Ideas to carry bikes

I'm trying these https://www.mount-n-lock.com/mnl-cargo-products/4square-safetystruts-prevent-bumper-failure one trip so far so good.

Hopefully these pics work, it's my first time to try to add pics.

I wanted the bikes above the bed rails so I could put coolers, firewood, chairs etc in the bed. I had a popup at the time, so cargo space was needed.

I took the fork mounts like others have used, and bolted them to 2 pieces of angle iron I bought at Home Depot. I have 2 bars going across, the fork mounts are on one, and the back tire on the other. On the ends of the angle iron I put a 6" piece of the angle perpendicular to the long piece, and I put some stick on rubber pads underneath it to protect the truck. I bought some truck box mounting hardware the grabs the underside of the bed rail, and clamps down the rack. I use small bungees to keep the back wheels from bouncing around.

In the pictures, I lowered the cross bars down into the lumber slots in the bed so that my kayaks would fit on top. I've got to make some extensions for the kayak racks to make the bikes fit better.

I'll try to get some better pics of the racks this week.

I utilize a rack on a front mounted hitch receiver and a stand I picked up for $7 at Goodwill in the bed of the truck. I used to have carefully load and unload the bikes in and out of the camper which took a good 15-20 minutes. With this system I can do it in under half the amount of time.

Here's how I solved the bike delima (from another thread):

Bikes on Truck Bed

I made a rack for the truck bed. Since the topper is too low, I replace the front wheel with a steel lawn mower wheel. With this rack, I can minimize the space that the bikes occupy.

I carry 3 bikes over the dining table. The Sunlite fork mount brackets were $16 ea. The front wheels store under the table.
It's important to me to keep the bikes out of the road grime when towing in bad weather. Also, the bikes weight is almost over the axles.

At the campsite, they get put away in this portable shed.

Campfire Time wrote:
We have mountain bikes. Why would I worry about getting them wet?

My bikes are MTB as well but it is not about getting them wet. Although, I wouldn't want to let a multi-pivot full suspension bike sit out in the rain either though. My deal is I don't want people eye-balling my bike for a 5 finger discount as it cost me a lot of money. I don't like leaving any of my bikes outside, unattended because of that. To each their own on what works for them. :)

mrbreeze az wrote:
These are some great ideas. I am leaning toward the pvc rack (if I can still fit the generator, grill, etc). My truck bed is only 5.5 feet long. I like the tongue mount except it appears to inhibit access to the propane tanks. I never considered transporting them inside the trailer but it seems to work well for some. Thanks for the solutions and pics. Keep them coming.

My setup with the Trailer tray does limit access to the propane tanks. You can still turn the tanks on and off, but to take them out and refill them, I need to remove 4 bolts and then take the top of the tray off. It is really a fairly simple procedure.

I do not believe an Arvika A frame mount limits access because the entire bike rack can be flipped up and moved out of the way.

RedRocket204 wrote:
Here is a very convenient and inventive solution... relatively low cost too.

Bike carrying solution....finally!

I did mine the same way except I mounted the bikes going parallel to the TT. Over 12k miles with four bikes on the dinette.

mrbreeze az wrote:
These are some great ideas. I am leaning toward the pvc rack (if I can still fit the generator, grill, etc). My truck bed is only 5.5 feet long.

My Silverado's bed was 5.5' long as well, an ideal length as that tensioned the tailgate when closed against the bike tires. That DIY plywood bike rack I illustrated earlier was the original version which I later cut in half in terms of width and modified to hold 3 bikes and still use today where it hangs on my garage wall to hold empty Aquatainers between camping trips.



At the time I was using the original version for hauling 4 bikes I also used it at the campsite to hold the bikes and back at home to store them in the garage.



So many uses, my only "cost" being some sweat equity to build it. :)