e bike on rear rack without battery and rear wheel?

sachashoes

Finding my (electric) wheels
May 21, 2020
5
1
We are travelling about 50 miles and need to take one normal bike and a ebike. I don't want the expense of fitting a towbar so if I get a good standard rear rack can I put both bikes on if I remove the ebike rear wheel+motor and the battery?

The e bike weighs about 23kg fully assembled and I'm pretty sure the max stated weight for any individual bike on any rear rack is 15kg
 

richtea99

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 8, 2020
434
283
The rear wheel is probably 4Kg with the motor, and the battery another 2-3Kg, so you'll be close.
Your bathroom scales will tell you.

And you're right - a lot of two bike rear-mounted racks have a 15Kg limit. However, if you can get one inside (back seats down, wheels off, etc), then this rack will take your 23kg ebike, at a reasonable price:
 
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sachashoes

Finding my (electric) wheels
May 21, 2020
5
1
Thanks for the advice. The back of the car will be full so no room for bikes. What Iw as getting at with my question was whether it was safe from a balance perspective to stick a bike without a wheel onto a rear rack
 
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StuartsProjects

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 9, 2021
1,658
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I was looking at this myself this morning.

I did notice that although there are a lot of 3 bike rear carriers with a total weight carrying capacity of 45kg, they often stated a max weight of 15kg per bike. You might expect to be able to carry heavier bikes if you only have 2.

I did find a Peruzzo that had a max of 22.5kg for each bike;

 
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richtea99

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 8, 2020
434
283
Thanks for the advice. The back of the car will be full so no room for bikes. What Iw as getting at with my question was whether it was safe from a balance perspective to stick a bike without a wheel onto a rear rack
Ah - got you. Sorry.
As long as you can still secure the bike without needing the wheel for stabilty (i.e. it's not rocking around), I doubt the centre of gravity matters. It's only ~6kg from a 23kg bike, so roughly a quarter of the bike's overall weight.

I think you'll be OK, but just be sure that it's held as secure as a 2-wheeled bike.
 
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Bikes4two

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 21, 2020
885
390
Havant
Personally I'd exercise caution if exceeding the 15kg limit per bike as that is what the individual components that make up that part of the rack have been designed to.
 

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