Bicycle Rack Recommendation Wanted - Page 3

Carl · 07-29-2015, 01:55 PM

Currently carrying a TW200 motorcycle on a Joehauler rear tray type carrier. It appears I could fit 1 mountain bike outboard of the motorcycle and somehow strap it to the carrier/motorcycle, but I want to carry 2 mountain bikes "and" the motorcycle. My other option is to add an Aluminess front receiver and ideally I don't turn this into a huge project.

Any other thoughts or feedback on what I could do? My other option is the roof, but not crazy about it.

boywonder · 07-29-2015, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carl

Currently carrying a TW200 motorcycle on a Joehauler rear tray type carrier. It appears I could fit 1 mountain bike outboard of the motorcycle and somehow strap it to the carrier/motorcycle, but I want to carry 2 mountain bikes "and" the motorcycle. My other option is to add an Aluminess front receiver and ideally I don't turn this into a huge project.

Any other thoughts or feedback on what I could do? My other option is the roof, but not crazy about it.

I don't have any pictures...(well maybe somewhere) but I put a home built fork mount block (15mm axle) on the end of the Joe Hauler loading ramp, and offset the ramp on the hauler to one side to allow the MTB handlebars to clear the van body, and use a tie down to strap my MTB to the motorcycle. It's worked fine for two round trips to Moab from So Cal.

...the bicycle is between the motorcycle and the rear doors....where the loading ramp sits when traveling.

The TW200 has fun written all over it....never rode one, but fun fun fun.....

MadScience · 07-29-2015, 11:15 PM

I've used the little bolt on fork mounts in various ways in a number of cars, and now the van over many years. If you have a nice bike that you want to hold in place inside sometimes, get one. They are cheap.

I've seen various folks bolt a fork mount tray to the top of an aluminess box. If I already had a box, I'd look into this more closely.

I just ordered a front hitch (which will be a real trick to mount with my sway bar mounts), because I don't like the bikes on the rear while wanting to use the rear doors. I explicitly avoided a fold out rack due to vibration concerns, that may have been unfounded.

I have no experience on the front, but in CA at least, I don't get that much bug splatter, but the rear is always covered in a thick layer of dust, at least by the time I make down the trail to my camp site. -- With some of the other statements here I wonder if I'll regret that approach.

I still don't like that north shore rack. It just seems like it would tear up the bike over time. Yes, it does look cool.

shenrie · 07-30-2015, 06:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadScience

I just ordered a front hitch (which will be a real trick to mount with my sway bar mounts...

just installed a front hitch on our van. just a quick fyi for install. you can use a fish tape through the boxed part of your frame instead of drilling 1" holes for the hardware

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadScience

I still don't like that north shore rack. It just seems like it would tear up the bike over time. Yes, it does look cool.

not a huge fan of the looks either, but for our shuttles, one of those would be so convenient and fast for loading. also, we do way more damage riding our bikes than any of the hauling methods weve used

BrianW · 07-30-2015, 06:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadScience

I just ordered a front hitch (which will be a real trick to mount with my sway bar mounts), because I don't like the bikes on the rear while wanting to use the rear doors. I explicitly avoided a fold out rack due to vibration concerns, that may have been unfounded.

We have both front and rear hitches on our van. Before getting our rear hitch (the PO installed the front hitch) we did a few trips with the bikes on the front. I pretty much hated it. Not so much because of the bugs (although there was that issue), but because of sight lines, parking, etc. Having just spent several hours vigorously scrubbing bugs off the front of my van after a long trip, I'm also glad I didn't have bikes there. Maybe you don't have to worry about that in California, but drive through the night many places and you'll have a nice assortment of bug roadkill on your van. Part of our trip did include Northern California, and we picked up plenty of bugs on the fan while driving through. I know this because we scrubbed the van clean when we were in Fresno and started with a clean slate.

When I got the rear hitch I bought a used Thule swing-away rack for the rear. I'd NEVER go back to the front rack, unless I need it for overflow bike capacity (i.e., using front and rear racks). The Thule hitch I have is rock-solid, even with three fairly heavy bikes on it (**see note below). We've had it on 20+ miles of washboard that was so bad we had to have the van realigned immediately following. Didn't loosen up at all. We've done two 8,000+ mile cross-country drives with the bikes on it and it still works great. When you open it up the extended arm does sag a little bit, but I guess that's normal with that much weight cantilevered off it.

The rack takes all of 20 seconds to open/close, and clears our door-mounted spare tire (not an Aluminess mount). I open it all the time since we have a walk-through design and a rear step bumper, which we use a lot.

We have the older, heavier Thule "Revolver" rack (http://www.adventurejones.com/thule-964 ... 2-rec.html). I see these on Craigslist go for between $185 (which is what we paid for ours) and $350. They also have a lighter "Helium" rack, which I have no experience with. I would assume the heavier Revolver will also hold up better. Yakima makes similar quality racks (I'm usually a Yakima guy, but the deal on the Thule was good and I couldn't pass it up.)

**Regarding bikes on the racks. For our long cross-country trip two years ago I picked up a set of Giant hybrids on CL for pretty cheap ($175 for the pair), rather than driving around with our expensive Co-Motion bikes on the back of the van for a month. Now, this might not fly for everyone, but it was wonderful to have bikes that I basically didn't worry about at all on the rack. Leave them out overnight at a motel (locked)? No worries. Drive through rain for a day at 75mph? No biggie. Scratch them when loading/unloading? No tears. While they weren't anywhere near as nice to ride as our normal bikes, they were perfectly serviceable and we did a lot of miles on them at various stops, not just riding around the campground (e.g., a nice long ride in Zion, along the north rim of the Grand Canyon, the Tetons, Yellowstone, etc.). We used them again on our recent trip and at this point I almost consider them disposable (that's a bike snob thing to say, I know). The only challenge is finding a place to store them at home since we only use them for van trips.

berns378 · 07-30-2015, 09:48 PM

I have a joe hauler rack for my 250 Honda on thd back have opening to put my bauer bike rack into hitch. carries two bikes. on top of my aluminess box custom set up with thule rack for two more bikes. works great. if need to floor rack for inside to carry two more bikes. six bikes and one motorcycle just for one person. crazy!

jsnable · 07-30-2015, 10:23 PM

I'll throw in these guys as a possibility:

http://www.isi-carriers.com

I saw one of these on an EarthCruiser from Australia at the Overland Expo and tracked down the website. They do have a shipping program to the US set up and have various fitting options available that I imagine would work with an Aluminess back bumper. I'm planning on a new back bumper sometime in the future and will update when I figure it all out...

Jay

**rionapo** · 08-02-2015, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadScience

I've seen various folks bolt a fork mount tray to the top of an aluminess box. If I already had a box, I'd look into this more closely.

Messed up my front fork due to the sideways wobble. I wouldn't recommend it.

Don

pjpvi · 08-02-2015, 07:22 PM

Quote:

MadScience wrote:
I've seen various folks bolt a fork mount tray to the top of an aluminess box. If I already had a box, I'd look into this more closely.

Messed up my front fork due to the sideways wobble. I wouldn't recommend it.

Don

Same here. Don't recommend at least if you are doing a lot of 4-wheeling.

Phil

rltilley · 08-15-2015, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rionapo

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadScience

I've seen various folks bolt a fork mount tray to the top of an aluminess box. If I already had a box, I'd look into this more closely.

Messed up my front fork due to the sideways wobble. I wouldn't recommend it.

Don

This seems strange to me. I would think that simply riding the bike would put way more stress on the fork than it would get getting jostled around on the cargo box. I know my rigid mountain bikes get ridden in some pretty rocky terrain where the fork takes a beating.

I carry my bikes on the Aluminess Deluxe box & haven't had any issues. I do use racks that don't require wheel removal though.