I might have asked this a couple of years ago, I honestly do not remember. But I am finally buying a new car and need a way to transport our tandem. I currently have a Yakima Sidewinder roof type, but it is getting more difficult for us to lift the darn bike and cars are getting taller.

Are there any tow hitch solutions? Such a limited sales product that I don't find many new ones out there.

Draftmaster Tandem/LWB Racks

I will check that out. Do you have one? Looks like quite a contraption.

I keep forgetting to take pictures of my bike on the car but I use a Hollywood Trailrider like the one below. I removed the outer wheel mounts and moved the remaining mounts outboard to the wheelbase I need. I have a Nissan Frontier and the bike sticks out just a bit to the sides of the truck but it’s not past the mirrors.

I did take this picture of the Lincoln Highway in Nebraska that shows how the front wheel fits.



The rack is relatively cheap but is stable. I’ve used it to drive across the country a couple of times without issues.

I have also carried my tandem in the back of my truck. The truck only has a 5’ bed so the tandem has to be partially disassembled to fit. We drove to Florida last December and it was a better way of carrying the tandem on that trip due to the weather we encountered.

Draft aster is the Gold standard. Expensive, but very easy to use

Do you have one? Looks like quite a contraption.

I bought a Draftmaster rack close to 30 years ago, when the company was starting up and not yet bought by Atoc. This was before I got into tandeming, but wanted a rack that could handle 4 bikes. After buying our first tandem in 2006, I learned I could add a tandem rail to the rack and never looked back. I’ve used it to transport a tandem plus other bikes many thousands of miles since. Even two tandems at once at one point. My early version is a cruder implementation than what can be bought nowadays no doubt, but it still works great. The only thing better is transport inside the vehicle, which I can do by separating my Speedster Copilot at the front couplers. But the Draftmaster is the right solution for my tandem without couplers, or if I need to use more space inside the car for other things.

That's a tandem on your car in the picture? That does not stick out too much, I think it would work fine. Thanks.

I think you are asking me.* Yes, that’s a tandem on my truck.


*Use the quote feature so people don’t have to guess.

Just made this one for last weekends ETR.

I remove the wheels and hang the frame on a Reese SportWing

Thanks everyone, I wanted to post a followup. (Don't ya just hate when someone asks for advice but never finishes the conversation?)

Way too much time on the internet and I went to my LBS and sat down with him for a long time while he looked and made some phone calls. I settled on this LongBike Tote.

The Cadillac dealer took forever and had a false start where they needed to order additional parts. But the install looks great.

The LongBike Tote was easy to assemble but their instructions where terrible. I ended up just looking at the pictures on their website. A kvetch: shouldn't have to take 4 sizes of sockets to assemble, one of which I had to buy.

The picture shows the results and maiden voyage will be this weekend. The picture shows the rear wheel on, but there is another config taking that off to reduce the width.

It is difficult to judge tail width vs car width perspective and overall width from a picture. That does not look so good. I would be anxious, every time I park, park next to other cars, backup, pass a truck or passed by a truck on multilane highways, narrow construction lanes, etc. Perhaps you are careful, but others not so much.

We have the Long Bike Tote rack also. On a Subaru Outback, the rear wheel will stick out just about afar as the drivers side mirror. Never had an issue in tight spaces. I have tripped over the rack several times, forgetting it is there.

When I purchased the rack, I called and talked to one of the owners of the company. They are avid tandem riders, and seem to care very much about their customers.

I understand. There is an alternate configuration in which both wheels are removed and the rack is then centered. That said, the bike does not stick out much more than the mirrors and hopefully it will be ok.