Bike racks in the rear

[LIGirlatheart]

Can anyone advise a good rack that will hold our bikes securely for long distance travel? We have one but it seems that its not the best. Traveling the east coast and thru NY & PA where the winter pot hots are still there from 2017. Has anyone carried their bikes inside or under the box of the truck bed?

[rhagfo]

Puddles wrote:
fhagfo...

Do you travel with the bikes covered? I had a heavy cover made from boat cover material... with the bikes mounted the same way as your pics... after about 4 trips the wind had punched a pedal thru and tore most of the tie down grommets out.

Looking at the advertising, the Baleaf cover appears to be much lighter made. Thanks...

It is a light material but is fine so far.

[2012Coleman]

Michelle.S wrote:
If you have a "Good" 2" Receiver hitch you can mount a good bike rack there. We have a Swagman 2 Bike rack that has made several trips from Western New York to Central Florida and back. Once mounted properly the bikes are rock solid.

X2. I have a 2" receiver on the back of my fiver, and picked up a used Yamika bike rack on Craigslist. It has rubber straps to hold the bikes on, but I use a nylon tie down cord to wrap around the arms and the bike frames.

A comment made earlier about not carrying expensive bikes back there is in the weeds as my high end mountain bike rides very nicely.

I also use a Allen Sports Tension Bar Bicycle Cross-Bar Adaptor that Creates a top tube for non-conventional frames - which I need on 3 of my bikes.

[Puddles]

fhagfo...

Do you travel with the bikes covered? I had a heavy cover made from boat cover material... with the bikes mounted the same way as your pics... after about 4 trips the wind had punched a pedal thru and tore most of the tie down grommets out.

Looking at the advertising, the Baleaf cover appears to be much lighter made. Thanks...

[rhagfo]

IAMICHABOD wrote:

rhagfo wrote:

Dave H M wrote:

IAMICHABOD wrote:
One of the things is the rocking and the damage it can do when the bike carrier is mounted in a RECEIVER .
You need a good anti rattle device so you don't get so much play in the receiver,thus magnifying the movement and doing more damage to the bike carrier.

I have tried almost every Anti Rattle device on the market, most have been no good or so complicated and cumbersome that they are useless. Including the Roadmaster type,totally useless.
Until I found the one at Hitch Rider.

Their Hitch Vice is the best and easiest one I have come across and it really works.

I have one of those to take all the slop out of the hitch for the rack. I messed around for quite some time before stumbling onto that device. It is the cat's meow.

If you buy a quality bike rack it will have a bolt rather than a pin to attach to the receiver. Our Swagman XC2 has a bolt that pulls the rack tight to the side of the receiver, with a pin to prevent it from backing out if you ignore it for years.

I do have a quality Swagman bike rack with the bolt,no matter how tight that you get it you will still have some slop,the Hitch Vice does eliminate all movement.

Well I never see movement on ours as being on the pin box within sight at all times.

We keep them covered with a Baleaf bike cover.

[azjeffh]

Have almost 3 years on the road and 15K miles with my Thule T2.

[IAMICHABOD]

rhagfo wrote:

Dave H M wrote:

IAMICHABOD wrote:
One of the things is the rocking and the damage it can do when the bike carrier is mounted in a RECEIVER .
You need a good anti rattle device so you don't get so much play in the receiver,thus magnifying the movement and doing more damage to the bike carrier.

I have tried almost every Anti Rattle device on the market, most have been no good or so complicated and cumbersome that they are useless. Including the Roadmaster type,totally useless.
Until I found the one at Hitch Rider.

Their Hitch Vice is the best and easiest one I have come across and it really works.

I have one of those to take all the slop out of the hitch for the rack. I messed around for quite some time before stumbling onto that device. It is the cat's meow.

If you buy a quality bike rack it will have a bolt rather than a pin to attach to the receiver. Our Swagman XC2 has a bolt that pulls the rack tight to the side of the receiver, with a pin to prevent it from backing out if you ignore it for years.

I do have a quality Swagman bike rack with the bolt,no matter how tight that you get it you will still have some slop,the Hitch Vice does eliminate all movement.

[hotpepperkid]

Camper4871 wrote:
I was behind a 5th wheel Monday with one of those mini golf carts on a rack.
I followed for several miles and it was very stable. I really wanted to flag him down so I could examine it!! Looked like it was mounted by way of 2 2' receivers, one close to each end and mounted to the frame. If anybody knows a model or manufacturer for such, I would love to know. The mini golf carts weigh about 300 pounds.

I did exactly that. Removed the stablelizer jacks, welded 2" receiver material to the frame. Rewelded the stablizers to the receiver stock and build a rack to fit. Carried my gen and large cooler on it for years

[Puddles]

RollandB wrote:
Russ, we joined the “bikes up front” the end of summer. Which cover are you using?

Ditto this question... had a cover custom made... by third trip, a peddle had punched thru the cover... like hauling the bikes in that location, but lots of wind pressure up there.

[RollandB]

Russ, we joined the “bikes up front” the end of summer. Which cover are you using?

[rhagfo]

Dave H M wrote:

IAMICHABOD wrote:
One of the things is the rocking and the damage it can do when the bike carrier is mounted in a RECEIVER .
You need a good anti rattle device so you don't get so much play in the receiver,thus magnifying the movement and doing more damage to the bike carrier.

I have tried almost every Anti Rattle device on the market, most have been no good or so complicated and cumbersome that they are useless. Including the Roadmaster type,totally useless.
Until I found the one at Hitch Rider.

Their Hitch Vice is the best and easiest one I have come across and it really works.

I have one of those to take all the slop out of the hitch for the rack. I messed around for quite some time before stumbling onto that device. It is the cat's meow.

If you buy a quality bike rack it will have a bolt rather than a pin to attach to the receiver. Our Swagman XC2 has a bolt that pulls the rack tight to the side of the receiver, with a pin to prevent it from backing out if you ignore it for years.

Swagman XC-2 bike rack

Swagman XTC-4 4 bike rack

It also amazes me that people can't grab the concept of carrying bikes on the front of a 5er attached to the pinbox. Never a worry about if they are beating themselves to death, or even back there, you have them in your view. I have a cover on ours and it stays in place with a few bungee cords.



This is our unit with bike rack on 5er and cover in place on the Oregon Coast.

[irishtom29]

Lwiddis wrote:
Good quality bicycles are never carried on the back of an RV.

They’re not? You’re misinformed, I see it often.

[RVman3252]

I use a Swagman, 2 Bike Rack on the back of our 5th Wheel. I have a 2" Receiver on the back, and just slide the Bike Rack in. I normally put a cover over them and add ratchet straps and bungee cords to keep the air from tearing up the cover. I have been doing this for well over 20 years and have never had the 1st problem.

[Camper4871]

I was behind a 5th wheel Monday with one of those mini golf carts on a rack.
I followed for several miles and it was very stable. I really wanted to flag him down so I could examine it!! Looked like it was mounted by way of 2 2' receivers, one close to each end and mounted to the frame. If anybody knows a model or manufacturer for such, I would love to know. The mini golf carts weigh about 300 pounds.

[Thermoguy]

I have a good 2" receiver on the back of our 5th wheel. Attached to the frame not the bumper. I looked at putting a hitch on the front of the truck but found this Yakima rack designed for the back of trailers. It does not fold down for SUV's so it is solid. It also has a locking nut that I can tighten so no bouncing over bumps.

Here is a link to Amazon for the Yakima bike rack.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N4RV9IB/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The only problem is I can't put 4 mountain bikes on it. My sons bike does not have a straight cross bar so his takes up more space. I can easily get our 3 bikes on it and have safety straps just in case.