Help! (Have posted this in The Great Outdoors too but no response yet). How do you get small framed bikes to fit on a bike rack?
Just bought a rear mounted bike rack from Halfords for my VW Polo so I can take our 3 bikes (2 teen size, one lady's) to better cycling territory.
It's the right bike rack for my car model but even with 'false crossbars' attached to our 3 small framed bikes, the frames are too small to fit across the two 'prongs' of the bike rack.
I know this because I spent 2 painful hours lifting 3 hybrid Ridgebacks above my head and trying every which way to make it work. Tried with false crossbars that are supposed to make them fit the bike rack but as the bike frames are all just a bit too small, the false crossbars remain too short, when attached to the bikes, to get them over the 2 prongs at the back of the bike rack.
Also, the bike rack itself seems to be straining under the weight of the 3 bikes, although Halfords told me that three bikes wouldn't be likely to exceed the 45kg weight limit for the rack. Plastic bits on the bike rack, covering the main fitting area, are opening up where they shouldn't be.
Is there a clever way of making the bikes fit the rack and driving safely to our hoped destinations - or is it impossible to make small framed bikes fit a standard bike rack - which presumably means smaller children's bikes can't fit either?
Will the bike rack collapse under the weight of 3 bikes even if I can get them attached?
Can't take the rack back to Halfords as it's months since I bought it and only just now getting time to do the long promised task of fixing it on the car and taking my DCs out cycling....but now all plans thwarted, DCs upset, I'm angry and frustrated and wondering if there's something completely obvious that I'm not doing that other people, much more familiar with bike racks, can tell me?
Any ideas please - and how on earth are you supposed to get bikes on and off with any ease, when it took me 2 hours of trying to lift, position, twist etc etc?