ozzybmx said:
Yes there are going to be cheaper ones that shred themselves in no time, AliExpress has dozens for around $10 which would be in holes in days.

Some of the more expensive ones would be vehicle rated or on the extreme side, head to a canvas shop and get a bulletproof custom canvas one made for example say... a large 29er with width for 800mm bars, that should do a few years.
Click to expand...
I would not recommend to do so with any of these, no matter at what price and material. It is not the damage to the cover only. Just open the window of your car at 80-100 kmh and hold your hand outside. Imagine that force at your bike / bike carrier, and yes, it may only hit small portion at full power.
 
Fangs2k said:
I don’t see bikes on roof bar carriers routinely covered, so not sure why a more sheltered position behind a car would be a particularly harsh environment?

I mean, the back of your car looks fine after thousands of miles of running in water/salt/dirt. Pressure washer water is travelling at 100mph+ so I can see how that gets past seals, a bike on a towbar carrier is being subjected to swirling spray at a fraction of that so all I do is clean the bike down with fresh water if I’ve driven on salty roads.
Click to expand...
Depends on the car tbh. My previous estates have been OK for gathering dirt and muck in the rear but my current one is absolutely terrible for it, Do a couple miles in manky weather and the rear end will be filthy. I've stopped using my tow rack for thag reason and just sling it in the back and deal with having to clean the interior more often these days
 
Arminius said:
I would not recommend to do so with any of these, no matter at what price and material. It is not the damage to the cover only. Just open the window of your car at 80-100 kmh and hold your hand outside. Imagine that force at your bike / bike carrier, and yes, it may only hit small portion at full power.
Click to expand...

They are a thing over here. I have never had one but would consider one if travelling around the country.

The back of the car is pretty sheltered but I regularly see caravanners with a front of van rack and a couple of bikes covered in one of these covers... which is getting a full 110kph blast as it sits higher than the vehicle.

Top pic is my bike on an ISI rack for a Desert stage race in 2014, there is no direct wind on the bike apart from some dust swirl on the back of the car.
Bottom pic is the same rack mounted to my caravan in 2019 with 3 bikes on it. I regularly see travellers with bikes mounted the same way on the van with one of the covers above, covering the bikes. So it does work and there must be well made covers out there that will take direct wind at highway speed.

DSC03795.webp

20190110_153651.webp
 
Fangs2k said:
I don’t see bikes on roof bar carriers routinely covered, so not sure why a more sheltered position behind a car would be a particularly harsh environment?

I mean, the back of your car looks fine after thousands of miles of running in water/salt/dirt. Pressure washer water is travelling at 100mph+ so I can see how that gets past seals, a bike on a towbar carrier is being subjected to swirling spray at a fraction of that so all I do is clean the bike down with fresh water if I’ve driven on salty roads.
Click to expand...
my Vauxhall Combo Life is the opposite - put mudguards on the back made zero difference
the back end seems to get all the crap - apparently a spoiler or winglets in the right place can help
but yeah vans and square ended hatches can have a lot of muck thrown onto the back where the bikes go
 
I bought a neoprene cover for the motor, off of amazon i think. I got two, it covers the motor okay, probably wasnt the best fit for my canyon, fitted well on my specialized levo sl. Then bought a van, so dont need them . But yeah back of my car was covered, live in scotland, so four seasons inoine day. Covers were really cheap.
 
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