How do you carry your bikes?

[mesuezee]

Right now we have 3 bikes but willl have 4- 2 adult, 2 children. What kind of carrier do you use? We have a ladder in the back and I might strap them into that until we get a carrier. any suggestions??

[bigbird]

Finding a place to store bikes seems to be quite a dilemma. We have a jayfeather which does not support a rear bumper hitch or is it recommended on the rear of our light weight frame. If you tell us your model you might have some suggestions from others. We store one bike in the bed of the truck and one next to our queen bed.

[Heady]

We store ours in the back of the truck too. My Tundra has an accessory rail and we got the adapters to fit the front fork of the bike on to. Works well.

[FPM III]

We have two folding 20" Dahon bikes that are kept in the bed of the truck. I made the rack (shown below) out of PVC pipe to hold them. The hollow bicycle seat post slides over the pipe perfectly and requires no additional hardware to keep them attached to the rack. They can put on or taken off on in seconds.

Attachment 10085
Attachment 10086

[owenssailor]

We had a hitch receiver installed on the front of the truck and carry the bikes on a bike rack mounted there.

This arrangement has worked very well.

[Eckman]

I built a pvc bike rack that holds 5 bikes for about 35 bucks. It goes right in the bed of the truck or I can put it in the garage. Bikes stand upright without removing the front wheel. Just search the Internet for pvc truck bike rack. Good luck.

[mach8274]

I also carry mine out front. Works very well and saves room in the bed of the truck. I like to be able ta carry everything and still have my bed cover on. Here are a few pics...
[ATTACH][/ATTACH][ATTACH][/ATTACH][ATTACH][/ATTACH]

[usmc616]

When we ordered our new TT we ordered the slide out bike tray. If the bike tray was not an option I would have had a receiver hitch welded to the TT frame or ordered one of those over the propane tank mounted bike racks.

[bbrown]

With a Fiver, the bed of the truck isn't really an option for our bikes. I purchased a bolt-on hitch reicever for the back bumper of the RV from etrailer and use it to mount a bike rack as well as other things. I've got a tail-gating table that goes in the receiver and I'm eventually going to build my own clothes drying rack for the receiver and a cargo carrier. If you have the back access ladder, etrailer has a bike rack that mounts on the ladder itself. For me, the bolt on receiver is the way to go...no drilling or welding and it is very versatile for mounting what ever fits a standard 2" receiver hitch.

[Donedroolin]

Don't put all those bikes on your ladder.Thats allot of wieght bouncing down the road would not be good. You could also damage your roof if the ladder starts to pull away from camper. I also odered my trailer with the built in bike rack that slides out. I would look to see if that is an option for your trailer. Or I would mount the reciever to the front of the truck. The rear bumper of a travel trailer is not made to support all that wieght. If you do mount somthing to the bumper I would look into having it also welded to the frame for more support.

[Old Blue]

This is how we carry our bike only this time it has grandsons bikes

[ckdixon]

I ordered the Swagman RV 2" (bolt-on) Bumper Adaptor and Swagman XC Cross-Country 2-Bike Hitch Mount Rack from Amazon. The bikes ride very stable and secure on this. The additional smaller bikes could be carried in the bed of the truck or in the camper if you choose (wrap them up in a tarp or old blanket). You should only use this Swagman system if your bumper has a continuously welded seam along it. The rear bumpers are only rated for 100 pounds, so if you have a spare tire mounted on it already, that will need to be moved elsewhere, perhaps to the bed of the truck. I also would recommend AGAINST hanging them on the ladder (you could lose both the ladder and the bikes, not to mention the consequences if the bikes hit a vehicle behind you).

[EnricoG]

We put them in the back of the truck

[dmax_83]

I use a Swagman rack designed for rv bumpers, it is a receiver rack that is installed in a rear hitch receiver that I had fabricated at a local weld shop. The bikes are very secure and the rack is designed to handle the abuse.

[NewBlackDak]

http://www.globalindustrial.com/g/ou...-bike-carriers

[bbrown]

Originally Posted by Donedroolin

Don't put all those bikes on your ladder.Thats allot of wieght bouncing down the road would not be good. You could also damage your roof if the ladder starts to pull away from camper. I also odered my trailer with the built in bike rack that slides out. I would look to see if that is an option for your trailer. Or I would mount the reciever to the front of the truck. The rear bumper of a travel trailer is not made to support all that wieght. If you do mount somthing to the bumper I would look into having it also welded to the frame for more support.

It depends on the bumper...mine is the 4 inch square tube bumper that is welded to the frame. It's pretty solid. Just make sure your bumper is adequately strong and welded to the trailer frame before considering what I did. I agree with Donedroolin on the ladder bike mount...I wouldn't put that bouncing weight on it. Just saying, they do make racks for ladders. Then again, the ladder does support a person climbing on it...it has to be pretty tough.

[Fil564]

I had a couple gussets added to the underside of my bumper to reinforce it and use the Swagman XC 2 RV, went all the way to Maine and back and no problems.

[3'senough]

Originally Posted by ckdixon

I ordered the Swagman RV 2" (bolt-on) Bumper Adaptor and Swagman XC Cross-Country 2-Bike Hitch Mount Rack from Amazon. The bikes ride very stable and secure on this. The additional smaller bikes could be carried in the bed of the truck or in the camper if you choose (wrap them up in a tarp or old blanket). You should only use this Swagman system if your bumper has a continuously welded seam along it. The rear bumpers are only rated for 100 pounds, so if you have a spare tire mounted on it already, that will need to be moved elsewhere, perhaps to the bed of the truck. I also would recommend AGAINST hanging them on the ladder (you could lose both the ladder and the bikes, not to mention the consequences if the bikes hit a vehicle behind you).

You are a brave lad. I have seen those bumpers tear off and drag the bikes down the highway. The metal is only 1/16 of an inch thick and the torque your bouncing bikes put on it may eventually lead to failure and one that you won't see until it's too late.

A front receiver would be a better option.

Just based on my observations of failures in this case. Not the aluminum bumpers either, it was a Jayco in one case!

[LiftedAWDAstro]

You definitely need to be careful of the rear bumpers. I installed a receiver hitch to the bumper but added a support arm back to the next crossmember due to the amount of flex in the bumper. It was flexing enough that the end caps would work their way out.



The best place for bikes is in the truck bed or out front...I just added a hitch to the front of my Tundra.

[Kohout Street]

Originally Posted by mesuezee

Right now we have 3 bikes but willl have 4- 2 adult, 2 children. What kind of carrier do you use? We have a ladder in the back and I might strap them into that until we get a carrier. any suggestions??

I've got a White Hawk 31DSLB and added a hitch to the bumper to hold 4. I needed to take more bikes one time so I put the rest in the back bedroom. After that I realized that I can fit 5 bikes back there, two 24" and three 26" adult.