Hi all,
I have been looking at the cycle carrier that fastens on the towing ball
with a spring loaded clamp for sale at Towsure's at £19-99p
Has anyone had any experiance of this type of carrier? and are they any
good?
Thanks in advance

lofty

"lofty"  wrote in 
news:ovidnY5ATMLuNaXVnZ2dnUVZ8t_inZ2d@posted.plusnet:

> Has anyone had any experiance of this type of carrier? and are they any
> good?

I have a Paddy Hopkirk clamp-on rack that works on the same principle. It 
was OK-ish on my Volvos but it's no good on either of my current vehicles 
because one has a rear-mounted spare wheel and the other is a slab-backed 
van.

That said, I do use mine as a workstand in conjunction with a towball 
bolted to my workbench. It's not as good as a proper bike workstand, but it 
does get the bike off the floor to let me work on it without getting cramp 
in my legs! It's also solid enough to let me use a lot of force on stubborn 
pedals, cranks, etc. or even use a hammer at times.

On the downside, like all hanging carriers, the bikes flop around. On mine 
I strapped the bikes against the carrier uprights and used pipe insulation 
foam tube to protect the bits that rub together. Again on the downside, you 
can't tow with this rack fitted.

So, if the Maypole one that Towsure sell is as good as the one I have, IMO 
it's a good piece of kit as hanging carriers go - but I still prefer wheel 
support carriers.

HTH,

Geoff

"Geoff Lane" <geoff@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
news:Xns9AA96553DF47Cgeoffnospam097akdsh@138.199.67.64...
> "lofty"  wrote in
> news:ovidnY5ATMLuNaXVnZ2dnUVZ8t_inZ2d@posted.plusnet:
>
> > Has anyone had any experiance of this type of carrier? and are they any
> > good?
>
> I have a Paddy Hopkirk clamp-on rack that works on the same principle. It
> was OK-ish on my Volvos but it's no good on either of my current vehicles
> because one has a rear-mounted spare wheel and the other is a slab-backed
> van.
>
> That said, I do use mine as a workstand in conjunction with a towball
> bolted to my workbench. It's not as good as a proper bike workstand, but
it
> does get the bike off the floor to let me work on it without getting cramp
> in my legs! It's also solid enough to let me use a lot of force on
stubborn
> pedals, cranks, etc. or even use a hammer at times.
>
> On the downside, like all hanging carriers, the bikes flop around. On mine
> I strapped the bikes against the carrier uprights and used pipe insulation
> foam tube to protect the bits that rub together. Again on the downside,
you
> can't tow with this rack fitted.
>
> So, if the Maypole one that Towsure sell is as good as the one I have, IMO
> it's a good piece of kit as hanging carriers go - but I still prefer wheel
> support carriers.
>
> HTH,
>
> Geoff

Thanks for the info

lofty