Transporting bicycles on back of rig

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4DogsRV

4DogsRV

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 18, 2013
Posts
47
Location
North Carolina
We were wondering how all you sporty types out there attach bicycles to the back of the rig. We are not keen on having them hanging from the back of the towed vehicle, and were hoping for some input on racks/frames that come (maybe) custom made for just that purpose. I seem to remember seeing a basket like attachment somewhere that the bikes fit in, but we must be able to lock them if poss.


Mark and Leah
 
Molaker said:
A dual hitch with a bike rack might work for you.  The link shows one with only 4,000 lb tow limit, but if more capacity was needed, you can probably find one.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input Molaker but we have a 10.000 Blue Ox tow bar (http://www.blue-ox-towbars.com/tow-bars/motorhome-mounted/aventa-lx-tow-bar-with-2-shank) already attached, and we were looking for something that might fit over the top of that on the top of the rig.
 
4DogsRV said:
Thanks for the input Molaker but we have a 10.000 Blue Ox tow bar (http://www.blue-ox-towbars.com/tow-bars/motorhome-mounted/aventa-lx-tow-bar-with-2-shank) already attached, and we were looking for something that might fit over the top of that on the top of the rig.
Click to expand...
The concept of the dual hitch receiver is it is mounted between your hitch and the tow bar and a bike rack is mounted on the upper receiver - above the tow bar.  You had indicated you had yet to select a towed vehicle.  If your selection is less than 4,000 lbs, the dual receiver may be used regardless of the fact you have a 10,000 lb tow bar.  In fact, here's a 10,000 lb dual receiver I just found.
 
My wife and I have a pair of semi recumbents and  wanted to take them w/ on the back bumper of our TT.  I just went to a tractor supply and bought a weld on 2" receiver tube and had it mounted on top of our back trailer bumper then we were able to use our dual wheel support bike rack and even thought our bikes are longer than standard the tail lights are not blocked.

Like this one only just for 2 bikes.

http://www.discountramps.com/wheel-mount-bike-carrier.htm
 
We had always carried our bikes on a 2" receiver mount rack on our 4Runner.

When the coach came and we decided not to tow the 4Runner (it was complicated), we had the Honda outfitted with a 1 1/4" receiver and used a 2" converter for the rack. We did not want the bikes mounted on the coach and interfering with air flow for the rear radiator, which would not be your problem in your coach. Mounting them on ladder rack looked a little dainty to us, although we see people carrying everything but the kitchen sink on theirs.

It's a simple fix on most any type of towed vehicle. You just can't be pulling a U-Haul with that hitch and the bike rack is all we use it for. This rigging has served us well in three years of fulltiming.

Other than personal taste, did you have a specific engineering reason not to hang the bikes on your toad?

Here is what our equipment looks like:



 

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We carry our bikes on or in our toad.  Since there are 5 of us.... We put all the kids bikes on the back of our jeep and put my wife's and my bike (quite a bit more expensive) either on top of out toad or inside it.  If a long trip where we are traveling for days I put my wife's and my bike inside our wrangler unlimited.  Just cut a piece wood out and mounted fork mount to the board so both bikes sit-up inside the jeep.

We also have the dual hitch receiver which we haven't used it yet
 
There are many bicycle racks out there.  If you tow 4 down with a "A" frame hitch that uses a trailer type ball, or if you use a trailer or dolly, they have a bicycle carrier designed to mount under the ball, in fact the ball's bolt and nut are what hold it on the hitch.

If you tow with tow bars.. There is one that slips over the 2" square shaft just aft of the receiver (Between the receiver and the wrist joint on the tow bar)

OH you can use a dual -hitch adapter that has one 2" square "Tong" that goes into your existing receiver and TWO 2" Receivers, usually one straight through and the other either drop or rise.

Or you can have a hitch adapter custom made.
 
We had one that was a hollow square tube that clamped around the square part of the receiver tube and carried the bikes above our BlueOx hitch. Unfortunately, it was made from steel that was to lite for the job and welds broke after about 2000 miles into our trip to Alaska. Since our toad (a Jeep) had a receiver, We stopped a bought a st'd receiver bike rack and after 10 years, it's still serving us well.
 
I bought the Swagman, @ Camping World, it holds 4 bikes, and is RV approved. I love it.... and rated for a class 3 hitch.
The bikes are held secure and easy to load and unload. Very nice rack!  :)

Dan
 
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