Jayco Journey Standard Drawbar

The question behind every caravan bike rack ball weight conversation is the one Quentin lived with for months: why does the van tow so badly with the bikes on? His 3.1 tonne Jayco Journey behind a well set up Nissan Patrol Y62 see-sawed over every bump with a vertical shuttle rack and four bikes on a drawbar bracket, sitting at or over maximum ball weight with the tanks full. Weight distribution bars helped, but never fixed it, and the bracket was notching damage into the drawbar arms.

The iSi replacement, an Extended Four Bike Rack Assembly on a bolt on H-Mount with StrongArm Support Post, measured just 18kg lighter overall, yet took 40kg off the tow ball. That asymmetry is the whole engineering story. Total weight matters far less than where the centre of mass sits: the iSi system positions the loaded carrier’s mass low and back towards the axle, close to the caravan’s roll centre, so the axle absorbs the lateral loads instead of the tow point steering the rear of the car around. The same system is manufactured for other models across our Jayco bike racks range.

A vertical shuttle rack does the opposite. It stacks bikes above head height right at the tow point, and its inherently low rigidity lets the load move out of phase with the trailer, amplifying every input and preventing modern vehicle and caravan stability control systems from working as designed. The rigid iSi assembly, tuned to the deflection of the Jayco drawbar arms, keeps the load in phase so VSC and ESC function properly, and ends the drawbar notching for good.

Quentin’s road test says the rest: towing without the weight distribution bars, he finally didn’t know the van was behind him. The system also loads faster, clears better, and articulates further when reversing into tight camp sites, and a PBC-H vehicle mount system moves the same carrier to the Patrol between trips.

Every iSi system is manufactured in Mitcham, Victoria, as they have been since 2007, from Australian mild steel and stainless steel, zinc primed and finished in textured Dulux powder coat, with a lifetime warranty plus the BuyBack and Refresh programs for when the van or the fleet changes. If your van tows badly with bikes aboard, start with our caravan bike racks, or the pre-configured vehicle carriers for the tow vehicle.

The same rack can be configured and purchased online through our Jayco rack configurator, with every current model listed.

Configure your Jayco bike rack