Bikes falling off rear

[klassic]

Who has had a bike fall off from the back of their rig while driving?
My buddy was following a 5vr on the hiway and noticed the little kids bike starting to bounce around, so he backed off. Just then the bike came off and bounced on the tires up higher then the rig on its first bounce... creating havoc. No one was hurt.
Took him 3 miles to finally get the attention of the driver and told him.

I have always had my bikes on a pinbox mounted bike rack...my new rig (that's on order) won't have the room for the rack on the pinbox and I'm going to have to put the bike rack in the factory mounted receiver at the back.

I guess ratchet strap the bikes to the bike rack??
Any pointers...I'm not liking the idea of not being able to see them.

[jjj]

i use to carry my bikes on my old fiver on the back using a rec. hitch and I had the bike rack fail. My brother was driving behind me and the rack started to bend toward the ground and we caught it just before the bikes hit the freeway. I now carry them on a front hitch which is seen in my signature. I have had no problems with them up front. It took a little getting use to them up there but it is all good now.

[diftw]

Anyone using a bike rack that attached to the front of the truck?

[ScottG]

It didn't drag them down the road but I had my bikes tear the bumper to the point it was hanging out at a 45 degree angle from the back of the TT.

[BB_TX]

Haven't seen any fall off. But have seen some bouncing so violently I wondered how the rack kept from breaking.

[Dakota98]

DW rides her's along side the TV in transit..... Yes, there are frequent stops, but she's lost a lot of weight & is down to 300# now. :B

PS.. Don't tell her I posted this. :W

[rekoj71]

My parents, and several others that I have heard of, have had them fall off of the ladder racks usually with damage to the ladder, but the hitch mounted racks seem to do better. Just remember that the bouncing (as stated earlier) is huge, and the bike racks that have some kind of locking straps for the bikes are usually plastic, so good, extra strapping is a must on the back of any RV. My rack is also strapped from side to side to limit wobbling as there seems to be a lot of play in most of these hitch mounted racks.

[goducks10]

I made two receiver type brackets that are attached to the bumper. One is attached right where the bumper meets the frame and the other about 3+' away. They're clamped on with square U-bolts and also an 1-1/2" weld along the underside of the bracket.
I then fabed up a rack that slides into the two receiver brackets. It is held in place with two pins and also a top bolt to keep it from moving up and down.

I mounted two fork bike holders on opposite ends of the rack as well as an upright post each bike for that has the typical bike rubber strap holder.

I place the two bikes on facing opposite directions, forks clamped, frames rubber strapped and then set the two front dismounted tires in between the bikes. I then run a cable lock around all that and the ladder on the back of the 5er.

There's absolutely no way the bikes are coming off. They've been on the back of my 5er for going on 3 season and well over 11,000 miles. Plenty of rough roads as well.

They can't wiggle or bounce around. It's all in the way you have them secured.

[K_Charles]

I worked with a guy years ago that lost a bike rack and 3 bikes fall off his car while he was pulling a pop-up. He said the pop-up flew up in the air and when he looked in the mirror he saw stuff in the road and never stopped. He liked to do fellow shots at work, they fired him.

[RVman3252]

I've hauled mime & my wife's on the back for 15+ years and thousands of thousands of miles.... Not one time have we had a problem... It is on a good name bike rack, inserted in the trailer hitch... strapped with the racks steel covered hooks, and two ratchet straps with a cover & spider-bungee so there is no blowing of the cover...

[azrving]

The main problem that I see is that the bikes are not usually too heavy but are bouncing. The constant bouncing is sure to fatigue the bumper or holder sooner or later. I carry mine with a hitch carrier but I have bungees pulling them toward the rig. I used stainless hardware fastened through a wall stud and 3/4 inch blocking inside a rear cabinet.

[Toddupton]

I mount mine inside to my dinette seats. Too many stories of bike falling off or bumper bending etc.