James Cook Forum

Dear all,

I am looking for Westfalia original NCV3 bike rack.

Do you know if and where to buy it? And how much does it cost?

Regards

AeFFe

Did you try Westfalia Van themselves? I suspect that they would be the only people who might help, other than a Mercedes dealer. You need to replace the door hinges for upgraded ones that support the load, so it's not a trivial install.

Just wait until an offer shows up here. They come every now and then like this one:
viewtopic.php?t=5505

@fleep: I am waiting for a response from Westfalia dealer. Mercedes said not but my suspect is that I don't know the Mercedes code for it. What do you mean with "replace the door hinges"? I never read anything about it.

@netsailor: thank you. I will have a look.

I would call Westfalia themselves. You should get an instant response.

The bike rack had special additional brackets that are part of and replace the hinges on the rear of the van. So once fitted, the rack is permanently part of the van. opening the back of the van is somewhat more difficult as you have to remove metal dowels and then swing the rack to the passenger side before you may open the rear doors. It is not a rack where you can remove easily such as with the Vw california. It is very solid and takes a lot of weight. I have carried an electric bike and awning strapped to it.

excuse me fleep,
but the carrier itself never becomes permanently a part of the van.

The connecting parts to the van look like these (I found this picture here in the forum):



The black parts on the left are screwed into the holes in the middle of the door hinges and stay there.
If there are holes in the door hinges, nothing needs to be changed.
The rest of the carrier can quite easily be removed.

The Carrier-Rack is fitted with the four silver screwed in "loop"-headed pieces. They take the bolts with screws (shown in two of the black parts) on one side, the two bolts on the right (with the rings to hold them in place) on the other side.
To access the back of the van with the carrier mounted, you pull out the bolts without the screws and the carrier can be swung to the side like a door.
Be careful to hold it up when there is load on it.

Since Westfalia is technically another company than the one that build the van and changed ownership several times (including a bankruptcy on the way), I would not bet on much support.

Since the technology has developed a lot during the last 12 years concerning bike-racks, I would look into the one sitting on the trailer-hock as well. They are lower and therefore load a lot easier and also allow the opening of the doors.

Cheers,
Stefan

Electric bikes (x2) (25kg each) are exactly the way I want to use it.

A.

Hello Stefan,

Have you ideas about which bike rack different from original can perform better?

I have also read of Alu Line very similar to the original westfalia. But aluminium frame leave me some concern ...

A.

I have not researched the current market, but it seams quite difficult to me to lift e-bikes 25kg each to about to the height of ones breast, where the tracks of the Westfalia-Bike-Carrier are located. I do it with regular bikes up to 15kg each. That is ok.

Something like these should be a lot easier for your needs:
https://www.thule.com/de-de/de/bike-rac ... bike-racks

Mounting the Thule bike rack you are no more able to open the door without removing it. Behind the left door there is the wc basket (Is "basket" the exact term?).

A.

this probably depends on the modell of the bike rack.
As it is shown here, it should work, if there is enough space between the top of the trailer hook and the lower end of the doors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfuRTuUAw9Q

The toilet tank should be accessible with the doors opening at least as wide as it is shown in the video.

Yes. Now I understand.

Do you prefer this mechanism or the original westfalia? I prefer the original one but undertand your concern about weight ...

Problem is, I do not know if the original westfalia is still available. There should be an Alu Line model very similar ...with aluminium frame. Westfalia frame was in stainless steel.

A.

Dear Angelo,

the Westfalia rack is that high:


I would try to lift a E-Bike onto a high table or wall before buying a rack, that requires me to do that.

This system seams a lot more comfortable to me:
viewtopic.php?t=4863#p31193

Good luck,
Stefan

Thank you Stefan.

A.

The Original rack will accept 60kg, so a couple of electric bikes is feasible.

The E bike is easier to lift if you remove the battery first. That should take the weight down to 20 kg or so. It's not easy to lift, but it is possible.

While it is technically possible to remove the Westfalia rack, it is not what I would call easy. Certainly not a super simple task. That's why it is hinged.

One point is that the Westfalia rack with a full load of 60 KG is quite difficult to swing back to the lock position if you open the rear doors. The load on the brackets causes some distortion of the rack and it makes the locking of the pins quite tough. The same is true if the van is not super level and you get some twisting. The Westfalia rack is very strong though.