Bike Rack from Aptera Motors?

[Marco Landin]

Hi! Are there plans for an Aptera-designed bike rack, attachable to the vehicle for carrying a couple of bicycles?

• This discussion was modified 4 months, 3 weeks ago by  Marco Landin.

[John Malcom]

Not at this time.

There may be a towing capability for a very small trailer (300 pound load) that could be used for transporting bikes. Depending on the size and configuration of a bike it may be transported in the cargo area. There are pictures of a bike in the back of an Aptera. And of course, I am sure there will be third party accessories which most likely will include a bike rack for Aptera

[Curtis Cibinel]

Even if all we have is the bolt holes for the future hitch it shouldn’t be difficult to put something together. If nothing is out by the time I get my Aptera you can count on my plans being made available. Carrying bikes outside the vehicle is a very important thing for me. If the hitch is available I’ll probably make a small utility trailer than can convert for either kayaks or bikes.

[Paul Schultz]

If Aptera includes a category 1 hitch then many hitch-based bike racks would be an option. Aptera has indicated they planned on providing the light towing capability as mentioned above. That means an industry-standard hitch receiver that opens up all kinds of possibilities. A cat 1 hitch has a 1-1/4 inch receiver… perfect for a light bike rack. There would be no reason for Aptera to include a 2″ receiver as that would be overkill for the intended use and capacity max.

• This reply was modified 4 months, 3 weeks ago by  Paul Schultz.

[John Malcom]

Good information from someone with experience to share with us on the forum

[kerbe2705]

I’ve been very happy since ditching my roof rack and using SeaSucker to carry recumbent… https://www.seasucker.com/

[Vernon Michael Gardner]

Kerbe, great idea, that can solve many problems for people that like to carry things.

[kerbe2705]

When your bike is nearly 7 feet long, you look for the path of least resistance… 🙂

[Ray Holan]

Marco, you might consider the option of one or more folding bikes. There are quite a few on the market now. Brompton is perhaps the best known brand, but is more of a city bike than road bike. An online search for folding bicycles will keep you entertained for hours. Good luck.

[Philip Raymond]

Doing one of the things I do best, bringing attention to the obvious, you could just load your bike(s) in the back hatch cargo area. It looks more than big enough, even for a couple of bikes.

• This reply was modified 4 months, 3 weeks ago by  Philip Raymond.

[Paul Schultz]

That is fine for day trips but when traveling on a vacation the back hatch area may be packed with luggage, camping supplies, etc.

[Bob Kirchner]

I fear you will find that carrying bike on a rack behind an Aptera will destroy its range.

Aptera relies on aerodynamic efficiency for its range, and nothing has more aerodynamic drag than a bike rack. On most vehicles it’s tolerable because it’s in the vehicle’s slipstream, but Aptera has almost no slipstream, so it would be like pushing a bike rack alone though the air at 65 mph. It would probably have worse highway range than any other EV with a comparably sized battery.

Still worth having a rack for shorter trips, though.

[Curtis Cibinel]

Even if the aerodynamics was knocked down to 0.25 Cd (about average for a sedan – very likely impact of a bike would be far less) this is a 30% range loss at 60mph. At lower speeds the losses are lower. Aerodynamics matter but the weight is actually more critical to the unique efficiency advantages of Aptera.

[Bob Kirchner]

Working only with intuition and some experience with bikes and bike racks, I am very doubtful that a bike rack has a Cd as low as 0.25. It is a very complex shape sitting perpendicular to the air flow and creating maximum turbulence. I would predict the bike rack to have far more drag than the Aptera itself.

It would be nice to be wrong, though.

[Danny Mattijetz]

It seems to me many years ago that I loaded four bikes on my Datsun 1200 and took off for a long drive. Two bikes were on the back by the bumper, and two were on the roof. My typical mileage was close to 40 mpg, but when I figured that one out, it was much closer to 30 or less..