Hitch Bike/Ski Rack

[dparkwy]

JoeH,

My guess is that the bikes probably won't stick out too far on the passenger side, but they will protrude a little bit. Hopefully they won't be past your mirrors. I was concerned about my skis doing that, so that is why I had Aluminess make the extension toward the centerline of the van. I think it should help on the bikes too, especially if you have to have the bikes facing opposite ways. You'll have the bikes sticking up past the roof. My racks are fork mounts, fyi.

[Roonie]

Originally Posted by JoeH

Roonie, that's a good option as well. The pro is you can carry 4 bikes but the con is that system doesn't work very well with full suspension bikes. You need 4 telescoping bike adapters and even then it's not a great off road option. Perhaps you've found otherwise? I gave up on my hitch mount Yakima swing away because it was beating up the bikes and went with a Holdup. I really like the idea of bike carriers that don't touch the frame.

I carry primarily full suspension bikes with this set up. Yes it is not the best but it works. The trick is trying to attach the area around the rear suspension point. Yes they tend to crash into each other since they are so close together but I don't care that much. Also you have to stagger them and turn each other one around to make them fit. Even then someone's pedal is going through someone's spokes. Once I get them all situated they are pretty tight and don't move that much.

[vandiesel]

I just picked up a draft master rack yesterday from a rack shop in Portland. I had taken the van there a couple of times and we "racked" our brains to figure something out for skis and bikes. I have a contempo style top that is pretty wavy and would a tough fit. I decided to take the van skiing a few times and see what I thought about climbing a ladder after skiing all day. Well it didn't seem like a good plan so I went back the hitch idea. I have never seen one of these before but it is really cool. It holds 4 bikes and as many skis as you could throw at it. I also was thinking about mounting a roof box on it like an upright coffin to keep my skis safe and clean. I'll report back on that. Here are some picks I found. I'll take some of my own and post with skiis on it.

Brad

[JoeH]

Originally Posted by dparkwy

JoeH,

My guess is that the bikes probably won't stick out too far on the passenger side, but they will protrude a little bit. Hopefully they won't be past your mirrors. I was concerned about my skis doing that, so that is why I had Aluminess make the extension toward the centerline of the van. I think it should help on the bikes too, especially if you have to have the bikes facing opposite ways. You'll have the bikes sticking up past the roof. My racks are fork mounts, fyi.

OK, in your setup there is about 48" between the centers of the bars that are furthest apart. The current alluminess configuration has the bars about 35" apart. The bars are staggered so the 2 bars that are furthest apart are used on 2 different bike or ski racks so the distance to support the tray (for full standing racks) is even smaller than that. I could use fork mounts but most bike rack trays (ie., Yak Highroller, Thule Sidewinder, USA 1UP) where you don't have to take the wheel off are about 55" in length. That leaves quite a bit of unsupported rack overhanging the spare tire.

Where do you store your front wheels? On top of the van or in the back? I admit I've gotten spoiled with hitch racks and not having to take the wheels off. And all our bikes have maxle thru-axels. If you were doing it again would you still go with that extra length? Do you really need that much to get skis centered? Hard to tell from your pic but it looks like you've got some long ones for straightlining Corbet's Couloir

[vandiesel]

Here is the finished product loaded with skis from last night



There is about 18" between the bottom of the skis and the ground. Overall rock solid but definitely dirty for the skis. It tried the roof box off the back but need to secure skis etc. inside before I try it.

Brad

[dparkwy]

JoeH,

Well, we got quite the storm so I was putting the skis to work the last few days. 55" total at the highest elevations over 4 days is what I heard. Anyhow, my ski lengths are 192 cm and 190 cm...fairly long compared to a lot of new school skis. As is, they stick out on each side a few inches, though I probably didn't need all of the extra length on the racks to maintain center. I figured the more I could put toward the center of the van, the less would potentially hang over on the passenger side. I was more concerned about the bikes being centered than the skis, fyi. Also, with the extended length I have I will not have as much unsupported rack (thule/yak) overhang.

I will likely store the wheels inside, or maybe get something to mount them on the rack.

FWIW, with the racks up high like I have them, I don't feel as though I add too much length to the van for most situations. I thought about a hitch-mounted rack but also thought it might interfere with the view out of my rear-view camera (license plate mounted.)

[JoeH]

Originally Posted by dparkwy

JoeH,

Well, we got quite the storm so I was putting the skis to work the last few days. 55" total at the highest elevations over 4 days is what I heard. Anyhow, my ski lengths are 192 cm and 190 cm...fairly long compared to a lot of new school skis. As is, they stick out on each side a few inches, though I probably didn't need all of the extra length on the racks to maintain center. I figured the more I could put toward the center of the van, the less would potentially hang over on the passenger side. I was more concerned about the bikes being centered than the skis, fyi. Also, with the extended length I have I will not have as much unsupported rack (thule/yak) overhang.

I will likely store the wheels inside, or maybe get something to mount them on the rack.

FWIW, with the racks up high like I have them, I don't feel as though I add too much length to the van for most situations. I thought about a hitch-mounted rack but also thought it might interfere with the view out of my rear-view camera (license plate mounted.)

I like the idea that the bikes are up high and on the swing arm. In order to use a Yakima Holdup I had to use a hitch extension to get past the spare. Even then, when using the tilt function of the rack it's a shimmy to squeeze in between the rack to access the rear doors. I think I'm going to add two inches to the Alluminess configuration (35" between the centers of the two furthest apart bars). I believe yours is 42" with the 48" distance being between the outside (passenger side) part of the swing arm to the edge of the inside mounting pipe (the one closest to the driver side of the van)?

After subjecting the various rack offerings to the same analysis paralysis I've decided to go with the all aluminum 1UP USA roof mount rack. The mounting brackets can slide all the way to the end and I think there will be less tire/bike sticking on the passenger side with this rack compared to the Yakima Highroller or Thule Sidewinder. I hate to over think this but holy cow 3grand plus for the rack, extra fabrication and a galley box is a lot to pony up.

[dparkwy]

JoeH,

Yes, the dimensions on mine are 48" between the outside set of bars. If you number the bars left to right like this:

1 - 2 ---------------3 - 4

48" is the dimension between bars 1 and 4.

42" is the dimension between bars 1 and 3 (and also between 2 and 4).

6" between 1 and 2 and between 3 and 4.

The 42" dimension I arrived at as the max that my existing Yakima trays will span.

Hope that all makes sense.

[JoeH]

Yep, I think so. The 6" gap between bars is critical to calculating the max distance the unsupported tray can overhang the spare tire. The stock Alluminess configuration would have bars 1,3 and 2,4 spaced about 29" apart. That will work for a 44" fork mount tray (15" overhang) but for both wheels on a 55" tray I would think you need a minimum bar spacing of at least 35".