Bike rack on PUP roof experiences?

raising4daughters · 10-14-2015, 03:12 PM

The wife and I are getting tired of hauling our bikes on the roof of our TV (using our Yakima roof rack) when we haul our PUP.

I understand hitching the bikes to the rear bumper of the PUP is not a recommended option, though some do it.

We are leaning toward putting the bikes on the roof of our PUP. We usually haul two bikes and a third pull-behind/trail-a-bike. Probably about 75 lbs.

Has anyone done this and regretted it? I realize it involves drilling holes in the roof of the PUP, so I'd likely get a dealer with experience involved.

Thoughts appreciated.

jasoncw · 10-14-2015, 04:27 PM

When I was a kid, my Dad had a 4-bike rack on the roof of our old Viking PUP for years with no issues.

SilverEscape · 10-14-2015, 06:24 PM

We did it for 9 years. Perfect way to carry them and an easy way to adjust tongue weight if necessary! Slide the rails back or forward.

Extended set up time a bit as you had to remove bikes before raising the roof and then lock them up under the bed whereas they can be left in or on a TV until morning if you arrive really late.

We didn't have to drill any holes as our PUP came standard with roof rails. And we just added the Yakima cross bars that they made specifically for PUPs. Then you can add any roof top bike rack.

maromeo · 10-14-2015, 06:25 PM

When we had our PUP we used one of these to take our 3 bikes. No holes or drilling. We used extra bungee cords to really secure the bikes. We never had any issues.

ProRac Proformance Bike Rack | Tent Trailer Bike Rack |

We picked ours up on clearance from Camping World. Hope this helps.

raising4daughters · 10-15-2015, 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maromeo

When we had our PUP we used one of these to take our 3 bikes. No holes or drilling. We used extra bungee cords to really secure the bikes. We never had any issues.

ProRac Proformance Bike Rack | Tent Trailer Bike Rack |

We picked ours up on clearance from Camping World. Hope this helps.

Wow! ProRac looks to have exactly what we're looking for. I like the tongue mounted option, and I also like their roof-mounted option. Yakima (our current bike roof rack maker) doesn't have anything as well-geared to PUPs.

3'senough · 10-15-2015, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raising4daughters

Wow! ProRac looks to have exactly what we're looking for. I like the tongue mounted option, and I also like their roof-mounted option. Yakima (our current bike roof rack maker) doesn't have anything as well-geared to PUPs.

SIL has this exact setup and it works well. Only downside is that the bikes must be broken down and dismounted before they can raise the roof adding another step.

Make sure if you do this to add the bike pads to the roof or you might have the bikes moving a little. Extra straps and bungees are a must IMHO having mounted the bikes a few times.

The crossbar arm must come out too as it is just a little too high for there Starcraft bed to slde over.

DocBrown · 10-15-2015, 07:25 AM

Cargo bars are available that fit pop-up roofs. They bolt to the sides of the roof on the wood frame, not on top of the roof itself. Most manufacturers support this type cargo bars. Then a bike rack can be mounted on the bars.

We did this when we had a pop-up and it worked great. The idea that it "takes extra set up time" is a non-issue. It's 10 minutes at most to remove the bikes.

Hattie · 10-15-2015, 07:46 AM

Granted ... our tent-trailer is of an earlier generation (see signature) ... BUT avoid adding any holes. We belonged to a Coleman club and those who did drill into their unit seemed to all later experience leakage problems. Ours is still going strong!

3'senough · 10-15-2015, 08:17 AM

Starcraft has factory tracks that accept Yakima Control Tower bars. Since Jayco and Starcraft are owned by Jayco you might confirm with Jayco if this system is an option as well. If you have 2 white strips mounted to your roof that is most likely the same system and gives you another option.

The upside to the bars is that you can haul other stuff and you might have the bike racks already since you own a Yakima roof system already.

raising4daughters · 10-15-2015, 08:19 AM

The extra set-up/tear-down time is not a problem for us. In fact, we still anticipate a time savings.

Right now, it's a huge headache for us to put the bikes up onto the roof of our TrailBlazer. It was bad enough with the minivan, but at least the minivan had sliding doors which gave me a nice step up on each side for loading the bikes. The TB is higher up with swing-open doors and is much tougher to load.

Add in the fact that I'm 50 and had spinal fusion surgery 3 years ago, and I'm REALLY looking to get away from this effort. Loading them on the roof of the PUP seems like a MUCH easier job.

DustyGeek · 10-15-2015, 01:28 PM

We've had two popups over the years. One didn't have integrated roof tracks, and we used the ProRac shown above on that one. For the second, it did have integrated roof tracks, and we purchased some Thule feet and load bars to mount some existing Big Mouth carriers we already owned. Both worked very well.

As I see it, there's only two minor issues with the ProRac. 1) you need to remove the front wheel of the bike in order to mount it. Some bikes don't have quick releases (e.g., most young kid bikes). That may not be an issue for you. 2) You need to make sure the fork is locked down well before doing anything else, otherwise the bike can fall over and dent or puncture your roof. I had a pretty nasty pedal-sized dent from when I learned that lesson.

raising4daughters · 10-15-2015, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3'senough

Starcraft has factory tracks that accept Yakima Control Tower bars. Since Jayco and Starcraft are owned by Jayco you might confirm with Jayco if this system is an option as well. If you have 2 white strips mounted to your roof that is most likely the same system and gives you another option.

The upside to the bars is that you can haul other stuff and you might have the bike racks already since you own a Yakima roof system already.

I was very much hoping to re-use some of our Yakima system. I exchanged emails with Yakima, though, and they said their system for campers requires drilling into the roof. I got the impression from what you're saying that the StarCraft version does not.

Our 1007 does have white strips along the outer corners. Is that what you're referring to? Do the tracks grab onto these?

3'senough · 10-16-2015, 06:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raising4daughters

I was very much hoping to re-use some of our Yakima system. I exchanged emails with Yakima, though, and they said their system for campers requires drilling into the roof. I got the impression from what you're saying that the StarCraft version does not.

Our 1007 does have white strips along the outer corners. Is that what you're referring to? Do the tracks grab onto these?

https://assets.yakima.com/product/instructions/8000214

You will need to mount something like these within the tracks. Forgive me but I have not looked at my SIL tracks in a while since she got the A-frame mount one. Check that your tracks have a groove that will accept the mounts first then measure the distance between the two tracks before ordering the bars as they will need to span the roof. I doubt the bars you have currently will make it.

Here is the system I am talking about less the bars. Amazon.com : Yakima Control Tower Roof Rack Tower (Set of 4) : Sports & Outdoors

Depending on what you have already, you might be able to make it work in the tracks with some new hardware, or mounting kit.

raising4daughters · 10-16-2015, 10:29 AM

Thanks. Those are the Yakima control towers we used on our minivan and now use on our TrailBlazer.

We don't have rails on our PUP that would accept these. I misspoke above. There are metal pieces I guess I should call corner guards on the corners but no channel in them to accept the control towers. I'll try to get some pictures posted.

3'senough · 10-16-2015, 11:22 AM

No need, I know what you mean. I would go with the front mount then. No holes in the roof.

ddrueckh · 10-16-2015, 12:38 PM

We did it and it worked well. Just be sure to remove the bikes from the PUP roof before setting up the trailer

Don't ask me how I know this lol.

raising4daughters · 10-20-2015, 07:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ddrueckh

We did it and it worked well. Just be sure to remove the bikes from the PUP roof before setting up the trailer

Don't ask me how I know this lol.

Sounds like you made an "oops" at one point.

I once tried driving our minivan into our garage with 2 mountain bikes still attached to our roof rack. Results: dented aluminum siding, broken fork, broken Yakima gripper (thing that hold the fork), dented minivan roof.

My wife STILL reminds me about that any time she messes something up...."at least I didn't try to drive a van with bikes into our garage" is her best defense.

RoyBraddy · 10-20-2015, 11:33 AM

I like this bike rack idea if your POPUP trailer is like this one shown here... The bike wheels are sitting on the lid of the storage door here and supported from the tongue area... I just never liked to put anything on my starcraft fiberglass roof material. It might be easy to poke a hole in it...

Just keep in mind most of the rear tire mounts to the rear bumper are not well supported. They do sell nice bike racks for that as well...

Roy Ken

bankr63 · 10-24-2015, 08:53 AM

I had the SportRack setup mounted on our 1007. There are two cross rails mounted directly above the roof stiffeners aft of the trailer center (weight is aft of the axle). Four channel tracks hold the wheels, with an "A" brace that clamps to the frame of the bikes.

There are four holes into the roof right at the edge moldings. These were well sealed when installed and did not leak in 7 years of use, but like all holes in your roof, there is always an added risk.

They are not a heck of a lot easier to use than the roof mount on a vehicle. Access to the two outer racks was fine, but it is still a very long reach to the tiedowns and clamp on the two centre units. We keep a small two-step stool for this.

Also, the street side rail was hard to position in such a way that it did not interfere with the aft roof vent. We did have one trip where we could not open more than a quarter inch because I forgot to make room (and I wasn't dropping the top to fix
it).

The Sport Rack itself works, but the quality is not up to that of our other racking which is all Thule. Paint faded badly in the sun, and the plastic parts started to crack and degrade after a couple of years (carpe ductum).

IMO, considering your physical limitations, the tongue mount or a bumper system may make more sense.

For our new TT which is a hybrid, my roof option is gone. I am going with a bumper hitch mount, but have found on YouTube a good workaround to the main issue. As long as you are within the weight capacity of your bumper (most are around 200 lbs, should be in your manual) this should be workable. The problem with hitch mounts is not the weight, it is the levering effect that the rack places on the bumper, eventually twisting the bumper right off. The workaround is to weld or bolt through a couple of tiedown points on the frame rails near the back of the TT. Then run a tiedown strap from the top of the rack back to the frame rails and cinch tight. This should greatly reduce the levering effect from the rack setup. I think this would work well on the 1007, but the hitch mount would have to mounted slightly to one side to clear the spare tire mount. The way the camper base angles in at the back should give a pretty good angle for the tie downs.

ETA: just noticed in the picture below that all bikes are pointing forward. Later learned that you get better clearance by alternating the bikes forward and back, same as you would on a hitch carrier.

raising4daughters · 10-26-2015, 08:05 PM

Thanks so much for the picture and explanation of the setup for your 1007. The picture is worth a thousand words. As a condition of buying a camper, my DW insisted on it coming with an AC. I haven't done any measuring but I'm thinking, given the positioning you discussed and showed, that the AC may be in the way of the rails (or bikes).

Might be headed down the path of the tongue-mounted version after all.

Thanks!

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