Bicycle rack - Montana Owners Club

Dennis and Carol · 06-19-2005, 02:37 PM

Has anyone out there had any experience with the bicycle rack sold by Camping World that attaches to the rear ladder. We recently bought 2 bikes and now have the problem of transporting them. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Ishler · 06-19-2005, 03:01 PM

We just purchased a Top Line rack which is very similar to the CW unit. It works very well and quick to install and remove.

sreigle · 06-19-2005, 04:55 PM

We bought ours elsewhere but it was the standard two-bike rack. It worked fine and the ladder had no trouble toting two adult mountain bikes for about 20,000 miles. We took it off last year because we found we rarely used the bikes so why carry them. We see quite a few trailers with ladder bike racks and have never heard of a problem. Just be sure the lowest bike wheel is above the bottom of the Montana. I can attest (long story related to having a wheel below the Montana

) to the ladder and its mounts being plenty strong enough for the bikes. And when I asked Keystone they said no problem.

Glenn and Lorraine · 06-20-2005, 02:43 AM

If you were in the campground we are presently in you could pick one up for $25.00. My neighbors bought a receiver type rack for the back of their towed so they are selling their bike rack for the ladder. It's used but looks new.

jrgwdenner · 06-20-2005, 04:26 AM

We are using the CW ladder bike rack for our two bikes. It works great. Glen has them so strapped down that the ladder will have to come off the trailers if we wanted to lose the bikes! But they ride great. You do have to look for rub points and pad them so they don't wear off the paint on your bike, which can happen in one short trip.

Bill Hill · 06-20-2005, 07:02 AM

We just got back from a weekender and borrowed our neighbor's ladder style bike rack. It worked out really well, so we're going to get our own. Depending on how high we hook it on the ladder, it can carry our 2 single bikes or our tandem. In fact, carrying the tandem is better because it weighs less than the 2 singles, and all the weight is carried closer to the ladder.

sreigle · 06-20-2005, 01:34 PM

The one drawback I saw to the ladder rack is having to remove the bikes to climb the ladder. Just the bikes. I could work around the rack when climbing the ladder but the bikes made it impossible to climb. Like Judy and Glen, I really strapped ours down with bungee cords in addition to the straps that came with the rack so removing the bikes took a little time. If you remove the bikes when you set up camp then this is not a problem.

cargary · 06-20-2005, 03:16 PM

We had the ladder carrier for our bikes, but it got to be a hassle taking them on and off and as it has been said, when you want to use the ladder, you now have to remove the bikes and the carrier. We chose to invest in a receiver for our bike carrier and are happy we did. Its much easier to load and remove the bikes and to secure them. Its much more expensive, but we ride our bikes alot and its worth it to us. Another thing we didn't like about the ladder carrier was that you had to pad all the rub points and the straps for securing the bikes were likely to loosen up and had to be continually checked. Like I said, we're happier now that we chose the receiver to cary our bikes. Good luck with your choice.
Gary & Carole

hodag · 06-20-2005, 04:28 PM

we don't have bikes, but i have been kicking the subject around, as well as where to carry them. my thought would be to at least fasten the top or near top of ladder with a type of molly that wouldn,t pull out with bikes hanging on it.

jrgwdenner · 06-20-2005, 05:17 PM

Gary and Carole, the receiver is probably the best setup for bikes, easiest, most convenient, etc. But Keystone has always said that putting a receiver hitch on the rear will void the warranty for the frame. Of course, the warranty is only for one year so we've outgrown ours. And I've seen more and more Montys with hitches on the rear so it is definitely being done. I'm sure others can come along and comment and correct me if my details are wrong. Which is a common thing....

cargary · 06-21-2005, 07:27 AM

Judy:
We had already checked this out with Keystone. Their policy is that you can have a receiver installed - they are ok with that, but if the installation and use of the carrier causes any strucural or otherwise damage to the 5er, they then will not honor the warranty for the coverage of those repairs. This of course is common sense. I wouldn't cover repairs if someone did something to alter the product and the change caused damage to the product. We are ok with this. For those that may want to make this change as we did, my advice to you is to find a competent installer and go ahead with it. Our thought was, carrying a couple bikes should not cause any structual damage to the 5er. As a matter of fact, the blacksmith that we had install ours said that the frame under the trailer was not made heavy enough to have a receiver bolted to the frame, so he had to include heavier angle iron to compensate and strengthen for this. This is why you want to have a reliable installer do it. Most blacksmiths are artists with metal and understand the strenghts and weaknesses of the metal they are working with. Good luck if you decide to go the same route we did.
Gary & Carole

sreigle · 06-21-2005, 09:45 AM

Hodag, that ladder will not pull out of the Montana from the weight of the bikes. Here's how I know that... On our first Montana, when we were vacationing with our granddaughters, Vicki followed me in the car when we went to Table Rock Lake in Missouri. I had the bikes on a ladder rack, secured with bungee cords and straps. I had the bikes mounted with the wheels below the bottom of the Montana. You guessed it, coming out of a gas station with a steep drive I caught those bike wheels on the ground and didn't even know it. Vicki saw it all from behind, though. This was a seriously steep drive and it had to have pushed those bikes up several inches. The bikes stayed tightly secured to the ladder. It cracked the vertical ladder tubes between the wheel and the lower ladder mount. On that lower mount it bent the screws that go through the ladder into the horizontal tubes that connect to the mount on the Montana. The Montana was not hurt at all. Neither were the mounts on the Montana. The only damage was to the ladder itself.

I might note the screws into the horizontal tubes do not go all the way to the mount on the Montana as I had suspected. They go just a few inches into an insert in the tubes. Thus the tube itself is hollow and there's no leverage on a long screw into the Montana mount.

After this episode I never again had any concerns about the strength of those ladder mounts. On our next Montana we carried two adult mountain bikes on a ladder rack for roughly 20,000 miles without a single problem (wheels above the Montana bottom!), other than being a pain to mount and unmount them.

jrgwdenner · 06-21-2005, 10:35 AM

Thanks for clearing up this issue, Gary or Carole. This would certainly be a desirable way to carry bikes. Like others have said, it's a hassle loading those bikes on the ladder rack. But it sure is nice to have them along. And good exercise, too.

Dennis and Carol · 06-21-2005, 02:37 PM

Thanks for all of the replies. I am more comfortable now with the ladder rack. As we are presently Workamping, we will not need to load and unload as often as someone constantly on the road. Thanks again for taking the time to respond.

old turbo · 06-22-2005, 11:53 AM

Thanks for all the info on ladder mount bike rack. Will look at differnt types and see what the features are as far as mounting and how they hold the bikes. Leaveing for the western states next weekend, do not want to stuff the bikes in the 5vr.

Wordsmith · 07-04-2005, 10:19 AM

This thread has suddenly become important to me as I have just bought a new Trek 1200 road bike and I would like to take it with me when we camp at Lake Lanier next week, but this talk of ladder racks and rubbing the bike’s paint puts me off as this is not an inexpensive bike. I suppose my question is whether anyone carefully stores their bike INSIDE the camper when they travel? Pros? Cons?

Additionally, I will need to secure this bike when not in use. With what and where do you secure your bikes?

Thanks!

Parrothead · 07-04-2005, 12:29 PM

In our other 5er we put our bikes inside when traveling. We can't in the 3400 as there is no room inside with all the slides in. We usually store ours under the front, locked to the legs of the rig. You can also have a rack welded to the front of your TV. We've seen that quite a few times.
Happy trails.......................

WildBigBill · 07-13-2005, 08:53 AM

We had a hitch mounted on our monty as part of our purchase agreement, nothing ever being said about Keystone warranty being voided? It took the dealer a second attempt to get hitch mounted strong enough.

Bill and Ann · 07-14-2005, 01:18 AM

My brother has a Titanium, made by Glendale in Canada). He had a bike rack on the ladder and on the trip to Az. the ladder started to fall off the unit.

NJ Hillbilly · 07-14-2005, 02:57 AM

I have carried bikes in the bed of the truck before. I took the front wheels off, laid down a moving blanket, put 1 bike down, folded the blanket over and put the second down. They rode flat so there wouldn't be any interference. A few straps and they were fine.

I am going to put a reciever on myself so I can use a rear rack though.

John

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