Need a way to carry bikes on the cruiser (1 Viewer)

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solidfrontaxle

solidfrontaxle

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Ugggggghhhh
The :princess: wants to take up mountain biking, so we're going to buy a couple of bikes in the next week or so. My big concern is how we're going to haul them around.

Roof rack mount would be the easiest except I don't know how my wife is going to get a 30lb bike up on the roof of the 80. Doesn't sound simple or quick.

We have a 4x4 labs with dual swingouts, spare tire on one, and water/jerry cans/jack/shovel/ladder on the other. 4x4labs bike rack is out of the question cause I can't not have that other stuff on the truck.

Hitch mount looks like an ok option if there is one available that can somehow stick out far enough to clear the tire and jerry cans - but so far I haven't seen any that do other than those awesome ones on the Aussie market. Are there any US options that would clear my jerry cans, which stick out about two and a half feet? Also, how stable are these? I would think they would shake the bikes around like crazy.

Last option would be a spare tire mount which would be good cause it wouldn't be in the way of anything, though I'm worried the bikes would stick out too far past the vehicle into oncoming traffic since the spare isn't centered. I have heard the Thule ones don't fit bigger tires, and that the yakima ones don't really fit two bikes well at all.

Thoughts? Ideas?
 
I use the Thule 9031 on the back of the LX450; it sticks way out there. Enough to clear the swingouts? I don't know. But it works for four bulky bikes.
 
a good place to research this topic is the Rack subforum on MTBR. If you measure your needed clearance behind your spare, you should be able to ask a question on that forum and have just about every type of rack owner pipe up with their measurements.
 
Butt Ugly Chuck said:
If I had a swingout tire carrier, I'd use something like this
http://www.thule.com/en-US/US/Products/Bike-Carriers/SpareTire/963XTR-Spare-Me
Butt
Click to expand...

I've noticed recently on the road that a couple of these types of spare tire mounted rack have multiple mounting holes to accommodate offset spare locations.

The bigger issue you will run into with these (and all 'post & arm' style racks) is that the arms only work well with traditional diamond frame designs. Modern, full-suspension frames and most kids bikes don't mesh well. I had a Kuat Alpha a few years ago and it only worked with about 1/3 of the bikes in my quiver. If you are a mostly a roadie, or are rocking old school mountain bikes, this won't be a problem. If you are into fancy carbon designs or huge DH rigs, stay away from racks with arms.

I then switched to the Kuat NV (in the pic in this thread) and it cleared the 35" BFG KM2 on my fj40.
 
It should be really easy to modify almost any factory rack to add a few inches or a foot to the hitch mount.

My #1 suggestion is to get a tray style hitch mount so that you can leave the entire bike assembled and just put it on the rack and go. Much easier than dealing with the front tire off and it fits almost every possible type of bicycle.

FWIW a front hitch mount is also an option depending on what you've got going on up front. I have a front hitch for my winch and I will throw the bike rack up there sometimes if I want to take bikes and a trailer somewhere.

As far as bouncing/shaking around, there are a couple ways to prevent this with a hitch mount. The Thule method involves a threaded hitch pin so when you tighten it up it takes the slack out of the hitch connection. Works great - I drilled mine out for normal hitch pins because I wanted it to be easier to put on and off. Bouncing isn't that much of an issue for me. Never noticed a problem and I've carried bikes on the rack to the end of the Hole in the Rock road with it this way (it's 70 miles each way of continuous washboard). So I wouldn't worry too much about it.
 
Its going to have to extend WAY out there since I have to be able to open the swingouts and open the back with the bikes in place. The only way I can see it working is if I get a Kuat NV with a drop hitch and an extension so I can tilt the bikes away to allow the swingouts to work. Like this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/indiefab/4993666285/in/set-72157623224162998

I'm leaning toward having something made that will come out from the center of the spare tire and hold the bikes vertically. That would eliminate most of the issues I'm having, allowing the bikes to move with the swingouts, and not get in the way of anything but the view out the back.
 
Not sure what your budget is, but here's a great rack that should easily be able to handle any type of bike:

http://northshoreracks.com/

2 bike model: http://northshoreracks.com/NSR 2-bike.htm
4 bike model: http://northshoreracks.com/NSR 4-bike.htm

If you have fab skills + equipment, you could always just whip up your own by copying their idea and improving on it.

The racks are adjustable in many ways, and can probably stick out past your other wheeling gear stuck on the back of your rig.

cheers,
mike
 
Here's another vote for north shore.
 
Hi Everyone- New to the forum (first post), so cheers to all!

Gotta throw my vote towards the North Shore racks as well. They aren't cheap, but they work really well on any 2" receiver. We have used them for two seasons (the big 6 bike rack) over rough terrain and love the ease, simplicity and bomber layout. They also carry the bikes in a way that doesn't block your tail lights and maintains reasonable clearance under the bikes. They only work with bikes that have MTB type fork crowns- BMX, etc.

If you had the skill and need a cutting torch and welder would fab any clearance issues without any concern.

Good luck and welcome to the other 'Dirty Off- Road' world of MTB!
 
If all you going to carry is two bikes I say, build a bike rack on your second swing out ... you could still carry fuel and bikes...
IMAG1755.jpg

I used to have a sportworks rack on my hitch but after putting drawers on the rear that did not work too good...

IMAG1755.jpg
 
I have what looks to be the Yakima hold up, it works great & I love it, you may need a 2" extension receiver that you can get from just about anywhere. Thule makes a similar rack that locks the bikes, but it goes straight out from the hitch, the Yakima curves up slightly, also these will fold down flat so you can access your rear doors or tire carrier, or fold up so you can parallel park better w/o bikes. But if your just getting started both of these are expensive, maybe just go w/ a hitch mount bike rack that hangs the bikes (w/ the hitch extension) off Craigslist to save money & see if you're gonna use it as much as you think!

image-2936413720.jpg

This is the rack I have!! On my s10, I think an extension would be needed to clear your tire rack! Kinda fitting that I was parked next to a troopy!!!

image-2936413720.jpg
 
Did the same thing as WXM. Works easy, inside the truck so that it does not cause excess drag, bikes are kept clean, dont have to worry about people messing with bike. For a 60 is can cause issues because you have to drop the back bench which means you can only have two people riding but for me that is just fine. Simple and cheap and I have oriented the block so that I can actually fit three bikes in there if I really need to.
 
weld in 2 x 2" receivers on what ever bumper .....$30. worth of steel and toy can make other attachments allso

bum1.jpg


bum3.jpg
 
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