Hi,

I'm trying to get a towbar-mounted bike rack for my 1st gen (facelift) Alphard.  It looks like the Atera Strada DL3 and Thule VeloCompact 925 might clear the rear tailgate, allowing access to the boot with the bikes in place.

Does anyone have one of these and can confirm that you can in fact open the tailgate with bikes on the rack?  If it's relevant, I will only be carrying 2 bikes, not the full 3-bike capacity of the DL3.

 

many thanks!

Hi 

   I am pretty  sure you will not be able to open the tailgate with the bikes attached. I fitted A Halfords advanced 3 bike rack to my Vellfire when we went on holiday, it carried two electric bike with ease. The advanced rack has a tilt facility which allows the bikes to be tilted out of the way with out removing them from the rack thus allowing access to the boot. I was a bit sceptical about these types of racks but I must say it worked a treat.

Hi Steve,

thanks for the info! It’s good to know there’s an option that definitely works!

 

The two racks that I mentioned have a similar feature, which is why I asked about them. The Thule tilts (but not as far as yours from pictures), and the Atera slides horizontally away from the boot to give clearance. I’m just not sure whether either give enough clearance for an Alphard.

 

V

I’ve used both the Thule Euroclassic 929 and the Thule XT3 bike racks and the tail has opened fine. 
 

(only reason I sold the 929 was as you can get a storage box to fit on the xt3 if your not carrying bikes). 

The Witter ZX range also has the drop down feature to allow the tailgate to open. I’ve just picked up a secondhand two bike rack via eBay for £40 and it’s as good as new. Bob

Thanks for the info everyone. Just to close this out, in the end I got a Thule VeloCompact 925 and can confirm that it tilts our far enough to open the boot (with my bikes)

 

so we have confirmed:

- Halfords Advanced 3-bike

- Thule Euroclassic 929

- Thule XT3

- Thule VeloCompact 925

- Witter ZX

 

Hopefully this list will be useful to anyone searching in future.

 

V

Hi Vincent - a bit late to the party I'm afraid, but this may be of use to others in the future... We have the Strada Evo 3 and the roller pull-out system gives sufficient clearance when the Alphard tailgate is lifted. We've used it for a few years now and it's served us well on both short and long (eg. Swedish arctic circle) journeys. I believe the Strada Evo, Vario and DL racks use the same pull-out system - the rail pulls away from the rear, but also down towards the ground with bikes mounted.