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      03-16-2010, 02:01 PM   #23
walshcat
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Quote:
Originally Posted by charliesum View Post
hi have an e91 335d
i have a brink removable swan neck fitted locally about £300 fitted i think max
i used it for jet skiing regularly in past
it didnt need coding
and you can just turn off sensors
but
if i remember correctly most cycle carriers wont fit as it stated the towballs have to be of fixed type
although i may be wrong
(mrs tells me i usually am!)
ah mate i hope not.....i have me eye on a thule towbar rack and i tink it will work on all??? even wih a bike attached it will be alot lighter than a jetski or even a boat so i cant see there will be a problem?? fingers crossed...
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      03-16-2010, 02:20 PM   #24
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Originally Posted by walshcat View Post
Hi Mate

That’s cool ive been looking into it for a while now and they seem to be the best prices I can find...I think a tow bar is the only way.. I just wouldn’t feel comfortable with my big heavy downhill bike on a roof rack bike carrier and plus im lookin into getting a jet ski so would need to tow that....but i think like most peeps a tow bar on a bmw just looks gay but nice hidden detachable one could work i think.

yeah been to morzine few time now..lookin to spend a good 3 or 4 weeks there this year but iv found a havin car there really helps plus it means u dont have to worry about how much stuff u bring ( spares, tubes, clothes etc)......also its a pretty nice drive down through france ha.....
Can see your point re: the DH bike, esp if you're racing regularly - would be much easier with a towbar system. Plus most of the roof mounted systems I've seen struggle with chunky DH bike downtubes too (i.e. I regularly carry an Orange Patriot which most carriers struggle with and removing the front wheel to bolt the bike to the rack using a 20mm bolt-thru kinda defeats the object!).

Agree on towbars looking g4sh but detachable is cool and prices seem pretty good all being considered.

I LOVE Morzine. What an amazing place. We're back in July but only for 8 days. 3-4 weeks would be mint, not sure I swing that one past the wife mind you... We toyed with driving due to the excess baggage thing and EsayJet - got lucky last time but would have been painful if not... Anyway, enough of my random ramblings - enjoy!
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      08-22-2011, 11:45 AM   #25
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Have a Thule 3 bike ball mounted carrier which I need a towbar for.

Towbars Direct quoted £230 all in delivered to NI. Locally best price I can get is £330. Will check with them tomorrow on the bike rack situation.
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      08-22-2011, 01:11 PM   #26
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thanks please et me know how u get on as that is the same bike rack i have and still looking for a bar
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      08-23-2011, 07:01 AM   #27
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Having fitted a number of different tow bars to different cars, I must say that the Westfalia is by far the best engineered towbar of all. BMW use Westfalia!
Spend the (lots) extra cash on the "dedicated" electric interface as the car will switch off the rear sensors (not the fronts) and monitor each bulb. It will do this without coding. The only problem (apart from cost) won't apply to you - when you have additional brake lights on some caravans, the car's bulb failure system picks up on this and shows a fault until you disconnect (it's OK for up to 3 brake lights, go to 4, and it alarms - recified if you fit a pair of LED brake lights).

The Westfala detachable is almost invisible until you fit the ball.

Mike
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      08-23-2011, 07:09 AM   #28
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thanks mike do u have any futher info on the "dedicated" electric interface part no etc???
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      08-23-2011, 08:46 AM   #29
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The towbar is a Tow Trust detachable unit. It will take a maximum nose load of 75kg - that's the carrier and three bikes together must weigh less than 75kg which shouldn't be a problem
.
Fitting looks fairly straightforward

http://www.tow-trust.co.uk/towbar/index/B - Part No: TBM913VK

Towbars direct listing on ebay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Towbar-BMW...item1e612c4b1e

S
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      08-23-2011, 08:59 AM   #30
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Dedicated Electrics are about £100 more expensive than the bypass relay. I've used the bypass on my previous e46 touring. TBH if you are only using this for a bike rack or towing a small trailer, you'll probably not mind a bit of beep beep for the few seconds you are reversing.
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      08-23-2011, 03:37 PM   #31
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Statler View Post
Dedicated Electrics are about £100 more expensive than the bypass relay. I've used the bypass on my previous e46 touring. TBH if you are only using this for a bike rack or towing a small trailer, you'll probably not mind a bit of beep beep for the few seconds you are reversing.
I agree. Spend more money to get the Westfalia bar, then just use the much cheaper "7 way relay" electrics interface. If you're going down this route and doing a DIY, the bar will be dead easy to fit. You must use the high level brake light wire for the brake feed to the relay - the brake lights in the cluster are pulsed and are used for both brake and tail lights, which can lead to "chatter" (there are ways round this though). the high level lights are not pulsed so you don't get chatter from them.

I tow a caravan, and do appreciate the seamless bulb failure interace and I do hate a buzzer that comes on when using the indicators, hence going for the expensive option - not like me as I'm normally a cheapskate!

There is a school of thought that says that when the car senses a trailer connected, it alters the torque curve of the engine, but I haven't noticed it on mine (a 3 litre) with an aftermarket unit, with no coding, neither have I noticed it on a friends 2 litre with a factory fit bar.

Mike
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      08-23-2011, 05:38 PM   #32
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Interestingly, Towbars Direct rate the Tow Trust above the Westfalia. They are both 'invisible' so I may go with it and give you a comparison...

My touring had a DIY Westfalia and I always found the release mechanism very awkward to undo.

Anyhoo, thanks for the heads up on the brake lights. I did see a more expensive 7 way relay that talked about 'chatter', now I understand.
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      09-01-2011, 03:51 PM   #33
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Hi does anyone have any pics of the westfalia fitted to a e92 m sport that they could take some pics of??
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      09-01-2011, 04:11 PM   #34
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For those of you that are thinking about bike carriers - some carriers need to be bolted to the bar - not really possible with a swan neck. Witter have caught on to this and are offering a detachable bar with a flange for bolting carriers to - a good ploy I think. Any towbar looks garbage, so a detachable is the way to go. A flange type is still not as neat, but you aren't going to be running round all the time with just the bar on, and no carrier - that's why you get a detachable, right?

I'll stick to my guns about the Westfalia - it is in my experience the best engineered and built bar on the market. And yes, I have had a Towtrust on an E46. I thought it was not as good as a Witter (but cost a lot less!).
Saying that, Westfalia/BMW don't always get it right - the E39 and E60 Sport's have to have an infill panel, painted to match the (modified) bumper. Other manufacturers have had other, more elegant solutions for these cars.

Mike
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      09-02-2011, 12:27 PM   #35
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AlwynMike View Post
For those of you that are thinking about bike carriers - some carriers need to be bolted to the bar - not really possible with a swan neck. Witter have caught on to this and are offering a detachable bar with a flange for bolting carriers to - a good ploy I think. Any towbar looks garbage, so a detachable is the way to go. A flange type is still not as neat, but you aren't going to be running round all the time with just the bar on, and no carrier - that's why you get a detachable, right?

I'll stick to my guns about the Westfalia - it is in my experience the best engineered and built bar on the market. And yes, I have had a Towtrust on an E46. I thought it was not as good as a Witter (but cost a lot less!).
Saying that, Westfalia/BMW don't always get it right - the E39 and E60 Sport's have to have an infill panel, painted to match the (modified) bumper. Other manufacturers have had other, more elegant solutions for these cars.


Not sure what you mean??? this is the type of carrier im looking to get and i was told they fit onto the detachable westfalia for e92????

http://www.thule.com/en/RU/Products/...EuroPower-916#

Mike

Not sure what you mean??? this is the type of carrier im looking to get and i was told they fit onto the detachable westfalia for e92????

http://www.thule.com/en/RU/Products/...EuroPower-916#
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      09-02-2011, 12:30 PM   #36
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or maybe this type


http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/s...egoryId_165515
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      09-02-2011, 01:39 PM   #37
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Statler View Post
Interestingly, Towbars Direct rate the Tow Trust above the Westfalia. They are both 'invisible' so I may go with it and give you a comparison...

My touring had a DIY Westfalia and I always found the release mechanism very awkward to undo.

Anyhoo, thanks for the heads up on the brake lights. I did see a more expensive 7 way relay that talked about 'chatter', now I understand.
HI mate just wondering f u decided on what bar you were gonna get and how it turned out???
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      09-02-2011, 02:22 PM   #38
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I might have BMW (= westfalia?)71 60 6 781 661 fitted tuesday. Got rear ended in traffic jam, minimal damage, trying to get paid in cash for bumper panel, and have this fitted instead
I looked into this before, the westfalia one at least still provides a real steel bumper(like the std one) behind the plastic one. Many others provide no such protection, so you could face more damage when hit from certain angles.

I now know, without the steel bumper taking the hit I would have had far more damage than two little imprints from the license plate screws of he other car
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      09-02-2011, 02:43 PM   #39
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The Thule look much more secure than the Halfords, but you would expect that given the price difference. They will both fit on any 50mm ball, be it swan neck or flange.

I have a rack similar to the Halfords one (only cheaper!!). It was supplied with webbing straps to hook round the boot lid to provide some stability. I haven't used them, but the rack is fairly stable. I have had 3 bikes on it (just) and it was probably at its limit. I frequently have on my DH Cannondale and my lad's Specialized FSR for 50 mile trips and it is adequate. If I wasn't a cheapskate, I would have a Thule type, but I don't have the bikes on often enough to justify this. Remember to put the lighting board quite low down. I used to hang mine from the handlebars and the seat, which put it into the airflow. It was quite noticeable at speed that I had a big windjammer at the back of me - so now I rest the board on a pedal and bungee it on (my rack is designed so that one of the pedals rests on the cross brace, so I know the pedal isn't going to move!)

Mike
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      11-05-2012, 04:37 PM   #40
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I wish someone made a "sport hitch" for the E92 M3. Nothing like towing a jet ski or a motorcycle trailer without having to own a separate vehicle just to move my toys to the shop for repairs. U-Haul sells a sport hitch which mounts in a flat slot that you can remove and is out of sight. The M3 is the rare vehicle that just seems to have no room to custom fit any kind of hitch. I would not want one on my M3 if any part of it was visible when not in use. The Thule 460R with aero blades will work for when a roof rack is needed.
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      11-06-2012, 10:47 AM   #41
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if you want the auto retracting ones then you will pay through the nose for the wiring for it and retrofitting it is a bugger. i would recomend that you get a "detachable flange" towbar that way a bike carrier can virtually be bolted to the tow bar "thull" do a good cycle carrier.

as for the electrics there are two options

option 1

you can get the expensive wiring "cambus" with will tell the parking sensors to turn off and it will alter your stabillity program to compensate for the carrier or trailer

option 2

you can get a 7 way universal bypass unit from ebay for 15 quid and wire it up yourself. downside to doing this is that the parking sensors will go nuts when you put her in reverse.

if you go downthe towbar route its verry simple to fit. NOTE you take the bumper bar off and fit the towbar and then replace the bumper bar over the top so no crumple zones are missing. hope this helps

owen
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      11-06-2012, 12:15 PM   #42
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pritch21 View Post
if you want the auto retracting ones then you will pay through the nose for the wiring for it and retrofitting it is a bugger. i would recomend that you get a "detachable flange" towbar that way a bike carrier can virtually be bolted to the tow bar "thull" do a good cycle carrier.

as for the electrics there are two options

option 1

you can get the expensive wiring "cambus" with will tell the parking sensors to turn off and it will alter your stabillity program to compensate for the carrier or trailer

option 2

you can get a 7 way universal bypass unit from ebay for 15 quid and wire it up yourself. downside to doing this is that the parking sensors will go nuts when you put her in reverse.

if you go downthe towbar route its verry simple to fit. NOTE you take the bumper bar off and fit the towbar and then replace the bumper bar over the top so no crumple zones are missing. hope this helps

owen
Note that PortCanaveral M3 Driver is on the other side of the Atlantic, where they don't do things like us Europeans. I'm not sure if they use a 50mm hitch - they may still use a 2" one. Plus, in the Land of Litigation, fitting something that is not sold in the USofA, and having an issue with it opens the door to all sorts of problems - hence why I didn't reply in the first place. Your comments are very valid here, but maybe not so over the pond.

Mike
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      11-06-2012, 02:08 PM   #43
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Witter detachable flange supply and fit by PF Jones

Got the wittier for the maxx raxx carrier.

Tow bar installed by PF Jones - 1st class

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlwynMike View Post
For those of you that are thinking about bike carriers - some carriers need to be bolted to the bar - not really possible with a swan neck. Witter have caught on to this and are offering a detachable bar with a flange for bolting carriers to - a good ploy I think. Any towbar looks garbage, so a detachable is the way to go. A flange type is still not as neat, but you aren't going to be running round all the time with just the bar on, and no carrier - that's why you get a detachable, right?

I'll stick to my guns about the Westfalia - it is in my experience the best engineered and built bar on the market. And yes, I have had a Towtrust on an E46. I thought it was not as good as a Witter (but cost a lot less!).
Saying that, Westfalia/BMW don't always get it right - the E39 and E60 Sport's have to have an infill panel, painted to match the (modified) bumper. Other manufacturers have had other, more elegant solutions for these cars.

Mike
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      11-06-2012, 03:33 PM   #44
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AlwynMike View Post
Note that PortCanaveral M3 Driver is on the other side of the Atlantic, where they don't do things like us Europeans. I'm not sure if they use a 50mm hitch - they may still use a 2" one. Plus, in the Land of Litigation, fitting something that is not sold in the USofA, and having an issue with it opens the door to all sorts of problems - hence why I didn't reply in the first place. Your comments are very valid here, but maybe not so over the pond.

Mike
my appologies. i didnt notice their location. i do belive they use the 2 " on over there. my bad
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