EMTB on Towbar Carrier?

[Oxon]

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?

 

[VWsurfbum]

Put the bike on the carrier, drive to the destination, and take the bike off. Nothing else is needed.
They are pretty water resistant, I ride all year round and through all sorts of water/mud.

 

[ozzybmx]

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 -

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

 

[nickf]

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?

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.

 

[frenchy]

Battery out if possible (makes the bike lighter to install on the carrier)
No cover

Never had a problem so far on any ebike

 

[nickf]

Never had a problem so far on any ebike

This is the universal statement made before anything bad happens for the first time! Just saying

 

[Fangs2k]

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.

 

[mcmcmc]

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.

 

[Arminius]

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 -

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

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:

 

[ozzybmx]

However, recent test report on Promobil.

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.

 

[Oxon]

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.

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.

 

[Arminius]

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.

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.

 

[Highland Wheels]

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.

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

 

[ozzybmx]

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.

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.

 

[frenchy]

This is the universal statement made before anything bad happens for the first time! Just saying

True , hope you won't jinx me

 

[skizzian]

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.

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

 

[divit]

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.

 

[Fangs2k]

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’ve got a VW ID.3 with the load hitch, the long hatch spoiler to help with airflow separation doesn’t seem to move the muck back much, the tailgate still gets covered in crap over time anyway.

My other ‘car’ is an old Defender 90, that’s as square at the back as it gets, and that gets mucky as well.

In both cases though the bike is relatively protected from high speed water hitting it, hence why I don’t bother with a cover for that reason, but a bike cover does of course mean your bike is cleaner ready for the start of your ride.

I just can’t be doing with the faff of a cover though, and I’d still have to shove it dirty and wet somewhere in the car whilst I’m out riding otherwise somebody will half inch it.

 

[skizzian]

I’ve got a VW ID.3 with the load hitch, the long hatch spoiler to help with airflow separation doesn’t seem to move the muck back much, the tailgate still gets covered in crap over time anyway.

My other ‘car’ is an old Defender 90, that’s as square at the back as it gets, and that gets mucky as well.

In both cases though the bike is relatively protected from high speed water hitting it, hence why I don’t bother with a cover for that reason, but a bike cover does of course mean your bike is cleaner ready for the start of your ride.

I just can’t be doing with the faff of a cover though, and I’d still have to shove it dirty and wet somewhere in the car whilst I’m out riding otherwise somebody will half inch it.

yeah the speed of the water hitting the bike is going to be the critical factor.

 

[steve_sordy]

I have carried my emtb on a tow-bar bike rack since Jan'19. One Shimano e8000, one Shimano EP8. No extra protection, no water covers, no insulation in winter. Same speeds as I did without the towbar. I never had a moment's bother with starting the bike on arrival and both bikes were moved on afterwards also with zero comeback about the motor or battery. I have just changed my bike to one with a Bosch gen 5, so I sure hipe that it proves as waterproof as the Shimano motors.

The only protection that I added was for the discs. They were in line with the twin exhausts on the car and whatever it was that deposited on the discs made them squeal. I put a 200m sandwich bag on each disc and that stopped the problem. Changed the car, different make, still twin exhaust, same problem, same solution.

Normal speeds on major roads and motorways increased my fuel consumption by a consistent 10mpg. If there was a large cover over the bike, I have no idea how much worse that would be for the fuel consumption. And the accleration and road holding etc.

 

[yoterryh]

I like having a cover I can put on if conditions are nasty. After I got my Canyon, I upgraded my rear rack from a Yakima Swingaway rack to a 1Up Super Duty with RakAttach. This setup also allowed me to fit a cover so I purchased a "Team Obsidian" size XL cover that's big enough to cover two bikes. I added a bungee cargo net to secure it, so no flapping at freeway speeds to destroy the cover. When I tried it all out, I realized my tail lights were covered so I added a set of magnetic tow lights. On my first trip I realized the magnets in the tow lights were too weak to hold them securely in the horizontal position I was using so I found some stronger magnets and retrofit my tow lights. Finally, I installed some command hooks on the outside of the van for routing and securing the tow light cables. This probably seems like a lot (and it was) but I'm satisfied with the results. I travel frequently in my van with my EMTB and I like being able to cover it in inclement weather while traveling or even just to throw the cover on in camp to keep the bike out of the rain . I like the added security of having it out of sight too. I've gotten fairly quick at deploying the whole thing. The hardest part is unhooking the cargo net hooks from itself when I go to put it on. Is all this necessary to protect the EMTB? Perhaps not, but it give me peace of mind.

 

[Highland Wheels]

I have carried my emtb on a tow-bar bike rack since Jan'19. One Shimano e8000, one Shimano EP8. No extra protection, no water covers, no insulation in winter. Same speeds as I did without the towbar. I never had a moment's bother with starting the bike on arrival and both bikes were moved on afterwards also with zero comeback about the motor or battery. I have just changed my bike to one with a Bosch gen 5, so I sure hipe that it proves as waterproof as the Shimano motors.

The only protection that I added was for the discs. They were in line with the twin exhausts on the car and whatever it was that deposited on the discs made them squeal. I put a 200m sandwich bag on each disc and that stopped the problem. Changed the car, different make, still twin exhaust, same problem, same solution.

Normal speeds on major roads and motorways increased my fuel consumption by a consistent 10mpg. If there was a large cover over the bike, I have no idea how much worse that would be for the fuel consumption. And the accleration and road holding etc.

The brake contamination was probably contributed to from junk and oils etc coming off the roads as well. Used to suffer a lot before I started using the mucoff covers, they state of them after a drive was proper eye opening as well with how much crap comes off the road

 

[Fangs2k]

I like having a cover I can put on if conditions are nasty. After I got my Canyon, I upgraded my rear rack from a Yakima Swingaway rack to a 1Up Super Duty with RakAttach. This setup also allowed me to fit a cover so I purchased a "Team Obsidian" size XL cover that's big enough to cover two bikes. I added a bungee cargo net to secure it, so no flapping at freeway speeds to destroy the cover. When I tried it all out, I realized my tail lights were covered so I added a set of magnetic tow lights. On my first trip I realized the magnets in the tow lights were too weak to hold them securely in the horizontal position I was using so I found some stronger magnets and retrofit my tow lights. Finally, I installed some command hooks on the outside of the van for routing and securing the tow light cables. This probably seems like a lot (and it was) but I'm satisfied with the results. I travel frequently in my van with my EMTB and I like being able to cover it in inclement weather while traveling or even just to throw the cover on in camp to keep the bike out of the rain . I like the added security of having it out of sight too. I've gotten fairly quick at deploying the whole thing. The hardest part is unhooking the cargo net hooks from itself when I go to put it on. Is all this necessary to protect the EMTB? Perhaps not, but it give me peace of mind.

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Love that van!