Transporting an E-Bike 2,800 Miles - Some Observations

[Bill G]

I recently took my Nevo 3 to Florida from my Upstate NY home and back, about 2,800 miles round trip. I had no previous experience transporting an e-bike and was quite nervous about possible damage to the bike and theft. Here are a few details:

Car: 2021 RAV 4 Prime with 2 inch receiver
Carrier: Thule EasyFold XT 2
Cover: Pro Bike Large for Single Bike
Locks: ABUS extension chain (one end inserts into frame lock), ABUS Granit X Plus 540 U-lock, Kryptonite KryptoFlex Looped Bike Security Cable (7’), the built in Thule clamp lock, and the Thule receiver lock

Observations

1. The Thule rack worked well. It clamped to the seat post section of this step-through bike. The bike is 47 cm, next to the smallest size. It’s length is such that it just fits on the platform because of the distance between wheels. I did not use the ramp; it’s a pain to insert (asked Thule about this, but they never got back to me), so lifted it on, bit of a strain for a 77 year old body. Oh, I also added Curtis 53201 Auxiliary Automotive LED Light Strips. This installed easily and worked well, although I was a bit nervous about their being held on by double sided 3M tape, but no problem. These lights were necessary because the covered bike pretty much occluded my tail lights. I did not move my license plate to the Thule rack. I’ve seen so many RVs with their rear plate blocked, I thought I’d live dangerously. Oh, and the covered bike also pretty much blocks your backup camera and your rear windscreen.
2. Security: The first line of defense is the two Thule locks, one locking the rack into the receiver, the other locking the clamping arm on the bike, but I didn’t think these would present much of a challenge. Since we spent two nights at motels and I did not want to remove the bike, I felt I should take additional precautions. I used the U -lock and Kryptonite cable in combination. The U-lock fastened the frame to the rack upright stanchion. The cable went from the U-lock to the chain loop on the receiver. The ABUS chain was looped through the other receiver chain loop and into the builtin cafe frame lock.
3. The Pro Bike cover is well made and fit pretty well. My problem was that I couldn’t pull the straps tight enough to eliminate buffeting when traveling at highway speed. I did wrap several pieces of line around the covered bike to quell the buffeting; it helped a little. The biggest problem, which I didn’t anticipate, was my bell and the holder for the Kiox display had edges that wore through the cover in two spots. For my return trip I used heavy duty waterproof Gorilla tape both inside and outside the damaged area. The outside tape was useless and was ripped off by wind in short order. The interior tape held. I should note that we went through a severe snow/ice storm on the way to Florida and the cover kept the bike relatively clean and dry.

I should mention that I did remove both batteries and the Kiox display and had a travel cover for the downtube battery compartment,

I’m sure I made this whole process more complicated than it has to be, but the bike made the trip safely. Next time I will add additional reinforcement for the cover at wear points. I may also try to use a small cargo net over the cover to quiet it. I saw a guy do this on YouTube and it seems to work for him.

If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them.

 

[dodgeman]

We hauled ours about the same distance, just one over night. I have the same rack. We just took ours in the hotel room. A little awkward but it worked.

 

[MeToo]

It needs to be inside or an angle grinder and 15 seconds will make it not yours anymore. Locks are obsolete.

 

[vincent]

use a truck bed spider bungee?? to tighten the cover down so it does not move so much, you can get it pretty tight using those