Bike rack on a TT

What ever happened to common sense ???

hohenwald48 wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:

hohenwald48 wrote:
Gloom and doom. Thousands of folks have bike racks on the rear and travel hundreds of thousands of miles every year without incident. Stromberg Carlson even sells rear mount racks and some TT manufacturers sell them as an option.

Do a search and read thru the threads and you'll get lot's of different ideas for a rear mount carrier.

"Gloom and doom" until it HAPPENS TO YOU.

I HAVE "been there, done that" with a rear mounted bike rack..

I was LUCKY to have FOUND mine barely still attached when I reached the campground.. Had to scramble things around to carry the bikes home..

MY bikes will NEVER,EVER, EVER ride on a rear bumper bike rack again.

Some folks however were not so lucky and HAD had there bikes and bumper scatter on to the road.

Not EVERY bumper us built to handle the weight of a bike rack.. Some folks have been lucky, some have noticed that there is a problem and then try all kinds of "fixes" including drilling holes THOUGH the back of the trailer to mount closed eye bolts then strap the heck out of it.

But, Hey, I am sure YOU will be perfectly fine losing a few hundred dollars worth of bikes.. Just do be aware that most states WILL FINE you for improperly secured loads..

I know a truck driver who lost ONE 4x6x8 on a highway, by the time he was able to find a good place to turn around and get back to it.. TWO vehicles hit it, police were on the scene to greet him with a Citation..

Cost him a day of work to go to court for the hearing (more loss of money) and he was able to get the fine down to $350..

Had he not gone to court, the fine was $3500!

And a flimsy bike rack on the front can fall off too. I assumed anyone who mounts a rack knows it has to be mounted properly. I just didn't think it was necessary to state the obvious. But hey, I guess you didn't know that since yours fell off. There is nothing inherently bad about a rear mount rack. Unless you install it wrong of course.

You are really "reaching" there trying to "justify YOUR "opinion", thats for sure.. Just because YOU have not had a failure does not MEAN THAT IT DOESN'T OR WILL NEVER HAPPEN..

My bike rack was not "flimsy", in fact I built it from scratch.. The bike rack DID NOT FAIL.

The BUMPER IS WHAT FAILED, the bumper RIPPED AWAY FROM THE FRAME WELD.. This is the typical failure of a RV bumper.

IBcarguy wrote:
Thanks for the input...my new trailer has about a 4" square bumper that is welded to the frame. It all looks like heavy duty steel to me. I think it would take a lot more than a few bikes and a rack to tear it off the back of the trailer. So if I do it in the back, I don't know whether a bolt on 2" receiver would be okay or if I need a full brace receiver that is bolted to each frame rail of the trailer. Anybody mount a bike rack to the front of their VT?

Mine LOOKED securely welded and it WAS, in fact it ISN'T the "weld" that will fail, it is the BUMPER MATERIAL.

The STANDARD RV bumper is made from 14 ga SHEET METAL, it is simply bent into a square tube then welded.

14 ga sheet metal is about 1/16" thick..

Think of this way, your vehicle sheet metal is 18 ga..

You are basically putting a huge "lever" onto a square tube with 1/16" thick walls..

Then hanging a bike rack (30 lbs?) plus at least two bicycles (60 lbs?) then making things worse is the BOUNCE of the trailer magnifying the up and down motion of each bump (think about riding in the back of a school bus.. Those bumps would fling you right out of your seat)..

BEFORE EVER thinking about a bike rack on your bumper you NEED to measure the wall thickness of the bumper..

If you read 1/16" FORGET IT.. IF you are a lucky one you may have gotten a trailer with a upgraded bumper, that one will measure 1/8" walls.. MUCH more meat to weld into..

Even my current TT had 1/16" wall bumper, it was badly rusted so I replaced it with 1/8" wall square tubing.. I STILL will not ever put a bike rack there ever again.

I've had a very secure welded rear mount rack and I now have one of the front mount Arvika racks. If you have cheap bike and a sturdy rear rack, put them there. If you have decent bikes, you'll never want them on the back because of all the bounce.

No matter what price of bike, if you decide on a rear mount, only use a rack that the bike tires sit in a tray and can be strapped down and then with another anchor point at the upper frame. Anything else the bike will beat themselves to death.

WAY back when my trailer was still under warranty, I took it to factory for some work. While I was there, a fifth wheel pulled in with no bumper. Guess where his full bike rack was. The typical square bumpers are not very strong. Be aware.

hohenwald48 wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:

hohenwald48 wrote:
Gloom and doom. Thousands of folks have bike racks on the rear and travel hundreds of thousands of miles every year without incident. Stromberg Carlson even sells rear mount racks and some TT manufacturers sell them as an option.

Do a search and read thru the threads and you'll get lot's of different ideas for a rear mount carrier.

"Gloom and doom" until it HAPPENS TO YOU.

I HAVE "been there, done that" with a rear mounted bike rack..

I was LUCKY to have FOUND mine barely still attached when I reached the campground.. Had to scramble things around to carry the bikes home..

MY bikes will NEVER,EVER, EVER ride on a rear bumper bike rack again.

Some folks however were not so lucky and HAD had there bikes and bumper scatter on to the road.

Not EVERY bumper us built to handle the weight of a bike rack.. Some folks have been lucky, some have noticed that there is a problem and then try all kinds of "fixes" including drilling holes THOUGH the back of the trailer to mount closed eye bolts then strap the heck out of it.

But, Hey, I am sure YOU will be perfectly fine losing a few hundred dollars worth of bikes.. Just do be aware that most states WILL FINE you for improperly secured loads..

I know a truck driver who lost ONE 4x6x8 on a highway, by the time he was able to find a good place to turn around and get back to it.. TWO vehicles hit it, police were on the scene to greet him with a Citation..

Cost him a day of work to go to court for the hearing (more loss of money) and he was able to get the fine down to $350..

Had he not gone to court, the fine was $3500!

And a flimsy bike rack on the front can fall off too. I assumed anyone who mounts a rack knows it has to be mounted properly. I just didn't think it was necessary to state the obvious. But hey, I guess you didn't know that since yours fell off. There is nothing inherently bad about a rear mount rack. Unless you install it wrong of course.

While many successfully use rear racks. What is inherently wrong is that they are mounted behind the axles where there will be maximum bounce. A tongue mount rack does not bounce because of where its positioned well ahead of the axles.
The other issue with rear racks is that they can't be seen from the cab. Many have unknowingly arrived without their bikes simply because they were unaware the bikes were coming loose. There are also several post of bikes being dragged down the road by unaware drivers.
Tongue mounted racks due not have visual or securing issues.
In the end rear racks can work,however the end user is often not capable of determining if the rear bumper/rack is secure and or stable enough to handle the weight of the bikes.

On my old Jayco we had a clamp on receiver on our 4" square welded on bumper. The key is to have the right rack attached to the bumper and not overload the bumper, along with a well attached bumper. The typical rack has way to much movement and flexes the bumper. The only rack I would attach is the Swagman RV two bike rack. Zero bounce. Also two bikes is the limit, too much weight with any more.
As far as the bike cost comments go, a $149 bike is a chore to ride, and likely won't get used much. A $500 bike from a real bike shop is a pleasure to ride and will get used more often. Also a $500 bike will weigh a lot less and put less stress on the bumper while trailering.
Our current trailer has a receiver welded on to a reinforced bumper and then tied into the frame.

I have a 2013 Radiance by Viewfinder 22 ft. It has the 4" bumper and has a Factory BBQ rack and spare tire clamped to it. I put a single Sport Rack (they make dual) lenghtwise along bumper, works well, no bounce, but I do rotate handlebars so they won't hit trailer wall.

Well, I saw this set up a few years ago at the Indy RV show:




For what it's worth, I carried our bicycle for 2 from our Springdale bumper for 8 years. Never had a problem. I bungied it down so it would not wiggle.





Since then, my wife and I have pretty much given up the bicycle. I think we're just getting too old now. So on our current camper, it came with a re-inforced 1 and 1/2 inch receiver so I comfortably attached the same bumper bracket and now carry this. I had to do a little modification to keep it from rocking, but it works, and it's traveled thousands of miles now. Of course, the weight is not as much as 3 bicycles either.

I have heard of others having bumper failure on their trailers with too much weight from bicycles. If you take the time and have the bumper re-inforced or a receiver hitch installed, you might do well then. Check your welds. If they are spot welded, don't attach the bicycles. If they are solid welds, you might be able to.

Still.... over the tongue is really the best, if your tongue has room. My current camper does not.

$500.00 for a bike!!! It would ride in the passenger's seat instead of my DW.

If mounted on the back out of sight, I would secure it to be sure it did not torque back and forth.