I’m newly moved to Europe and beginning to look at a car which will haul my bikes around to various spots to ride and explore. I’ll be transporting both full suspension mountain and road bikes around.
In the US we seem to have a plethora of 1 1/4” or 2” hitch mount options for bike transport. Add on a hitch from Curt or U-Haul to just about any car and you’re ready to go.
Doing some online searching it seems like there’s very few options. Is this because of the tow bar standards in Europe? Does anyone living in Europe have any advice about what to even be looking for?
I really like this, fits different QR and thru axle standards. 2 road bikes inside my little Honda Jazz with plenty of room for kit, could probably fit 1-2 more bikes even.
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/inside-car-bike-carrier/\_/R-p-343702
The EU standard is a 50mm ball. Cars generally don’t come with towbars, they get added as factory options or aftermarket.
Most rear-mounted bike racks lock on to 50mm towballs.
I can highly recommend the Yakima Justclick rack. I have one that’s 10 years old (back when they were Whispbar) and it’s still working like new. Parts still available too.
I’ve not used one, but Thule Velospace gets recommended a lot as you can still open your boot (trunk) with the bikes attached. They also come in various specs, so you can buy one to fit the number of bikes you need.
Think you can also fit a box to it as well as a bike, if you need additional storage space.
I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the Thule rear racks.
Multiple options for 1 -4 bikes.
Very quick to install and to load.
Easy to store you can buy a mount and hang them on the wall.