Carrying 2 bikes - Motorhome and Car Dolly

[angler]

Went through several pages of how to carry bikes, but was wondering if anyone has any revelations on this.

Nissan Altima is my toad being pulled by a Class A with a car dolly. From what I gathered from other forum post it is not recommended to put them between the car dolly and back of the motorhome. Ladder holders have some issues as well.

I have a trunk mounted bike rack that I use now when I travel locally, but getting ready to head south for a couple months and am a little nervous about having it back there for that distance.

I could also put them in the motorhome, but they would be in the way. Guess I don't know what I'm asking except if anyone carries their bikes on a trunk mount bike rack for long distances? Or options that I haven't thought of? Thank you

[willald]

I had same issue several years ago. Needed to carry 4 bikes, wanted to carry them on the toad so that could take bikes places didn't want to have to bring the motorhome. For a while, carried them on a hitch mounted receiver on back of the toad. Did not like it, though, for various reasons - no access to trunk, couldn't see them back there, and always afraid one good bump was gonna rip them off there or ding up the trunk (the latter actually happened). Soooo, ditched the hitch mounted bike rack, and went to a roof mounted rack on the toad. Works soooooo much better, love it. Wish would've gone that way from the get go. Yes, it's more $$, but you can frequently get a lot of the parts for a roof rack off of eBay or Craig's list for much cheaper. Thats what I did, and saved hundreds that way. Still using the roof rack today, highly, highly recommend this approach.

[Gjac]

I carry 3 bikes two in the basement storage areas and one in the trunk of the tow car. I have two pass thru storage bays one for a ladder, table, fishing rods and other long stuff and the other for bikes. I remove the front wheel and slide one in from both sides so the front forks are almost touching. For the tow car I also remove the front wheel and put it in the trunk. I also have a bike rack that I can put on the back of the tow car to transport bikes locally or on top of a mountain and my GS and I will coast down while my wife takes the car back down the mountain. I don't use the bike rack to travel with. The bikes stay much cleaner and out of the rain than storing them on the outside.

[zigzagrv]

We don't have bikes, but when we take grandkids along, we put their bikes in the motorhome. I simply drop the table in the dinette and secure them there.

[harley-dave]

We use a Swagman like this between our toad and the RV. Fits on the shank of the towbar and with the bikes lifted there are no space problems. Been using it for years. Have a 2" square iron tube for the rack when we are not towing. Also have used the rack on a regular hitch when we are towing a trailer.

Dave

[2chiefsRus]

on our last rig, back when we used a tow dolly, we tried to use a hitch mount on the back of the toad that we already had and used when we weren't traveling in the motorhome. Didn't allow for the slope of the toad on the dolly which made the bikes ride too low to the ground. Just something to consider.

[prepilot_3ck]

My wife and I have been doing this for years. We're both avid cyclists, she's a full-on triathlete. We had a DP with a toad on a dolly. We just covered them and used pool noodles so they wouldn't beat each other up. Worked pretty well for us.

We just bought a new RV that is a class-a toy hauler. Now we do fork mounts in the garage and all the gear hangs out back there. Nothing on the hitch other than the car now. This has been an amazing upgrade.

Brian

[Lwiddis]

“I could also put them in the motorhome, but they would be in the way.“

Quality bicycles are carried inside if there is any chance of rain.

[way2roll]

angler wrote:
Just didn't know If I'd have room between the car and the back of the motorhome and put two bikes between them. Also didn't know if the 10" drop hitch with the hitch extension would be ok.. Thank you for your input it looks like a good option

Our extender was a 0 drop for the car (no drop/straight) and a rise for the bike rack. Also we started with a dolly and then flat towed and the set up cleared both methods. The link I posted is for a straight for the car and a rise for the bike rack. But if you have a drop prior - not sure if that is an issue, depends on your setup. I mocked mine up with some 2x4's and some calculations before I bought what I needed.

[angler]

Just didn't know If I'd have room between the car and the back of the motorhome and put two bikes between them. Also didn't know if the 10" drop hitch with the hitch extension would be ok.. Thank you for your input it looks like a good option

[camperdave]

If you already use a truck mounted rack, I'd probably stick with that. Well installed, they work fine. Many many people use them every day.

If you've got $$ to spend, a roof rack on the Altima would be nice. Easier to use and less chance of damaging the bikes or car paint.

way2roll's method of using a dual receiver on the motorhome with a hitch rack sounds good too, as long as you can also use the rack on the toad so you can take the bikes with you in the car. Maybe this in conjunction with your current truck rack for local trips while camping would work well.

Since you're using a dolly, I don't think a toad mounted rear hitch rack would work while towing, seems like it'd hang too low. But if you have a receiver on the Altima you could at least move the receiver mounted rack to the toad once at a campsite.

[ThomBoles]

I have a dual receiver as shown by way2roll above. The bikes are on a Swagman rack as well. I have had no problems with them between the towed car and the RV for the 22K+ miles we have driven.

We flat-tow our car but I don't know why there would be any difference in the way it sits for a tow-dolly.

[FloridaRosebud]

What about a roof rack on the Toad?

Al

[enblethen]

You could install a small class II hitch on toad. Then use a standard bike rack.
We used a dual receiver for several years, then switched to class II hitch on last couple of toads.

[way2roll]

As an avid cyclist, my bikes (expensive) are important to me. I used a dual hitch receiver with a Swagman 2 bike rack and a cover. The bikes were between the MH and the toad and did just fine. Not sure why someone would say not to this. Ladder racks make me squeamish - I personally don't think ladders are designed to hold the bouncing weight of bikes and the bikes themselves can get beat up.

dual receiver

Bike rack

For the money that Swagman rack can't be beat. Super easy to use, doesn't scratch or damage the bikes, it' versatile and fast to load/unload. Been using that rack for 6 years now and it's still working fine.