Tow bar fitting

[StevieK]

Sorry to re-enliven a topic of which much has been said previously..... but I am wanting to get a removable tow bar fitted to my Yeti. My main requirement is to fit an externally mounted tow bar bike carrier to carry two mountain bikes.

I've looked through the forums but can't get a clear picture as to what is required and how much I should look to pay.

Ideally:

1. I'd probably want a main dealer to do the work (I know, £££) - don't want to muck up any warranty. How much should this reasonably be?

2. The car doesn't have the tow bar prep applied - does this matter?

3. It does have front/rear parking sensors - would these still work?

4. Can anyone definitively recommend a tow bar mounted 2 bike rack ?

I've told the missus it'll come to no more than £800 - but I've no idea if this is realistic or not.

Again, apologies for digging this back up again. The Yeti is a brilliant car and if I can make use of the bikes a bit more, it'll be another tick in the "wow" box!

Cheers

Steve

[StevieK]

I've just done a bit more searching and pretty much found what I was after.

Anyone got any positive/negative things to say about Witter towbars? Their prices look pretty good and they have a fitter local to me.

[Michael G]

Steve, could you share your findings? Depending on how we cram everything in for our camping trip next month, we might be up for a towbar for a bike mounting, like you. AFAIK our car (a demo model) doesn't have the prep either. Cheers

[fireblade]

Not wittier, you need the westfalia detachable towbar, the same that is used by the factory.....

[fireblade]

Witter not wittier, damn that predictive text.....

[33q]

Westfalia is the one to go for.....£550, fitted, including coding for the park sensors etc should be your target to beat.

I'm still looking for a bike rack to carry two electric bikes ....about 20 kg each ex battery.

[rockhopper]

Altera Strada is the best one out there, but it is in the region of £320.

Thule do one which I have seen in Halfords for about £150. eBay has lots of Thule, but not seen any Stradas on there.

Alternatively the other option is to carry inside the car using the internal bike carrier. I'm selling my unused one, as I never travel without a spare wheel, and it it not comparable with spare wheel or variable boot floor.

[StevieK]

Westfalia is the one to go for.....£550, fitted, including coding for the park sensors etc should be your target to beat.

I'm still looking for a bike rack to carry two electric bikes ....about 20 kg each ex battery.

That's pretty good from what I've seen. Was this through a dealer or via a Tow Bar fitting company?

As far as the actual rack is concerned, I've always used Thule before and considered them to be a good brand. I'll take a look at my options once I get the tow bar fitted. £550 will give me a bit to play with to get the best so I'll investigate the Altera Strada - might be able to stretch to that.

Thanks all - I'll report back with my findings as I get some!

Steve

[Merlinman]

I have a 2 bike Atera Strada - with a 3rd bike add on adaptor.

It's very stable even when fully laden at high speeds. It locks securely to my Westfalia and the bikes lock securely to the rack (The rubber holders are in fact steel with a rubber covering) For absolute security if I'm leaving the car loaded , I'll add an ABUS cable lock (bombproof!)

For us the sliding facility is essential for boot access.

This video shows how quickly and easily it can be mounted/demounted (Bob!)

It's on the 3rd car now and is as good as new!

[33q]

Mobile Towbars - Sheffield....not too far from you maybe

That's pretty good from what I've seen. Was this through a dealer or via a Tow Bar fitting company?

As far as the actual rack is concerned, I've always used Thule before and considered them to be a good brand. I'll take a look at my options once I get the tow bar fitted. £550 will give me a bit to play with to get the best so I'll investigate the Altera Strada - might be able to stretch to that.

Thanks all - I'll report back with my findings as I get some!

Steve

Mobile Tow Bars at Sheffield. Same people as my dealer uses....but no mark up

[IainM1970]

I have a Witter detachable on mine (though it is never detached!). Fitting was arranged by my dealer at a local specialist. Cost was under £400 including fully functioning 13 pin electrics.

Had no issues whatsoever, has towed 1400Kg of caravan over many thousands of miles.

[Michael G]

Reading the options with interest. Does the lack of factory prep make much difference in reality?

[Austin 7]

I have the Westfalia detachable towbar (same as Skoda approved accessory) with 13 pin socket (no charging facility) and an Atera Strada DL rack for 2 bikes. Both towbar and rack are impressive bits of engineering, and no extra straps are needed. Towbar was fitted by Phil Taylor in Horndean near Portsmouth, who coded the electrics properly so no problems with reversing sensors etc. Total bill around the £800 mark, but would have been about £50 more for a non towbar prepped car.

[Michael G]

So about £50 more if no pre-prep, all other things being equal?

[Llanigraham]

Reading the options with interest. Does the lack of factory prep make much difference in reality?

Factory prep gives you:

the loom from front to back, ending in a plug- fitting in the boot.

ready modified rear bumper, with cut-out hatch already fitted.

larger/extra rad fans.

Personally I think it is worth it.

Note:

the larger/extra rad fans cannot be retro-fitted.

[33q]

I bought my car as a cancelled order. No towbar prep.

I asked the fitters to use a proper cable front to rear which was an extra £130 in my total of about £540. As Graham says you cannot fully retrofit the towbar prep option.

I agree I would have paid if it had been a factory order from me in the first instance..

[Michael G]

I can see the prep is worth it. But our demo car didn't have it and we can't retro fit it.

33q, thanks for confirming you can still have a tow-bar fitted with full electrics on a non-prepped car.

[Yetigreenline2]

Westfalia is the one to go for.....£550, fitted, including coding for the park sensors etc should be your target to beat.

I'm still looking for a bike rack to carry two electric bikes ....about 20 kg each ex battery.

You want one of these bike racks I use to carry my MX bike on the back of my focus with one no probs at all

http://www.davecooper.co.uk/bike_racks.asp

http://www.davecooper.co.uk/motorbike_racks.asp

[33q]

You want one of these bike racks I use to carry my MX bike on the back of my focus with one no probs at all

http://www.davecoope.../bike_racks.asp

http://www.davecoope...rbike_racks.asp

They look a bit too heavy............ but thanks anyway

The Atera ones look good....but the price is a bit ..... no quite a bit of a put off.

[33q]

The term 'full electrics' is perhaps not quite true. I only pull a small trailer with mine using a 13 pin europlug but the more experienced and knowledgeable caravaners sometimes need to charge their 'van batteries and this appears to be a whole new can of worms.

There is lots of discussion on the forum about this topic and I respectfully suggest you have a look. Some real experts have written some long and informative posts.

The Westfalia is a great item and I had to do a quick turnaround yesterday. I got the trailer out of its storage shed, removed the bumper cover, fitted the towbar, coupled up the trailer and electrics in under 10 minutes

Having said all that Iain is a very experienced caravaner and if the Witter is good for him....it will be good....I'm sure

Nigel

[Michael G]

Thanks Nigel. I towed a big folding camper with my Passat (twin electrics) back in the day when towcars had no prep, and I was thinking back to that.

Whilst you can never say never, we're unlikely to go back to that, nor tow a 'van, and not in our 1.2. What we're pondering is a towball mounted bike carrier so yes, a socket for the light bar would suffice.

I now know that non-prep doesn't rule out a retro fit tow-bar, so if we did want to go down that route, it can be done. Many thanks

[IainM1970]

Yes no issues with the Witter at all ... must have done about 40 trips so far.

I don't have towbar prep as there were loads of issues at the time about whether it would power the in van battery charger and fridge. I also have Alko ATC electronic stability system and wasn't sure if it would power that either. Conclusion was no power for fridge and battery charger ... not sure about the ATC. So as much use to me as a man short frankly.

Don't quite know why Skoda UK don't exert some force and make towbar prep useful for all. If it were I would be first to tick the box on the options list.

[Llanigraham]

This "fuss" over the electrical connections is forgetting that tow bar prep is more than that.

Yes it puts a "basic" loom to the rear of the car, but it also gives you other things, such as the extra/larger fans and the rear bumper properly modified.

Re the electrics; I know of no car manufacturer that no fits the extra wiring for the fridge and battery connections, including LR. All now seem to charge extra to have this fitted. It seems to be only the UK that insist upon it; our European neighbours have never asked for it. I gave up fitting it years ago as I found that it gave neglible charge to the battery and only kept the fridge at a constant temperature, plus it didn't work stuck on the ferry for 8 hours anyway!

[jbpraha]

£800 for tow-bar that is used for pushbikes seems very steep!

I've had Tow-bars fitted to last 4 cars, all for less than £200.

So when I got my Yeti, I checked with dealer, then got Tow-bar fitted at local Tow-bar specialist (used also by Skoda dealer), for <£220

My needs are occasional Garden Trailer, and one or two Bikes, using £40 'A' frame clamping on Tow-ball, which is great for quick assy & folding away inside one minute. I have a plug-in lighting plate.

I have no need of Extra cooling fans; fancy wiring; fridge; or extra programming. Keep it simple.

[Yetigreenline2]

£800 for tow-bar that is used for pushbikes seems very steep!

I've had Tow-bars fitted to last 4 cars, all for less than £200.

So when I got my Yeti, I checked with dealer, then got Tow-bar fitted at local Tow-bar specialist (used also by Skoda dealer), for <£220

My needs are occasional Garden Trailer, and one or two Bikes, using £40 'A' frame clamping on Tow-ball, which is great for quick assy & folding away inside one minute. I have a plug-in lighting plate.

I have no need of Extra cooling fans; fancy wiring; fridge; or extra programming. Keep it simple.

But cheap options plays hell with can bus, also if you have reversing sensors it sends them ballistic and they use the cheap option of using scotchblocks which cut into the wiring loom which in turn voids the skoda warranty. And is not a ideal way of properly wiring in the tow electrics.

I got towbar prep done on the build and bought a genuine towbar used off ebay for £120 and fitted and coded it myself all in all probably cost me about £300 all in.