Cycle carrier won’t fit new towbar
 

Hi all
I recently purchased a 2016 xc90 and it has a swing away towbar . My ptoblem is that I have a witter 4 cycle carrier that will only fit a flange style towbar . Is there a fix to this by either adjusting the towbar or the plate on the cycle carrier . I really only use it once or twice a year for family holidays but would like to keep the cycle carrier if possible .Any advice would be much appreciated .

Something like this?

https://www.wilmond.co.uk/clam-shell...e-adaptor.html

thank you 1 monkey 600
the cycle carrier I have is something like this https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui...1&disp=safe&zw
and the towbar I have is a retractable towbar .

Attachment 111778

Hi sorry for previous garbled messages .This is the baseplate attachment end of the cycle carrier that I have so I need to be able to fit this to the towbar and it looks as if the attachment that you mentioned 1monkey600 wont work for this one .Just to reiterate I have a 2016 xc 90 with a retractable towbar and and looking to get this cycle carrier to fit it .

Sorry, I Can't make out what your photo is trying to show. I have no idea what the specifics of your towbar is either.
What i looked for is an adaptor that would turn a swan neck towball into a flange type towball - this is it ( see previous link or direct here http://www.bak-rak.com/s%20to%20f%20converter.htm ). I.e you can bolt your standard flange type ball ( or any special brackets) to this adaptor, and then fit this adaptor onto the swan neck ball - Hey Presto, you have a bog standard flange type towball on the back of your car.
It wouldn't be practical for towing something because your new ball would now be several inches too high but can't see why it wouldn't fit your bike carrier as it would be a bog standard flange.
Is it simply because you wouldn't be able to retract your hitch without unbolting the adaptor?

Is this the sort of carrier you have?

https://www.tadcomms.com/render/prod...%20ghosted.jpg

If so you need an adapter and unless you're going to take the adapter off every time you'll not be able to fold the lowball away

http://www.pendle-bike.co.uk//produc...1259682990.jpg

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....1gFJHVVLzL.jpg

Bite the bullet and buy a Thule rack that fits on to your towball. There is a 3 bike one for sale on this forum at a reasonable price and get most or all of your money back by selling your existing one.

The Thule ones are very stable, much easier to fit and the bikes are more secure on the rack and they can be locked on. It can also be locked on to the towball and can be lowered for access to the boot/tailgate and comes complete with a lighting board to keep you legal when the bikes are on and obscuring the cars rear lights.

Hi all thanks for all the replies @4*4 its a baseplate with 2 slots about 6" each in depth and the cycle carrier slots into these and is secured with with clamps .
I really appreciate the replies thank you

Do you want to be able to use the bike rack and tow at the same time? If you do then I think your options are going to be very limited. If you're just using the bike rack then a direct tow ball mounted rack would be a better option as already mentioned. I have an Altera Strada DL3 with 4th bike extension, it's a fantastic bit of kit. I can't compare it to the Thule but I wouldn't fault it at all and highly recommend it. The slide away function to access the boot is very useful! It fits effortlessly on both my V70 with fixed flange tow ball and C70 with detachable swan neck.

But either way whether you are using whilst also towing or not I think you may need to get a new rack.

Hi all

I bit the bullet and bought and new cycle carrier as couldn't get the old one to fit or get an adapter for it .Now I have just discovered that the roof bars from my 07 xc90 don't fit the new xc90 and have had to get my neighbours halford roof bars as going on French holiday this week …! Again thanks for all the help
Jimmy