Which bike rack for Bourton

I'm in the process of specifying what extras I want on my new Bourton and I had hoped to have one of the 'rise and fall' bike carriers that allow the loading of bikes at a low level. We have 2 electric bikes with a combined weight of about 50kg.
However A/S have said that they won't fit one of these carriers because of the cantilever effect when the bikes are highered or lowered, as the stress on the rear panel would be excessive. I can understand this and don't want to go against manufacturers recommendations.
So it's back to the drawing board - we really don't want to have to lift our bikes 1M to get them onto the carrier.
I'm considering a towbar - (but it bites into the payload - and my wallet!) or possibly one of the new Alko bike carriers that bolts directly to the chassis, but again payload weight may be an issue. 
I'd like to hear of anyone who has electric bikes and how they have overcome the problem. Or anyone else who has helpful suggestions.
Many thanks

We have one electric bike and one regular bike. I know what you mean about the lifting the electric one onto a standard Fiamma Pro C, and can also appreciate AS's reasons for not wanting to fit the rising model. After deciding that we needed to get around the lifting issue we initially looked into the Alko carrier, however it was too expensive for us. So, we've had a towbar fitted and the steadies taken off. Then we bought an Atera bike carrier for electric bikes from Roofbox, and the whole thing works really well, is very sturdy and stable. AS recommend Watling for towbars and if you look on their website it'll give you some more information. Incidentally the service from Roofbox was very good. Hope you find what you're looking for.

H

Like Harrysp we decided with our 2 ebikes, l did not want to lift them up to the rack on the back. So l decided to fit a towbar which  had to specially made. A Bosal towball rack is used to rack the bikes. I also did a weight check before having it fitted to make sure what the rear axle loading was and then did the calculation of the new axle loadings allowing for 100k extra weight (although this weight was not needed) on the rear axle. Unladen, the towbar, bike rack and bikes loading is well in the rear axle loading and l still have a payload of 600k.

Hi, I have a Witter 2 bike rack that fixes to the tow bar on my Bourton ( already fitted prior to purchase). My issue is that my Smart" e bike won't fit onto the carrier!  Anyone got the solution to this?  It's a heavy bike 26kg.

Starlight wrote:Hi, I have a Witter 2 bike rack that fixes to the tow bar on my Bourton ( already fitted prior to purchase). My issue is that my Smart" e bike won't fit onto the carrier!  Anyone got the solution to this?  It's a heavy bike 26kg.

Difficult to make any suggestions unless you say why the bike won't fit.

Clarify a bit and we'll give it some thought.

Don't hold me to this but I have a feeling that witter do a rack for ebikes yours may not be suitable. Bosal and Thule do racks specially for e bikes. Not cheap though.

We have e bikes and wish could upload photo to illustrate our set up. Fortunately for us fiamma pro C was complimentary extra from dealer at our request at point of sale. The carrier was mounted quite high up within the reinforced bonding as stipulated by AS also not to obscure 'BROADWAY' logo. Of course we have to lift the bikes up from the ground to a height of approx 4 ft. Each takes hold of a wheel and part of frame to lift in unison onto carrier. Perhaps made easier because bikes are compact design (20 inch wheels) at 20kg without batteries/saddles. No other option available due to limited payload. Apologies if you have completely dismissed this option but it works for us for reasons of ease of lifting the bikes (safeguarding from injury) and total weight 40kg being well within the fiamma 60kg maximum loading.

I assume you would be lifting 1metre in order to clear the number plate. Have you considered a low-as-possible rack and a separate lighting/number plate board mounted on the rear of the rack ?
Keith

My understanding of the reinforced bonding for such purposes as fixing a bike carrier on this model of the Broadway, is that the lowest fixing point possible is at the height of the rear light cluster. However, particularly on this forum, some avatars illustrate a much lower mounting of cycle carriers presumably within the recommended safety margin dependent of the model of van. Pear Tree, where AS discounts the cantilever design, perhaps you can obtain from them the lowest height achievable to mount a carrier on your Bourton for minimum cost?

Slightly off-topic, but I just retrieved an old heavy E-bike from the back of the garage, diabolically heavy,  3 x 12v lead-acid batteries, replaced them with equivalent lithium-iron.
This single unit is HALF the size & SEVENTY FIVE per-cent lighter!!
I had to pack the battery box with foam & once assembled it felt empty!!
PLUS, the bike has loads more 'omph', pedal-assist seems more instant & the twist-grip is like a motorbike.
BOY has technology come on in 10 or so years, PLUS, I can move it about much easier now.  
So IF your e-bike has old tech batts, consider modern replacements, you won't regret it.

Gromit & Redwink
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The ebike fits on the Witter bike carrier wheel base ok but the arm and clamps don't seem to be able to fix to the frame of my bike.  Unconventional frame shape!  Maybe there is an adapter I need?

You could try clamping to the saddle stem area rather than the frame, that may work!

Redwink wrote:You could try clamping to the saddle stem area rather than the frame, that may work!

You beat me to it Redwink. 

I do that anyway with our bikes. It's the easiest and most secure place to clamp them.

I'll have another attempt and try the saddle option.  Thanks for your assistance.

I see from from a picture of your smart bike it has a cross bar of sorts and assume from your enquiry the fixing clamps aren't suitable? Another option may be a fiamma bike frame adapter cat no. 06602-01- that creates a sort of cross bar that clamps around seat post and immediately under handle bars. It is adjustable between min 50 - max - 60 cm but this may not be long enough nor sufficient space below the handle bars to positively secure the second clamp.

Success!  I have managed to find a way of clamping the ebike to the rack.  A few minor tweaks and hey presto!