Bike rack

[rltilley]

Originally Posted by Charliesmom

@jrobe. Do you have the Aluminess bike rack swivel arm? Or are the bikes mounted on the boxes? I have a 2019 Ford Transit with dual swing arms for my deluxe box and spare tire. Aluminess doesn’t have a bike rack swing arm available for the Transit and with the new ownership, it doesn’t sound like they are interested in fabricating one.
@ritilley What Thule bars are you using for your 1UP racks? How did you mount them to the box.
Thanks.

My original setup had the Thule tracks mounted directly to the top of the Aluminess deluxe box. Sportsmobile put it together when I bought my van from them. The box does need additional bracing inside to stiffen it up but it did work well even carrying some heavy bikes up there on rough roads.

I had Aluminess build me a bike rack swingarm after I had the racks fail on a twist mountain road. Looking at it after I stopped the van showed that the tracks mounted to the box were fine so I think the feet holding the crossbars loosened over time causing the failure. Some due diligence on my part would have had me checking those mounts periodically which likely would have prevented that failure. The bike rack swingarm is a more solid setup though.

I believe I have some pictures of the internal bracing of the deluxe box if needed.

[Charliesmom]

Interesting. Post them if you have them. As I mentioned, Aluminess is not inclined to design a bike swing arm that will work for the Transit. They do have an option that will attach to the door hinges, but I’m really not interested in a setup where I would have to give up the rear box.
Thanks for the follow up.

[rltilley]

Originally Posted by Charliesmom

Interesting. Post them if you have them. As I mentioned, Aluminess is not inclined to design a bike swing arm that will work for the Transit. They do have an option that will attach to the door hinges, but I’m really not interested in a setup where I would have to give up the rear box.
Thanks for the follow up.

Sorry for the delay. This link shows the 1st picture. There are two more if you swipe right. They braced the inside of the box and ran bolts through the swingarm and through the internal brace.

In the third photo showing the outside of the box you can see where Sportsmobile had installed the brace on the exterior of the box higher up and not connected to the swingarm. Aluminess did not like that and moved the brace while I was there getting other work done.

https://roberttilley.smugmug.com/Car...le/i-cPfpqcF/A

[jbick71]

FWIW- Just thought I'd chime in on this thread to share the DIY bike rack solution I landed on in case something similar may work for anyone else out there; I hadn't seen anything similar when I was looking for options. This just applies to those with the older top-access type Aluminess boxes like mine. I simply sandwiched some steel tubing between the bottom of the box and the swingarm base frame (with longer through-bolts) and used them as extension arms to attach the 1UP racks. Works great so far.

[aarcaris]

jbick71; Do you have much flex in the bike rack set up like that? It's hard to tell in the pictures, but it looks like the 1Up tray is only supported around the Mid Point and the far passenger side.

I've been trying to come up with an idea to use 1Up racks but kept coming back to the issue that the passenger side swing arm doesn't really land in the center so wasn't sure how well it would support it with that much overhang.

[Twoxentrix]

Originally Posted by jbick71

FWIW- Just thought I'd chime in on this thread to share the DIY bike rack solution I landed on in case something similar may work for anyone else out there; I hadn't seen anything similar when I was looking for options. This just applies to those with the older top-access type Aluminess boxes like mine. I simply sandwiched some steel tubing between the bottom of the box and the swingarm base frame (with longer through-bolts) and used them as extension arms to attach the 1UP racks. Works great so far.

I like the concept, but would be real concerned with the stress now put on that swing arm...with the weight of the bikes sitting that far out, and then bouncing from any uneven road travel, you could develop a failure point. For safety, I would at the very least run a cable through the bikes, rack, swing arm, and bumper so if anything fails the bumper will drag the rest (better that than the guy behind you navigating road debris).

[jbick71]

aarcaris; You're correct that the 1Up trays are cantilevering quite a bit, but given how sturdy they are and how relatively lightweight the bikes I am transporting are, I am not too concerned. I won't say there is zero flex/bounce, but there is significantly less than I expected. I have done some pretty rough off-roading with zero issues. For me, the most concerning is on freeways when there is just the right bounce frequency to really get the bikes dancing, but still, no issues... and the amount of flex does not seem to be anymore than what you see with certain other types of racks.

[jbick71]

twoxentrix; Agreed that there is concern about that. I do typically run a cable as you described and have been keeping a close eye on things. I've also tried to reduce the weight of what I store in the box just to help the overall situation a bit. Also a good excuse to spend more money making the bicycles lighter weight

[Twoxentrix]

Originally Posted by jbick71

twoxentrix; Agreed that there is concern about that. I do typically run a cable as you described and have been keeping a close eye on things. I've also tried to reduce the weight of what I store in the box just to help the overall situation a bit. Also a good excuse to spend more money making the bicycles lighter weight

Dont know if you have these, designed to take some of the stress off the swing arms:
SWING ARM REST
This accessory is designed for the older Aluminess Rear bumpers. It provides a rest for your swingarm in the closed position to take load off of your latch. 1 kit includes parts for both swing arms.
https://www.aluminess.com/accessorie...r-accessories/

I have one under both sides of each swing arm for added support - may help your set-up

[aarcaris]

jbick71; That makes sense! I have a standard 1Up rack and it is super sturdy.

Twoxentrix; That seems wild to me that those little wedges didn't come standard on the older bumpers!