Bike Carrier Length. Anyone Booked?

• 

  mskeggs on 20/02/2022 - 21:25

  Look at the diagram again. I read it to mean the 60% is of the distance between axles.

  • 

    pegaxs on 20/02/2022 - 21:31

    +1

    This is how ROH works

    • 

      mskeggs on 20/02/2022 - 21:35

      So a 1200mm rack would likely fail in the image above. It does seem a long rack.

  • 

    Euphemistic on 20/02/2022 - 22:52

    You are allowed 60% of the wheel base behind the rear wheels.

    my twin cab ute has 3200mm wheel base. Therefore 1920mm behind the centre of the rear wheel (axle), but the back bumper finishes around 1250mm behind the rear axle, leaving 670mm remainder for a rack.

• 

  pegaxs on 20/02/2022 - 21:29

  +1

  What’s the wheelbase on your vehicle? Must be a short vehicle or has a long arse boot space/tray on it if comes in at only 600~ish in space to use.

  No experience being booked, it would be up to the copper on the day and how much was you were mouthing off to them or if there was a blitz on bike racks.

  As for insurance, I would suggest that it would only be an issue if it could be proven that the rack contributed to the accident/damage. ie; if a driver ran up your clicker, they might say that had the rack been shorter, they may not have done as much damage.

  • 

    Euphemistic on 20/02/2022 - 22:43

    3 vehicles, measured with a tape measure, but just eyeing it in a bit. Could be out a bit, but wouldn’t be more than 50mm.

    Twin cab ute. Long wheelbase, but long overhang. Remainder 670mm.
    4wd wagon. Long wheel base, reasonable overhang. Remainder 690mm
    Compact SUV. shorter overhang but compromised by the spare on the back door, 560mm remainder.

    I’m guessing a hatchback would have less rear overhang compared to wheelbase so may get a little more remainder. They tend to push the wheels out to the corners for handling.
    Edit: Mazda 3 had 744mm allowable.

    Vertical carry racks are the latest and greatest. The bikes stick a long way out, at least the diameter of the wheel plus some of the seat height.

    • 

      pegaxs on 22/02/2022 - 18:27

      I know the VSI says 1200mm, but I cannot find where it says that in any other legislation. I have always been of the opinion that the ROH rule was 60% of the wheel base and from the centre line of the rear axle (se my link above) and that the rear of the vehicle forms part of that over hang. From memory, the 1200mm limit is for the front of vehicles, not the back.

      Even if it is from the back, it would be 1200mm from the rear bumper providing it doesn't exceed the 60% rule. For example, if you had a HR pantech truck with a wheelbase of 5.5m, your ROH would be 3.3m. If the body was out to 3m, you would only have 0.3m of over hang. If the body was only 1m past the rear axle centreline, you would only have that 1m + the 1.2m protrusion rule, making it a total of 2.2m.

      So, you would have the full 1200mm IF it still fell within the overall ROH 60%.

      If all that doesn't make sense, let me know and Ill MS Paint you something.

      • 

        Euphemistic on 22/02/2022 - 19:05

        Thanks. I did look up a bit further and found the vehicle standards thing. Agree Rear overhang is the lesser of 3.7m or 60% wheelbase from the centre of the rear axle. 1200mm is the maximum for attachments as far as I can tell.

        My phrasing is ‘rear overhang’ is centre of axle (or axle group) to the rear most part of the vehicle - the bumper in most cars. Then I used ‘remainder’ as whatever length is left for attachments but within the 60% rule.

• 

  Austaurean on 21/02/2022 - 08:56

  I appreciate that we, as the user, need to ensure we abide by the rules and are knowledgeable about the requirements; however, when i spoke to a number of places about a bike rack, in pro bike shops down to not pro bike shops, not one salesperson mentioned anything about these rules.
  I appreciate that they are after a sale, and again its upto the end user to ensure compliance, but a bit of common sense from all area's doesn't go astray..
  I can't even think of any info on the Yakima packaging or booklets, even mentioning anything about it, not even to look into it as a minimum.

  • 

    Euphemistic on 21/02/2022 - 08:58

    +3

    As a bit of a trainspotter with bikes, I see lots of racks out there and reckon at least half are too long. Sure, the rules were made a long time ago but they either should be enforced or updated.

    If you bring it to the attention of lawmakers they’ll probably start fining before fixing the rules.

    Edit: I looked at the rules to determine if I was compliant. I prefer to know in advance what rules I’m breaking and what likely consequences are.

• 

  Austaurean on 21/02/2022 - 08:59

  Out of interest, I'm going to check mine as I bought a Yakima 3 + 1

• 

  brad1-8tsi on 21/02/2022 - 20:02

  Im so gunna ask the two police officers in my family if they know this rule

  • 

    Euphemistic on 21/02/2022 - 20:14

    From an extra search, fairly quickly, it seems the overhang rule isn’t just about bicycle racks, it applies to all vehicles and all loads they’ve just pointed it out in the bike rack guide.

    Not sure pointing it out is a good thing. Likely to end up making a target out of bike racks.

    • 

      brad1-8tsi on 21/02/2022 - 20:19

      +1

      one is in the water police and the other does anything but traffic. Both are too busy dealing with dead bodies, wife bashers, meth heads and idiots to worry about a bike rack.