Bicycle on RV ladder

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
FLFreeBird

FLFreeBird

Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2018
Posts
22
I recently bought my RV Jayco Redhawk 25r.  Needless to say l have spent a lot buying it and getting it equipped to hit the road. l now want to take my bicycle, but a bike rack not in the budget just now .. QUESTION is, can l tie my bike to the rv ladder using straps and cables and pipe insulation to keep it from vibrating/making noise. Or will I get pulled over and ticketed for not having an "official" bike rack.  Is there anything I am not considering here, besides the fact it might look tacky? Please enlighten me.
 
The biggest thing to worry about is the ladder falling off. It's not built or installed to carry loads going down the road. About the most I would want to carry on an RV ladder is a blueboy.
 
kdbgoat said:
The biggest thing to worry about is the ladder falling off. It's not built or installed to carry loads going down the road. About the most I would want to carry on an RV ladder is a blueboy.
Click to expand...

I am not sure what a blueboy is .. but did he turn blue from being tied to the ladder? :)

I know you believe you understand what you think I said,
But I am not sure you realize what you heard is not what I meant
 
A blueboy is a plastic tank on wheels, used to dump waste tanks into when you don't have full hook-ups. They're generally blue, hence the name blueboy.
 
We have this one.... you will need to check the weight issue I guess.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003DIMST2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We still bungee and lock the bike to keep it in place. 

 
jackiemac said:
We have this one.... you will need to check the weight issue I guess.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003DIMST2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We still bungee and lock the bike to keep it in place.
Click to expand...

Yes! Thank you Jackie. Would be interested to know if anyone using it for a while has seen any issues with the ladder coming loose.  It has to be less than a heavy human climbing the ladder periodically to check on things on the roof?
 
FLFreeBird said:
Yes! Thank you Jackie. Would be interested to know if anyone using it for a while has seen any issues with the ladder coming loose.  It has to be less than a heavy human climbing the ladder periodically to check on things on the roof?
Click to expand...
We have not had it very long, probably a month or so and to date we have no issue with the ladder.  That is our trailer though, not sure how yours is constructed.....  I wouldn't expect a ladder to come away as you are right, a human is supposed to go up and down it!
 
Yes a bike is normally lighter than a human, but humans with good common sense don't bounce ceaselessly on a ladder for mile after mile
I was behind a travel trailer yesterday that had a bike on a bike rack mounted on the bumper. The bumper was actually twisting the section between where it was welded on the frame rails over every bump in road.
 
I have the exact same bike rack as jackiemac and have had it for 3 summers now. I hang one bike on it (a cheap (a.k.a. "heavy") one from Target) and have not had any issues. I periodically inspect the ladder supports (where it attaches to the back wall of the camper) and so far I can find no cracks, loose screws, or other damage.


I use the bike rack's provided rubber straps along with 3 bungee cords to keep the bike from swinging/bouncing. Where the bike frame would hit the ladder's uprights, I wrapped them with an old pool noodle (sliced long-ways and then wrapped with duct tape).
 
kdbgoat said:
Yes a bike is normally lighter than a human, but humans with good common sense don't bounce ceaselessly on a ladder for mile after mile
I was behind a travel trailer yesterday that had a bike on a bike rack mounted on the bumper. The bumper was actually twisting the section between where it was welded on the frame rails over every bump in road.
[/quote

Yes vibration can take its toll. l am thinking a hitch mount might be best. Thank you :)]
Click to expand...
 
I wouldn't hang anything on the ladder; it's simply not designed for that purpose. Heck, it's flimsy enough to barely qualify as a ladder!
 
In the late 80s I had a sports card business and a 1989 Fleetwood Jamboree Rally class C 26 foot. I had a bunch of cases to haul into the shopping malls so I carried a dolly and the only place I could carry it was bungled to the ladder. The dolly weighs at least as much as a bike. I drove thousands of miles with the dolly attached without issue. The dolly was similar to this photo.
 

Attachments

  • bosch-dollies-t1657-64_1000.jpg
    bosch-dollies-t1657-64_1000.jpg
    37.7 KB · Views: 1
just anecdotal, but I have seen many RV's through the years with bikes, step ladders, lounge chairs, dump tanks, etc... hanging from the ladder.

I have one of those two bike carriers meant to hook over the ladder rung,  I used it for a few long trips without problem, until I upgraded to a bigger hitch rack capable of bike for the whole family
 
HappyWanderer said:
I wouldn't hang anything on the ladder; it's simply not designed for that purpose. Heck, it's flimsy enough to barely qualify as a ladder!
Click to expand...

Every time I use the ladder, I wonder if it will fail...  I wonder how many have actually failed.  Those screws are very small.
 
We've had the Swagman on our ladder since April carrying two bikes.  Since then we've travelled about 6,000 miles with no problem with the ladder or bike rack.  I did find that the end of the grip on the inside bicycle was rubbing on the corner of the coach.  I remedied that by tightly putting a wash cloth over the end of the grip and securing it with zip ties.  The problem is the inconvenience with having the ladder inaccessible without removing both bikes and the bike rack.  We are now considering adding a bike rack to our toad, and removing the Swagman.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 971 (members: 24, guests: 947)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,966
Posts
1,388,405
Members
137,720
Latest member
Asteg1000
Back
Top Bottom