Hauling Your E-bike
Hopefully, the fact that you have an e-bike means you aren’t hauling it as much or as often as a traditional bike. Distance, hills, wind and weather, play less a factor when going for a ride. Here in The Quad Cities, you have but a few residential blocks to a lane or Multi-Use Path from most neighborhoods. It seems the rest of the country is headed in the same direction.
Still, there are times when you want to get out beyond your home town to do some exploring (we don’t all have time for multi-day bicycle tours). A train station or bus service is not always nearby. That’s when a good bike rack comes in handy!
Most importantly, always remove your battery when transporting your bike. You bikes take a pretty good beating when hauled. The cushy suspension you enjoy inside the car does a lot less to dampen jolts outside the suspended passenger compartment. That is hard on battery contacts. Removing your battery reduces the weight on your rack as well (ten pounds makes a difference).
Even the most secure integrated battery is not sealed. When it rains, your battery housing gets wet. They have drainage. You can wipe off dust and road grime, or just put some plastic over the exposed contacts.
I realize it is not likely. Who doesn’t notice a sideways bicycle on the back of a car, but if your battery is breached, in a rear end collision, you could have a catastrophic fire! That is nearly certain not to happen if your battery is on the floor, behind your seat.
Like everything else, mfg’s are trying to push e-bike specific racks. The fact is, quality e-bikes weigh no more than a typical Schwinn from The 70’s,. That is, once you remove the battery and any heavy accessories. We still haul them all over on trunk racks. Frankly, if your bike really is all that heavy, perhaps you should revisit the idea of a conversion from Ruby’s. Rounding up, with a heavier battery, adds only 16#’s to your existing bike. Many of our conversions are under 40#’s and nearly all under 45.
I do recommend you invest in a good hitch rack. Your bike will bounce less. The tires will cushion the load and they are a whale of a lot easier to load! We sell The Retrospec/Lennox bike rack for $150. Your only additional investment would be in a hitch mount. That adds about$100 to the cost, but the first time you don’t hurt yourself lifting your bike onto a hanging rack, you’ll be glad.
Do you have questions or concerns? Call or write. I admit, I am not personally very experienced at hauling e-bikes. My friends have trucks and I usually bike where I want to go. I can tell you I have driven more than 200 miles with two on a very old trunk rack with not even a hint of a problem.