Thread: bike carrier
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Old 08-03-2009, 07:10 PM   #9
Art-n-Marge
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Murrieta
Posts: 5,816
M.O.C. #9257
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Like Thule, Yakima also sells bike racks that mount on the roof of the cab and can hold 2, 3, 4 or even 5 bikes (if you pack them in tight enough). But it might be inconvenient to reach up that high. Here is another way and a link that sells a 2 or 3 bike carrier mounted to the 5er front hitch - http://toppoprails.com/. In all these cases, they can be a significant investment. Expect to spend several hundreds of dollars by the time you have all the equipment to carry your bikes, but IMO these are the hardiest systems around.

There are MANY bad luck stories for mounting bikes on the ladder rack. No matter how firmly you attach them to your ladder, that first really bad road bump you hit and something about the ladder will break. There have been plenty of members' real bad stories recently, The ladder mounts just aren't strong enough for bad jolts over time and the repairs are costly. Folks carry ladders or folding chairs on ladders, but they are nowhere near as heavy unless you have a Titanium bicycle and I wouldn't mount one of those on the back of my Monty.

If the hitch is not currently on the Monty's rear end, most will say to avoid this, HOWEVER, there have been several successful stories from members who have shored up their bike receiver to take the punishment. In fact a member, just posted pictures about how he did it. I think it was "Kathy and Dave" from Canada.

If you have room in the truck bed, taking off the front (and/or rear) wheels of the bike might gain you some room in the truck bed. But if you don't secure and pad them somehow, they could get damaged.

There's also investing in a FRONT hitch receiver ($100-$150), then purchasing a 2-4 bike carrier and mount the bikes in front of your truck, but when I've mentioned this to several bike shop owners (just for affect), you should have seen the looks on their faces like I said something blasphemous. (But we only paid about $450 for both DW and my bicycles). A real bicycle truist does not like to hear about owners putting their bikes in front in a broadside position. I say, what's the difference, since many of them carry on top, but at least they aren't at the broadside.

If you search the web long enough, you'll find creative people who have found ways to carry their bicycles inside their rig, including lashing to furniture, removing wheels and pedals and even seats and handlebars and putting them on the bed on a blanket or between furniture. Some have built contraptions or homemade bike stands to carry them somewhere on the rig's floors. The options are limited to the creativity of the bike owner.

Wherever you mount them make sure the weight of the bicycles and mounting gear do not increase your weight substantially, like at the pin/rear wheels of the TV where most of our weight problems might rear their ugly head. If your TV is a beast, then you have nothing to worry about.

Anyway, here are some ideas. Let us know your how you solve your dilemma. Can you tell I am still trying to solve mine?
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