[MicrowaveDave]

The only things that winds me up about my mini, the fact that the options for bike rack etc is shocking!!! Having not being made aware of the option to have fitted roof bars etc, i took inspiration form older spec bike rack's and my friend thats an engineer made me a rack solution for my car.

Thanks

MicrowaveDave

 

[kylekelly]

I've seen provisions for installing rods like these on custom parts web-site. I'm presuming you didn't have the bike rack prep with the threads only on one side -- how did you make it work? Also, are the bike rack brackets a stock solution? Looks like a cool solution and I'm curious as to how you did it!

 

[tandberg]

for every problem,there's always a solution eh.Them Bikes are made in my hometown.

 

[MicrowaveDave]

Hi, no on my car i only had the thread on the right hand side for the towing eye, what we did, took a lump of aluminium, machined and milled a blank replicated what you see on the drivers side, tig welded it into the alloy slam panel behind the bumper. put the bumper back on, then made the posts, there is a bar that goes right through the tube that you see thats holding the back racks, that allows the thread to thread in with out rebuilding the whole rack system every time. very effective, i have no idea why Mini didn't just add the second thread in the left side from standard.

Hope this answers some questions, i will get some more pics of the actual bars if you want.

Cheers

 

[MicrowaveDave]

for every problem,there's always a solution eh.Them Bikes are made in my hometown.

Your a Halifax Local then i guess.. Love the Orange so simple and effective. many people don't have a good thing to say about the design and simplicity.. but i love mine.

Cheers

 

[caveman dave]

Very nice, but illegal, your bikes are obscuring the rear lights.

 

[tandberg]

Yeah buddy born n bred, only knew they were made here when I seen the guy Martin show on tv... Learn in odd ways eh.

 

[kylekelly]

...tig welded it into the alloy slam panel behind the bumper. put the bumper back on, then made the posts...

Excellent--thanks!

Curious -- did you have to remove the bumper itself or just the bumper cover?

 

[jeremybingham]

Brilliant solution. Very impressed. You could go into business making those!

 

[MicrowaveDave]

Very nice, but illegal, your bikes are obscuring the rear lights.

Thank you CavemanDave i do realise this, you can see the lights shine through the wheels, but we are also looking at ways to remount the bike with the front wheel off, using some different mounts, and also looking into the wiring possibilities for a light bar.

Does anyone have any information on the wiring solutions?

Thanks

MicrowaveDave

 

[MicrowaveDave]

Brilliant solution. Very impressed. You could go into business making those!

Thanks Jeremy, this one was a lot of work.. I'm not sure any more will be made yet.

 

[MicrowaveDave]

Excellent--thanks!

Curious -- did you have to remove the bumper itself or just the bumper cover?

Hi, we removed the whole bumper and the slam panel behind..

This was the first post made, then we needed to remove the bumper to think of a solution to mount the second post,

with the bumper removed you can seen the alloy slam panel, which was then removed.

Mille out the hole for the new receiving, which we replicated from the original factory piece.

Hope this answers some questions?


Thanks,

MicrowaveDave

 

[Angib]

I take a cavalier view on lighting bars. The reality is that one bike's wheels won't obscure rear lights in practice, two is getting iffy and three or more bikes are becoming a problem. Photos taken from a standing position like MicrowaveDave's can suggest the lights are obscured but in reality that's only from that particular angle.

It's a bit like the folks that hang an air freshener from the rear view mirror - that obstructs their forward vision but does it cause crashes?

 

[kylekelly]

Hope this answers some questions?

Yes, and thanks for the great pictures!

 

[caveman dave]

I take a cavalier view on lighting bars. The reality is that one bike's wheels won't obscure rear lights in practice, two is getting iffy and three or more bikes are becoming a problem. Photos taken from a standing position like MicrowaveDave's can suggest the lights are obscured but in reality that's only from that particular angle.

It's a bit like the folks that hang an air freshener from the rear view mirror - that obstructs their forward vision but does it cause crashes?

Whatever view you take on lighting bars, and your perception on whether the lights can be seen through wheels is irrelevant. The law in the UK states that vehicle lights must not be obscured.
Whether you could get away with using this in the UK is down to the individual police officer at the time, but I can guarantee if it was in France you would get a 200 Euro on the spot fine, and you would not be able to fit the bikes back on to the car until a working lighting board was fitted.
Also the number plate hung on the back must have lighting on it, the only exception to this is when the vehicle in question is registered as a daytime use only.

 

[jeremybingham]

Great design. In theory I'd agree caveman d but the police,hmmm are there any on the roads,can't even stop people on mobiles or with bulbs out. I'd have one and not worry about being stopped.

 

[Pedro]

Ah don't we all love when legality comes into the world of the forum!

I must say I do not wish to offend you MicrowaveDave - you needed a solution and have clearly taken a lot of time to get what you need - fair play...

...That being said, I, like caveman dave am a stickler for keeping within the law - try and get a solution that keeps you legal - this way you can keep your hobby of driving your MINI & transporting your bikes whilst not breaking the law - this isn't really the most important point - the most important thing is that people can SEE your lights - that NEEDS to happen - not just partially - as in the way the manufacturer intended - the full tail lights, brake lights, indicators and fog lights - all about making sure you're seen and if your own safety and that of others ain't enough inspiration then maybe reducing the chance of being rear ended and getting what is a lovely car wrecked, will be

Very good of you to take the time to photograph your solution to let other people gets ideas though!

Not giving you a hard time man, just offering my 2 pence!

 

[Pedro]

Great design. In theory I'd agree caveman d but the police,hmmm are there any on the roads,can't even stop people on mobiles or with bulbs out. I'd have one and not worry about being stopped.

@jeremybingham - can't even stop people on mobiles or with bulbs out? Hardly fair my friend - you can't know they haven't already been stopped and advised of the light problem - for example if you were driving along (in a car that didn't tell you on the dash that a bulb had gone out) and your bulb went out mid journey, you got stopped by the Police and given an instant ticket instead of a "Good evening sir, I'm not sure if you were aware but your front left headlight is out, can you get that fixed as soon as possible?" - you wouldn't be happy at the instant ticket approach. Presumably you being the nice gentleman that you are would be appreciative of the discretion and thank the officer for pointing this out to you. But then good old Police - they're damned if they do damned if they don't eh?

Mobile Phones - do you really think you could drive past the Police with your phone up to your ear in mid conversation and they wouldn't stop you? Seems unlikely.

I apologise but I don't like to see them get bashed where it's unwarranted

 

[MicrowaveDave]

I totally agree with the lighting situation, This is next on the list.

Thanks

MicrowaveDave

 

[jeremybingham]

Like your style Pedro and totally agree sorry if it seemed like police bashing. I'm not . There just aren't enough of them on the roads.they've sadly been replaced by cameras which imo don't do the tremendous job our police do. Nor do they have discretion which a policeman would.

Yes sir it's midnight and the rds are quiet but imagine what would happen if you hit a Deer at that speed. Let you off this time but slow down please?!