Bike racks revisited - Montana Owners Club

CountryGuy · 05-19-2005, 08:15 AM

OK, Al wants to know if any of you with LONG BED trucks have ever put a bike rack on the back of the truck (in the receiver) and then Montana and then pulled this way?? IFFF, so, did anything on the bikes hit during tight turns??

So, we have Montana in 5er hitch, bike rack in receiver and 2 bikes on bike rack, running down the road and ooops, gotta make a tight turn.

Anything hit???

stiles watson · 05-19-2005, 08:44 AM

I'll be waiting for that answer too. I am still trying to figure how to haul my recumbant bicycle without disassembly.

vickster · 05-19-2005, 09:08 AM

Interesting concept. What we ended up doing this past winter, was attaching a bike rack to rear ladder and that's where Ronald's bike rides. We aren't particularly fond of this for the bike gets realllly dirty. My bike rides very nicely in the bed of the truck and stays clean. To get both bikes in the truck bed requires removal of front bike wheels. (To much work)

sreigle · 05-19-2005, 12:05 PM

Vic, this is the age of equality, is it not? Ron's bike should ride in the truck every other trip, right?

CountryGuy · 05-19-2005, 01:02 PM

Good one Steve!

rames14 · 05-19-2005, 02:08 PM

I have some of the front fork mounts, from a travel trailer incident. I plan on mounting them to a piece of wood in front of the hitch. We have quick disconnect front wheels, so I'll just throw them in the basement. These are a well kept secret. We had bikes on the back of a travel trailer on and it took too much weight off ot the hitch. Almost lost it coming into Sheridan, Wyoming. RV dealer identified the problem for us and sent us to a bike shop. We were looking at roof racks - $600. Then the owner said he carries his bikes in the back of his pickup on these fork mounts. They look just like the front mount of the roof rack. He screwed them to a piece of wood and set them in the back of his truck. We used it to keep our bikes inside the trailer as we traveled. Now they're in the garage, waiting for new use.

cargary · 05-19-2005, 02:08 PM

We had a 2" receiver put on the back of the Monty in April that will carry up to 300 lbs tongue weight or 3000 lbs gross weight for towing. I don't think we'll ever pull anything, but we should be able to handle 4 bikes easily. We tried the ladder bracket and didn't like that very well. Everytime I wanted to get up on the roof, the rack had to be removed and then re-connected. This will be a much easier solution. Sorry, can't help with the truck receiver idea, but had thought about that and came to the conclusion that it probably wouldn't have the needed clearance and dropped the idea. Just my opinion.
Gary & Carole

Broome101 · 05-19-2005, 02:15 PM

Has anyone tried adding a 2" front mount receiver hitch to there truck and then using back rack that hold 4 bikes? I am looking at this option since I have looked at rear of my rig in order to weld a receiver to the back, but due to washer/dryer drain line running along the back not enough good metal to weld to to make it strong without major modifications.

CountryGuy · 05-19-2005, 02:30 PM

rames14,

Anyway to send a photo of that along, so I totally understand what you are doing there and what it looks like??

Broome101,

Al has considered the front mount receiver hitch, but does not care for looking through the bikes and does not want to deal with the bugs and dirt of having bikes yet the first hit (ewwwwwwwwwww)

Keep talking everyone, we surely appreciate all the feedback!

Carol

Amps · 05-19-2005, 02:50 PM

Very interesting subject. If you guys are having a hard time finding out how to carry a single bike I guess I am in a lot of trouble. You see my wife has never been able to master riding a bike so 32 years ago I bought a double seater (CCM) and I have been thinking of taking this mahine with us when we start travelling. So please go ahead people I sure could use your insight on this. have fun.

Bill Hill · 05-19-2005, 03:03 PM

Amps,
when you say double seater, do you mean a tandem (fore & aft seating) or side by side seating; trike or quad? We're considering hanging our tandem from the bike rake until the frame warranty is out and we can mount a frame hitch to the back.

vickster · 05-19-2005, 03:15 PM

Steve - WRONG! Especially since I have the newer Trek bike and do most of the ridin'! Ron may be the "king" of the road, but I get the "queen" treatment!!!

old turbo · 05-20-2005, 12:53 AM

I also have a 2004 297RKS with no place to mount a bike rack without going throgh a major cost just to carry a couple of bikes, I have seen the slide in units that some dealers have attached to the rear that are nice but I cannot justify the cost around $400.00.I have an RV parts place that will mount a full size receiver to the rear of the 5vr but also has to add some extra steel to make the thing work, again cost around four hundred or more and thats without the bike carrier. Right now we just take one bike and its not mine,we put it the 5vr real careful so it wont rub on anything.The next rally in Indiana need to sit down with Keystone design engineer and say look pal we see this bike problem all the time what can you guys do to completely solve the problem.

CountryGuy · 05-20-2005, 01:59 AM

old turbo,

we are wondering if they will ever put the bike racks that now come on Mountaineers on the Montana??? But to do it they would have to do some serious redesign of that rear cap, cause the Mountaineer has a rear bumper, pull it out and there is the bike rack. Very slick, I posted some photos last week or so here at MOC, try a search if you are interested in seeing them

Carol

jrgwdenner · 05-20-2005, 09:38 AM

This is an important issue and one that we will consider before buying a new fifth wheel.

Ironman · 05-20-2005, 04:11 PM

We have never seen anyone carry bikes between the truck and camper. But, we have seen a receiver mounted to the 5th wheel with a 2-bike rack attached to it. The owner said they haven't had any problems. We tried mounting a two-bike carrier on the bed rails right behind the truck back window, it didn't hit the bikes when we made turns but it came really close. We also have a reese hitch mounted under the front of the truck - that works well for daytime but at night it cuts down on your headlights/visibility. Also, we talked to someone that used the bicycle rack which hangs off your ladder on the back of the camper and with all the bouncing, it tore the ladder off the camper.

CountryGuy · 05-21-2005, 02:10 AM

Ironman,

you summarize the situation very well! Al is hesitant about the ladder mount, does not suit him.

Hesitant about the front hitch mount, because of bugs and dirt on the bikes, viewing the road over the bikes does not thrill us (been there done that, will do again if necessary, but not without a fight!

) Also, Al seems to think to put receiver on front of our truck the bumper must come off, anyone know anything about that, is that your experience with OUR truck???

Hesitant about welding receiver under and behind Montana for a number of reasons, cost, and finding someone who is willing to do the job and actually has the ability to do the job. (We have been trying for 2 years to get someone to fix our roof on our stick built house, we cannot even get someone to come LOOK at it, not the same I know, but makes us a bit shy about looking for someone to do welding.)

Space in the truck bed is questionable, because of tool box and hitch. Al tried putting my bike in there the other evening, had to take off front wheel, and more, he was not comfortable with that either and that was only one bike.

OH, and we cannot put a bike rack on the hitch because of the Isolator. We did look at that real hard.

Also have looked at roof mounts for truck, but that is a LOT of work to get them up there, ha ha, they might get up there and never come down! HA HA

Still appreciate any input on this, has anyone ever seen a bike rack on the back of a LONG bed truck with 5er attached??

Carol

tbhd · 05-21-2005, 12:57 PM

CountryGuy

Getting down is the easy part. It's the sudden stop that hurts--ha ha ha. Our previous 5er had a rear bumper and we had a bike rack that fit on it. We kept it when we bought the Montana and we modified it (made my own slide in receiver) to keep it close to the rear bumper of the truck. We have not towed with it yet but I hooked up and did some jack knife turns and there was plenty of clearance. It is double bike rack but I only carry one bike. Only problem we foresee is it has to come off BEFORE you unhook the 5er. It's just a matter of pulling one pin and the bike rack and bike come off together. Hope this helps. We have a long bed truck with the Mor Ryde hitch and a 3670.

CountryGuy · 05-21-2005, 01:00 PM

tbhd,

Thanks for the post,

We need to carry 2 bikes, I'll mention this to Al. Interesting comment about taking the bike(s) off first, before unhooking! Thanks for mentioning that.

Carol

sreigle · 05-21-2005, 01:14 PM

Amps, my only experience with bike racks is with the ladder mounts. We used to carry two regular mountain bikes that way. The bikes mount vertically so you'd just need to make sure the mount is on a high enough ladder rung to keep the lowest part of the bike above the bottom of the FW. (so the bike won't drag going through a dip)

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