Bike Rack?

[breick]

Any suggestions for a bike rack to take 4 bikes to FW? We have a pickup truck and a popup camper. I was thinking of the kind you attach to the roof of the camper... Or has anyone seen one the attaches to the stake holes on the truck box?

 

[twinscandc]

My DH and I have been debating this very issues for the past couple of weeks. We have a Ford Explorer and a Coleman Pop Up. We are not sure how we are going to get our bikes down there!! From what I have read, the racks that attach to the top of you camper are very expensive. The rack that is behind the truck might cause damage to the truck or camper when we turn.

Anyway, we have basically tried to think of every possible way.....we haven't decided on anything!!

Please, if any of you out there have a suggestion...I would also like to hear it!!

 

[sltrawick]

We have a rack that goes on top of the popup. We shopped around for them (Camping World, etc) and found them to be cheaply made and expensive.

We had a welder friend of ours make one for us for less then $75.00. It holds 4 bikes. Love it. We get alot of compliements on it.

 

[breick]

Digital pictures or a description, please?

What Coleman recommends is expensive. I have seen homemade PVC ones and wondered if they were sturdy enough. I'm afraid if we put one on the hitch between the truck and trailer we'll increase sway and towing problems. Same thing for on the back of the popup. So, we're limited to the top of the popup near the front, or something the will fit in the stake holes of the truck box and ride above the tonneau cover.....Any creative ideas out there?

 

[sltrawick]

I'll try this weekend to get out and take a digital picture of it for you. It's not heavy but it does take 2 people to put it on top of the camper. It's just a bit awkward.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

We solved the bike problem by getting folding bikes. They were about 150 bucks each on line from a company called Dahon, but it sure is more convenient and a lot easier to load than regular bikes on a rack.

 

[leprechaun]

We have a slide-on truck camper and it was very difficult to take our four bikes with us. We used to put two on a rack hanging on the ladder that is attached to the camper and put the other two inside. That was a bummer! So we bought a front mount trailer hitch and a four bike rack, mounted the hitch under the front end of the truck and no more trouble

 

[YellowXterra]

I use a rack that fits between my pop up and van, along with the rack I use a Reese Mini 350 WDH to keep the van level and it has built in sway control and no towing problems at all. Here is a link to a photo http://www.tpuc.com/images/reesehitch.jpg

 

[christinou]

Where did you find that rack, or did you have it built, that looks great.

 

[cass65]

I basically made a 2" hitch under my popup to use a 5 place bike rack.
If your trailer has the rear axle farther to the back of the frame, and you load and put more weight in the front to balance out the load this works Great!
I have had lots of people ask me to build them one.
Good Luck!

 

[YellowXterra]

I had the bike rack that fit my 2 inch reciver and I had the Reese Mini 350 WDH I just welded the bike rack to the reece reviver tube and now I can use both at the same time and I have no rear end sag thanks to the WDH.

 

[tim5055]

Sorry I'm a little late on this one.

How about carrying the bikes on the front of the truck. I had never really thought this through until I say a pick up with a rack on the front last weekend.

I talked to the folks and they are happy with how it works out for them. They installed a Class III receiver on the front (yes, they are availavble for the front for many vehicles) and then purchased a flat carrier to place the bikes on. They did this to allow them to use the rack to carry other stuff when the bikes didn't come along. If you didn't want that option you could purchase any 2" Class III receiver bike rack to go on front.

I took a couple of pictures and put them on the bottom of my Bike Rack Web Page

Hope this helps

 

[Shakey]

We went with the pop-up roof top configuration. SportRack offers a pop-up cross bar and individual rack mounts for bicycles, canoes and kayaks. They are not as expensive as Yakima or Thule (about $ 140 Cdn for the X-bars and $ 40 Cdn for the racks) and do the same job.

They install very easily, a one-afternoon DIY project. Checkout my website for some pics. We did a trip in 2001 with the racks (1800 km each way) with no problems.

Shakey's Pop-Up Campsite