Motorhome Bike Racks

When we purchased our motorhome we both had bikes but had not used them for a number of years if I am honest. We planned our first major trip to Europe arriving at St Malo, France, our first stop Mont St Michel, which I had always wanted to visit, then a big ‘blank’ itinerary until we returned a couple of weeks later from Bilbao in Spain. With this I mind we decided it was time to get the bikes serviced and ready and a cycle rack put on the van.

We think our bikes should probably be an essential part of most motor homing breaks. So often you only wish to go a short distance and taking the motorhome does not seem either economically viable in these days of ‘liquid gold’ diesel prices or even desirable. However, hopping on your bike is just as good for your health (once you are a competent cyclist again!) as it is easy.

Once we had confirmed the correct model of bike rack for my Bessacarr E495, I gained a quote from the local dealership for the cost of purchasing a bike rack and fitting and another quote just for the fitting.

Then as I always do as a canny Northerner, I started to check out the prices quoted. I found several suppliers of the cycle rack on the internet and gained quotes for the correct model recommended by my dealership.

By simply buying the cycle rack myself over the internet and then taking it into the dealership to be fitted I saved around £120 from the price the dealership quoted.

I could probably have saved even more getting a reputable mobile caravan or motorhome technician to fit the rack but I’d always recommend pricing around- especially with dealerships its interesting just how much you can keep your costs down with a little investigatory time and effort.

Of course, neither of us having not been on our bikes for a number of years did lead to a few challenges. Like me braking at a pedestrian crossing to cross to our campsite on the opposite side of the promenade and hearing a thud just behind me. I casually glanced over my shoulder to see my seat lying on the floor and just the pole sticking up out of the frame – now that could have been nasty. Or the first time I used my brakes and didn’t realise just how harsh they had been set at their recent service resulting in the bike stopping dead and me – not quite…now that WAS quite nasty but maybe I’ll tell about that another time.

Campervan Hire UK is available from http://www.MotorHomesDirect.co.uk, the UK’s largest network of campervans for hire.

Most campervans and motorhomes in the fleet come fitted with a bike rack.