Bike rack for INSIDE the hundy

[cardyjones]

Hi,
My wife and I are planning a long summer trip in the hundy and will transport our two road bikes inside the truck for both security and protection.

I have been experimenting with using my existing yakima fork mount trays and building a wooden support (with same diameter wooden dowel as the yakima round bars).

I was picturing something removable that utilizes the seat latches as anchors. I'd like to have the option to remove the supports to allow us to recreate a flat load floor in case we sleep in the rig.

Anyone designed something like this?

I did a thread search but only found exterior rack options

Cardy
02 LC

PS I am also trying to design an exterior mount for an auxiliary gas can that uses the existing hitch mount. Anyone seen something like that? I don't want the big old box on the back with folding chairs and a cooler- just something small

 

[Topmounter]

I just use a 2x4 with a couple of the truck bed fork mounts bolted to it. I also drilled extra holes so I could easily adjust the spacing. In the past I've also secured the board to the cargo rings, but if the truck is loaded, it's usually unnecessary.

RockyMounts Truck Bike Racks

 

[mister bean]

Topmounter, you have a shot of what yours looks like?

 

[Topmounter]

I'll look, if I don't I'll grab a pic tomorrow.

 

[Sandroad]

Here's an inside bike mount that Honda sells for the Pilot. It requires drilling holes, but the bracket for the front fork plus the strap over the seat were very secure in my Pilot. With some creative modification, It might work in the Land Cruiser, but I have not tried it in mine. It all depends on where the floor mount plate would go. I use a hitch mounted carrier now.

http://www.handa-accessories.com/pilot/pilotintbike.jpg

Sold at Honda dealers or online at handa-accessories.com

 

[Garvey]

I have same set up as Topmounter,,, 2x6 w fork mounts screwed to it. Road bike and 26" fit fine. 29"er is a little closer on space. Still works though.

 

[Manhattan]

Before you get too far into the project, make sure your bike fits. My road bike is too tall without removing the saddle/seatpost. I've used the 2x4 with bed mounts (minivan) and it works great. The two bikes + the 2x4 make it very stable. Kinda anticlimactic though... so simple, no "project" left

 

[ShirazAddict]

Were you able to come up with a system outside of the 2x4/2x6 with fork mounted carrier attached? I've been playing around with utilizing the locking brackets for the 3rd row seat + fork carrier, but it isn't exactly cost effective for most people and its kind of clunky. Frankly what I've settled on is simply drilling 4 holes into the floor of the LC (3rd row seats removed, bikes installed sideways), POR 15 the holes, "permanently" installing barrel nuts in permanently, and then installing a Thule fork mounted carrier (actually putting two in) directly to the floor (on top/thru the factory carpet). Installation/removal is about 5 minutes for both with a screwdriver. I ride a 58cm bike & it fits fine (have to angle it a bit to get it thru rear door but then it stands straight). For securing the rear wheel so it doesn't flop around I simply use a long strip of velcro (about 15-18") & that secures thru the rear wheel & holds onto the carpet just fine. I use a similar piece to secure the front tire to the back of the 2nd row of seats, running a loop thru the rim and thru one of the headrest supports.

A good, removeable option from what I could tell, if your bikes will fit straight-in would be the Thule 822XT. I'm going to pick one up for the kids/wife's bikes as they are small. You can add up to 4 front fork mounts on it & it is easily removeable.

2x4/2x6 would also accomplish all of the above w/o the expense/effort....but wheres the fun in that?

 

[SmoothLC]

Shortly after purchasing our LC, we picked up a Yakima hitch mount. When I want to "secure" the bike, I use the Topmounter solution.

My roady is a 59. I lift and strap the PS middle seat, angle the bike in backwards, and attach the front fork to the 2x4 fork mount. I also use a small bungee cord to wrap around the seat post, then attach the hooks to the back seat handles above the window to keep the bike somewhat stable.

Maybe not the most elegant of solutions, but it works when I want to keep the bike inside the rig.

Please post pics of what you come up with. I'd like to see some additional options.

 

[ShirazAddict]

Smooth, I'll put some up this weekend. I've used roof racks for years, but after losing a key to a Thule cargo carrier on a recent trip & being forced to open it "forcefully" (i.e. screwdriver), I now realize how useless the Thule/Yakima locks actually are. They may deter the random meth head, but any decent criminal shopping for high-end bikes is going to go thru them in about 10 seconds. I do still use them for occasional in-town use and/or long trips when the family/dog is in the vehicle, but as for leaving the bikes on top of the car, no longer.

I like your bungy to over-window handles solution---much easier to reach than my velcro to the back seat option.

 

[corleykj]

Inside rack idea

A friend and I came up with a pretty cool idea for the inside. My idea was this....how can I get a bike in the back with both wheels off? If you just set the bike in the chain ring and rear derailleur will get the carpet greasy and maybe mess up the components. If you mount the fork into a mount then you get chain ring getting the carpet greasy. And if the fork mount isn't secure, the rear of the bike will lift the front fork up.

Here is my idea for you. It would take 1x4 or 2x4 (or whatever lumber you want).

The principal to make this work is strapping the crank arm in the vertical position to the seat tube. This makes one crank arm and pedal face down, and hold the chain ring and rear derailleur off the ground.

You can see my picture of what I would do (I haven't make a rack, but I have done something similar with this idea to get more bikes than I could on my hitch rack.

Good luck and enjoy.

 

[ShirazAddict]

A friend and I came up with a pretty cool idea for the inside. My idea was this....how can I get a bike in the back with both wheels off? If you just set the bike in the chain ring and rear derailleur will get the carpet greasy and maybe mess up the components. If you mount the fork into a mount then you get chain ring getting the carpet greasy. And if the fork mount isn't secure, the rear of the bike will lift the front fork up.

Here is my idea for you. It would take 1x4 or 2x4 (or whatever lumber you want).

The principal to make this work is strapping the crank arm in the vertical position to the seat tube. This makes one crank arm and pedal face down, and hold the chain ring and rear derailleur off the ground.

You can see my picture of what I would do (I haven't make a rack, but I have done something similar with this idea to get more bikes than I could on my hitch rack.

Good luck and enjoy.

Without the rear wheel, youll likely have chain drag on the carpet. Ill post my solution tomorrow.

 

[corleykj]

Without the rear wheel, youll likely have chain drag on the carpet. Ill post my solution tomorrow.

With the "H" mount design I drew above you could use thin ply wood or osb to make the frame out of, and then the chain would drag on the wood floor of the mount.

 

[ShirazAddict]

Got it. Why do you need to remove the rear wheel? I can fit 2x60 cm road bikes in the back of my LC with just the front wheels removed, plus loose front wheels & gear.

 

[ShirazAddict]

I've explored 3 different options, and all of them work fairly well, depending on how much $$ & modification you want to do to your vehicle. Here is my thought process & how I ended up with my current solution.
Need to fit a 58cm road bike with tall seat into the back of my LC:

I can fit my wife's 50, and my friends 54 in with the wheels on, but no such luck with mine, so I needed to come up with a interior mounting solution. I explored taking the 3rd row seat bottom brackets (that secure the seats to the floor) and having a fork mount + wheel carrier welded to them, but in the end it was just too clumsy & $$$$ for the effort. What would work for me, was to take a stainless steel handrail (like in handicap bathroom stalls or showers) and affix that to the side of the LC---just below the window. The bike's handlebar would have rested on top of it, with the brake levers securing it from moving back out---pretty much the same theory/design that you see in triathlon transition racks. It would have looked fairly clean as well, but the problem I saw was that I'd still need to secure the bike with a bungee somehow to keep it from sliding from front/back in the vehicle (or bumping into the bike next to it if 2 bikes were back there) + it won't work very well for mountain bikes. So I ended up doing the EZ thing--mounting a Thule 821 fork mount directly to the floor, thru both the factory carpet & a carpet cover that came with the vehicle. I played around with several different locations/setups, but finally settled on the current setup as it allows me to have two bikes in the rear (haven't yet mounted the other fork mount on the opposite side), puts the greasy chain side away from any luggage/stuff I pack in with the bike, and the location is pretty secure as the wheel well holds my bike from moving front/back. Currently I have it secured to the floor with 4x2" stainless sheet metal screws, which provide a decent hold

but the problem with this setup is that it isn't easily removeable (I have two big dogs & need to be able to remove/reinstall the mount 3-4x a week). So what I've come up with is this---I'm having a friend fabricate a flat piece of steel, with 5/8" "sides" on the back edge and both ends of the mount. These sides are notched/channeled, so that the fork mount can slide into them & sit secured on 3 sides. The Thule has a center hole already drilled, and we are matching up that hole & will cut a matching threaded hole in the base piece, so that I can simply use a butterfly bolt to secure the mount into the base. The mount is going to be attached to the LC using 4x1.5" barrel nuts/bolts so that it is flush on both sides, and these offer more grip than simply screwing into the sheet metal. This should be ready this week, so I'll post pics when done. For now it works pretty well & I cut a 1/2" x 4" hole in my hexagonal cargo cover for just the top of the mount so that only the fork mount is showing. It works well: