Anyone Transport Bikes with their K11?

[butcher]

I'm thinking about buying a K11, but the only thing that is concerning me is the lack of room. Mainly for my bike.

I'm used to throwing it in the back of the car. Absolutely no effort. Don't even have to remove anything. The downside is, with current fuel prices, insurance, etc, I can't afford to drive anywhere! So I'm moving to the opposite end of the spectrum for a while. Now I'm pretty sure I would have to remove both wheels in a Micra (we're talking a 16" MTB), with the seats down....but I'm concerned it still won't fit??

Does anyone have any experiences to share?

Whilst most of the time it will just be me, myself, and I. Ideally I would like to be able to transport up to three people, and three bikes. So I was looking at the tow bars you can buy refurbed on ebay for about £60. Are they any good? (I'm finding it hard to believe how cheap everything is on the Micra, so it leaves me sceptical) And then fitting a tow bar mounted rack.

Basically I want something that isn't too much hassle. There's nothing worse than finishing a long wet ride in the cold and having to put together a jigsaw...

 

[Ulrich C]

Well, I've had Micras for about 6 years now, and quite often bring bikes with me.
If you don't have to use the back seat, it's as easy as taking off the front wheel of almost any bike (MTB at least), fold down the seats and off you go. Easy to fit 2-3 bikes in there.
However, if you need to transport 3 bikes and 3 persons, I'd go for the tow bar solution. I've got a folding bike rack, that easily holds 3 bikes for shorter drives. I tend to avoid highways, as these small racks are not as stable as the larger platform types. But you'll be fine with some decent elastic bungs and some old socks or t-shirt to put between the bikes and the rack to avoid scratches.
If you could get the tow bar for about £60, that would be super. And then you could always upgrade to a larger platform type rack later on, if you like.

List of things I have fitted into the back of my Micra (not at the same time obviously..):

3 mountainbikes.

1 washing machine.

1 dining table + 4 chairs + 1 living room table and 4 bags of stuff from Ikea. My wife had to drive the car home, as I couldn't fit behind the steering wheel, with the seats all the way forward...

1 massively overweight labrador in the back (seats upright).

1 golden retriever + 1 labrador in the back (seats upright).

You get the idea... (Y)

Cheers,

Ulrich

 

[butcher]

That's awesome. Puts my mind at rest massively. Dog will be going in the back too, so bonus information there - I wasn't sure he'd squeeze in without the seats down, though I rarely have the seats up in mine.

Most of the time it would just be me, so it's that convenience that I'm concerned about. Just being able to do it pretty quickly - I used to squeeze my bike into the boot of a medium sized saloon and it drove me to despair! Pretty impressed about getting 3 in there!

The rack would be for the more occasional journey.

Just need to find a car now.