I'm looking for suggestions for how to carry 2 adult bicycles with our 5er. What has worked for you? Pictures will help, please.

We have the Swagman Hitch mounted 2 bike carrier on the back of the FW. Have had it for several years and very pleased with it.

I used to remove the front wheels and lay two flat in front of the hitch. Got tired of doing that and made a simple pin box mount to carry them.Holds at least 3 26" bikes. Plenty of cab clearance. Have not tried for 4 yet.Did not like the bouncing I had seen with the ones on the rear.

2-MTnesters, have you had any issues with the bikes rubbing or bouncing into the back of the 5er? Do you secure the bikes and/or the rack with anything?BB_TX, I would assume you load the bikes before hitching, correct? What sort of bike rack do you have? How does your "receiver" attach to the pin box? I have a Reese 5th Airborne pin box, and I'm not sure I would be able to mount anything on it.Thank you both for your replies.

I have a front hitch on the truck and they go there

RnTBnB I have never had any problems that you mentioned while carrying the bikes. I did have to use this adapter since the hitch on the FW is 1 1/4" and the bike rack is 2". The hooked parts that clamps down on the bikes are padded with rubber but I wrap a piece of leather around the bike tubing where the rack tightens down on the bike as extra protection. The bikes are 21 speeds and the cables for the gears and rear brakes are exposed in that area and the leather goes under the cables. This keeps the cables form scratching the paint on the tubing. The bike rack is easily removed if you don't want to take the bikes and there are areas for you to lock each bike individually on the rack. Also if you would be concerned with the bikes getting dirty while traveling you can use This cover to protect the bikes.

Carrying bikes with a 5er | Good Sam Community

mr__ed
Explorer
Jan 21, 2014
I actually carry my bike INSIDE my truck. It just barely fits in front of the back seat. I have to loosen the handlebar and position it in parallel with the frame, but that only means loosening one bolt. I also remove the two pedals to make the fit easier. It's really not that much effort. Of course, this only works with one bike.

A side benefit of doing this is the bike is out of the weather when I travel.
Roads_Less_Trav
Explorer II
Jan 21, 2014
We had a Swagman but found it destroyed the top tubes on our bikes and was very slow for mounting/dismounting the bikes.

Now we have Kuat NV Bike Rack and love it. Lots of pics on the review I wrote here:

Kuat NV Bike Rack on our fifth wheel
RVman3252
Explorer
Jan 21, 2014
Duramax1 wrote:
lillyputz wrote:
2-MTnesters wrote:
We have the Swagman Hitch mounted 2 bike carrier on the back of the FW. Have had it for several years and very pleased with it.

X2

Lillyputz

Same story for me

We use the same... We normally use the cover if we are traveling over 2 days .
Duramax1
Explorer
Jan 21, 2014
lillyputz wrote:
2-MTnesters wrote:
We have the Swagman Hitch mounted 2 bike carrier on the back of the FW. Have had it for several years and very pleased with it.

X2

Lillyputz

Same story for me
PFitt
Explorer
Jan 21, 2014
Built rear hitch, then made kayak racks then plug in bike rack.Works Great
owenssailor
Explorer
Jan 21, 2014
JesLookin wrote:
n7bsn wrote:
I have a front hitch on the truck and they go there

Us also

We do the same when towing our TT. We use a Swagman rack. Has worked great for thousands of miles.
Winged_One
Explorer
Jan 21, 2014
I am lazy, so I got one of these:

Swagman

It is literally a 2 minute job to put on or take off the bikes. Slick.

Tried one of the cheap ladder racks. Hard to tie down and keep from moving.
nremtp143
Explorer
Jan 21, 2014
Here is the way we carry ours.

Do a search on this forum and the DIY forum and you can get several different ideas.

Monty
Deb_and_Ed_M
Explorer II
Jan 20, 2014
I just bought a 2" to 1-1/4" hitch-opening reducer made of steel, because the plastic spacer on my Bell bike rack was wearing and allowing WAY too much slop in the rack. But I'm still going to tie a rope from the bike rack to the spare tire just to stabilize things a bit at the back of the 5er.

I WISH I had that Swagman platform rack!
Specularius
Explorer
Jan 20, 2014
A pin box receiver is the way to go. The bikes do not move at all and stay clean.