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Old 12-29-2014, 11:56 AM   #1
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Hauling Bicycles on the front of a pickup

I am thinking of putting a hitch on the front of my truck so I can put a bike rack on the front and haul them up there. My box is always full of other supplies and the my 23J bounces so bad I think they will get beat up on the back of the trailer. I will have 4 bikes.

I am wondering what others have found when hauling them on the front of the truck vs on the back of the camper.
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Old 01-01-2015, 07:10 PM   #2
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I put mine on the ladder of the trailer. This keeps the weight off the truck; puts some weight on back of trailer, which lightens load on the tongue and I would think anything on the front of the truck would pick up a lot of bugs and road stuff.
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Old 01-01-2015, 08:03 PM   #3
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I have not mounted bikes on the front but it's a good alternative. You might want to cover the bikes to keep them from getting covered with squashed bugs.
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Old 01-01-2015, 08:42 PM   #4
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Just thinking--What about the air flow to the Radiator
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Old 01-01-2015, 08:56 PM   #5
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You don't have a tag line, so I don't know what type of TT you have, but we put 4 bikes inside ours when traveling. We secure them between blankets and tie them down with bungee cords. This is my personal opinion, but to me attaching anything to the front of my vehicle while going 60mph down the road is not a good thing to do.
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Old 01-02-2015, 09:00 AM   #6
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Bikes on the front is a bad idea all around.. the bikes get all kinds of crap thrown up on them from the vehicle in front, bugs etc. Not to mention the impeded air flow through the radiator, and since your towing air flow is important.
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Old 01-02-2015, 09:11 AM   #7
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If bikes on the front are impeding that much airflow, you have another issue.

We never wanted to put the bikes on the front for most of the reasons Sean mentioned, road crap, bugs, etc getting smashed on the bikes. I don't know about others, but our bikes were not expensive as far as good bikes go, but they are not Wal-Mart specials either. I want them to last.

When we had SUVs we carried the bike inside the trailer. One time they inadvertently shifted and scratched up our fridge door. Now that we have a PU, they go in the bed.

Personally I would find a way to rearrange your bed and carry them in there.
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Old 01-02-2015, 09:37 AM   #8
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I have done it for years with 2 different trucks. Airflow has never been a problem even with my big block in summer pulling 10K. The problem is sight. Seeing over and around the bikes. The rear rack is what I ended up with.
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Old 01-02-2015, 10:04 AM   #9
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I pulled with two bikes mounted on the front of my TV for several years when our kids were young and travelled with us and never had any problems. I also never noticed too many bugs being smashed on them.
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Old 01-02-2015, 10:18 AM   #10
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I have a mount on the front and have carried up to four; however, I now limit it to two. A mount that holds the bikes lower would be better than the Thule mount I use. Remember when on the front, the wind pushes the bikes back. Not a big deal but important to remember when you strap them down. Of course this works best for day time travel!






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Old 01-02-2015, 12:01 PM   #11
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ID:	16339 I have carried bikes in Truck bed and on front of truck but this is what I do now and works great
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Old 01-02-2015, 12:37 PM   #12
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I put a front hitch on truck last year and got a rack; I did this specifically to carry the bicycles on the front of the truck. Installing the hitch was not hard and setting everything up was easy. It all worked very well indeed.

However, I lost around 1 mpg on average. I don't know whether this is unique to my truck and truck/trailer, or what the deal is. I did test runs pulling the trailer and without the trailer. Test runs of hundreds of miles on separate trips. This may be unique to me, but that is my experience.

Bicycles are going back inside the trailer.
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Old 01-02-2015, 10:40 PM   #13
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We have been carrying our bikes on the front of the truck for 4 years. This arrangement has worked very well. Our current setup uses a Swagman bike rack that carries the bikes on their wheels. This way they do not shift and the different frame styles do not cause and issue. The first year we had a rack that hung the bikes from their crossbar. This was a pain sine the bikes kept shifting with the wind and my wife's bike had the one wheel close to the ground. The Swagman solved both those issues.

I have not had any indication of airflow problems.

We have used this on trips to Atlantic Coast, Florida, Pacific Coast and now in TX near New Mexico border. Many miles
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Old 01-03-2015, 08:09 AM   #14
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Thanks for all the replys, I have a Jayco 23J Hybrid for a trailer and tow it with a F150. I could mount a hitch to the frame and haul them on the back of the trailer. My only concern is that it bounces so bad that everything in the cupboards is in dissaray when we get to a campground. I would think the bikes would bounce just as bad. I have an equalizer WDH that was set up properly at the RV Dealership and don't drive over 60MPH. So that is not an issue. Has anyone put a bike rack on the back of a 23B or 23J? What has been your experience?
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