Pics/advice required - towbar on an Ibiza? (Cupra TDI)

[bizzaboy]

a11y - the finished item looks very smart indeed! Kinda looks cool with the bikes on the back like that.


Anyone saw the new advert (on TV) for the new V**x**ll Corsa ?
( with the girl riding her bike up the steep hill ... )

And they stop and a middle part of the bumper pops open and slides back, so a number of bikes can then be secured on - instant bike rack!

She is a hottie... C'MONNNNNNNNNN indeed!

 

[a11y]

Cheers, quite happy with how it's all worked out in the end. Wasn't cheap though

That bike rack built into the Corsa is a great idea. Haven't seen the advert yet but I had a good look at one on a car at Glentress car park a few months ago. It's a great idea in theory but utter crap in practice. It's really quite flimsy, but worse than that it holds the bikes by the crank arm (the bit the pedal attaches to, for non-bikers). The bikes wobble around like hell, plus if you've got a big-travel full-suspension bike with a high bottom-bracket then the rack doesn't reach up high enough to secure the crank arm. Nil points for execution, Vauxhall

And yes, if it's the same girl as in the other adverts then oh yes...

 

[muddyboots]

Very useful thread this

That Thule carrier looks good, mind you their stuff normally is.
Does it just purely rely on a tight grip on the towball ?

 

[a11y]

Thanks

Yeah, pretty much relies on a tight grip around the towball. I really need to look at it further to see exactly how it works. It's got two shaped plates that are pushed together to sandwich the towball, plus there's a bit that screws in and exerts pressure on one point on the towbar to stop it spinning around (see the lever and the screw grip thing in the pics? that's how it attaches). Doesn't take much effort at all to do up and bloody solid once it's on! There's a bit of movement in the rack/bikes which can be disconcerting at first but it's designed to do that I guess/hope...

 

[nealo]

i use a bike rack strapped to the boot lid of my cupra tdi. i've had 3 bikes on a few times.
on my old 1.2 the spoiler used to pop off slightly but it could be pressed back on afterwards no problem and with no damage. the cupra's spoiler is bigger and doesn't pop off at all.

 

[a11y]

i use a bike rack strapped to the boot lid of my cupra tdi. i've had 3 bikes on a few times.
on my old 1.2 the spoiler used to pop off slightly but it could be pressed back on afterwards no problem and with no damage. the cupra's spoiler is bigger and doesn't pop off at all.

You're braver than me then! There's no way I'd trust a strap-on rack to support £5k's worth of bikes. All racks I tried put a lot of pressure on the spoiler and IMO it's not the most secure option. I've used racks like that on other cars too and no matter how careful I was you also always end of marking the paint somehow.

If you can justify the extra cost a towbar/rack is worth the extra IMO.

 

[st10587]

hi ive looked into this to but for a 1.2. towbar def the way to go, strap on ones bend the rear spoiler. i have taken the hooks off of a strap on and looped the strap around the tailgate hinges and brought the straps around the sides of the rear window, but i wudnt recommened it for carring 3 bikes!

best towbar bike rack ive seen is made by Ezi Grip. web site is http://www.ezigrip.co.uk/

my friend has one of these and ive been following him at 100mph and he had 2 bikes hanging off the back and they didnt move!!

 

[a11y]

hi ive looked into this to but for a 1.2. towbar def the way to go, strap on ones bend the rear spoiler. i have taken the hooks off of a strap on and looped the strap around the tailgate hinges and brought the straps around the sides of the rear window, but i wudnt recommened it for carring 3 bikes!

best towbar bike rack ive seen is made by Ezi Grip. web site is http://www.ezigrip.co.uk/

my friend has one of these and ive been following him at 100mph and he had 2 bikes hanging off the back and they didnt move!!

Looks very like the Maxx rack (I think) that you can get here too. I went for a wheel-support type rack because they're easier to use with weird full-suspension frames where there isn't a toptube on the bike.

 

[bizzaboy]

my friend has one of these and ive been following him at 100mph and he had 2 bikes hanging off the back and they didnt move!!

That's madness!! Lucky nothing did drop off, as the bike could have come off the back and projected through your windscreen like a missile! Or at that speed bounced down the road and hit another car instead! Isn't the speed limit for carrying cycles 60mph ?

Thank FCUK I wasn't driving on the same stretch of road while this was taking place!

Bit of excitement for the bikes anyway - instead of the summer sunday cycles to the shops and back.

 

[st10587]

The bikes get loads of excitement descending down 40ft drop ins!

I was very impressed with the rack as the bikes weren’t moving what so ever! Especially if you look at the bike rack, looks like a bit feeble

 

[st10587]

Looks very like the Maxx rack (I think) that you can get here too. I went for a wheel-support type rack because they're easier to use with weird full-suspension frames where there isn't a toptube on the bike.

they do a false cross bar which attaches between the seat post and stem, which is what ive used in the past on his rack to get around that!

 

[a11y]

they do a false cross bar which attaches between the seat post and stem, which is what ive used in the past on his rack to get around that!

Yeah I know they do, but that's yet more faffing around when carrying bikes. I like just being able to chuck the bikes on and go for it, especially as I go night-riding at least once a week all year round. Nothing worse than coming back to the car and having to mess around dismantling bikes to put in the back or add a cross-bar on...

Mind you, I bet they're cheaper than the Thule racks

 

[Rafal D.]

Hi,

a11y, not several image? "This image or video Has Been Moved or Deleted"

Image upload again??? plsss?

 

[a11y]

Hi,

a11y, not several image? "This image or video Has Been Moved or Deleted"

Image upload again??? plsss?

Just sorted 'em tonight

 

[Rafal D.]

Thanks

 

[mnc_co_uk]

Towbar for sale

a11y,

Is the towbar still for sale?

 

[a11y]

Sorry, towbar was sold a long time ago!

I think it was towequippe I bought mine from, not a bad price, so might be worth stretching to a new one. You won't regret it if it's for bike carrier use.

 

[mnc_co_uk]

ok thanks, it was worth a shot.

The reason I found this thread is I'm looking to fit a tow br to my Ibiza FR but noticed on some towbar's it state it does no suit the FR/Cupra. On doing a search it brough up this thread.

It seems I'm entering the same problems you did a while ago.

Looking through the thread it looks as though you went for the detachable Bosal one, looks nice and neat. So knowing that it fitted your cupra I was going to buy one of those.

Just one query.
You did mention in one of your posts "Cupra versions have a 0kg towing limit," what does this mean?

surely you can tow more than 0kg, I'm misunderstanding I think.

 

[a11y]

Just one query.
You did mention in one of your posts "Cupra versions have a 0kg towing limit," what does this mean?

surely you can tow more than 0kg, I'm misunderstanding I think.

Basically, the owner's manual states that you shouldn't tow ANYTHING with the Cupra, hence the 0kg towing limit. I guess it must be something to do with the suspension, the gearing, or the cooling system (all of which would be stressed by towing something of reasonable weight). Obviously any Cupra/FR petrol or diesel has the power/torque/kerbweight to pull a decent-sized trailer, but for some reason Seat don't like you doing it!

I expected that fitting a towbar could invalidate the warranty, but it wasn't something I was worried about!


LOL only this second realised my signature on every post says I've got a towbar and airfilter for sale - just away to update that now...

 

[mnc_co_uk]

Well I'm going to be towing in the region of about 650kg(mini on trailer). I had an Ibiza TDI sport before the Ibiza TDI FR and in terms of towing driverbility it was fantastic.
Towing 650kg still returned 45 mpg, hills did not phase it too much either. We usually go to events in convoy with other cars towing, they just could not believe how much pulling power that car had.

Anyway, when I fitted the towbar on the sport the only problem I had was getting the rear bumper off. Not knowing where the clips were and how they held the bumper it proved extremely time consuming trying to work it out as I didn't want to damage anything by forcing it.

Do you remember any snags you had when removing the rear bumper on the cupra? Or could you give any pointers to how to remove the bumper?