How I Travel with Bikes

[rebelstand]

Well since we full time with 2 kids and have 4 bikes getting the bikes in and out of the trailer every weekend was bugging us. We ended up buying a roof mounted bike rack for the kids bikes.

Our bikes are the folding kind and have bags for easy loading.

[Rawn77]

Tom
Andy has made custome bike receivers that go on the rear of the airstream.
Ask him for a picture or two.
They're real nice!
Hope all is well,
Ron

[DMT]

Originally Posted by Ginga69

I had a chat with my AS Dealer up here in Canada and he told me that AS have brought out a bike rack for either 2 or 4 biles. He didn't have a picture but he said it mounts to the A frame in the front, it sits above the LPG tanks and folds down behind the tanks when not in use. I am concerned about the height and subsequent ease of access to the bikes? I am still in debate mode and looking for alternatives?

Paul

These folks already make them. Saw it mentioned in a thread on the forum but I do mr remember which one. Check out the website.
http://www.arvika.ca/

[Wingeezer]

Front of the truck for me - but then our mountain bikes are cheapies, (and old, and well used!) not your multi-thouasand $ jobbies! so bugs and dirt aren't a concern!

Works very well for us though and has for the last 13 years since we first tried this method.

Many years ago, I used to carry a small Honda Passport scooter inside a lightweight UK designed twenty foot "Sprite"travel trailer we owned.


I'd like to bring our present motorcycle along, but at 900 pounds, the only way would be the bed of the truck - but we have a cap on the truck and rely upon the space to keep clutter out of the trailer, so I'm afraid the motorcycle stays home in the garage!


Bian.

[Kamiak]

That’s a very clever solution, with an added advantage that the bikes are out of the weather while traveling. The “fussy” in me would be concerned about the accumulated nicks, gouges, and smudges that would accrue over time on various parts of the Airstream from taking it in and out of the coach. And the fact that it would require relocating the bikes to use that portion of the trailer, whether you were going to use the bikes at that particular stop or not.

I also tow with an SUV, and I installed a receiver on the front of my Yukon so that I can mount a bike rack up front. I think I got the receiver from autoanything.com, and it bolted easily to the Yukon frame using existing bolts and bolt holes. Currently, I use a relatively inexpensive Swagman bike rack, the basic type that clamps on the bicycle crossbar. It’s built to hold four bikes, so it easily holds the two we carry, and it doesn’t block my view of the road while traveling. It transports the bikes from point A to point B, including a recent 4,000-mile odyssey, though I’m still somewhat dissatisfied…largely due to the time required to mount and dismount the bikes in a fully-secured manner. From that trip, I’ve decided that my current configuration is fine for multi-day, single destination outings, but it’s not particularly suited for multi-destination adventures. I’m looking for something that will mount/dismount the bikes quickly, within a couple of minutes, without the bungee tie-downs, and other necessary gyrations to fully stabilize all part of the bikes. Both Yakima and Thule offer products that support the bikes from below, at the tires, and those I need to look at more closely, making sure they don’t raise the bikes too high, obstructing my view of the road. I’m looking forward to reading other's suggestions.

[Wingeezer]

Kamiak,

I do agree that on a road trip where we are traveling each day and I want to take the bikes off the front of the truck so we can use them each evening, it can be a bit time consuming.

Due to the high location of the hitch receiver on our 2500HD (actually behind the normal license plate position) I wound up cutting and rewelding my standard bike rack to drop the bikes lower down as they otherwise would have been intruding on my field of vision- they are fine now.

But now you have me thinking to look at other styles of racks that I could use up front that support the bikes by the tires instead. I didn't know they were available on the market. Also, maybe I could see how our local city buses do it and makes something up. Those racks surely must e made for very quick and easy mounting/demounting of the bikes.

Brian

[idmtman]

My wife and I have folding Dahon bikes which fit easily behind the front seat in our double cab Tundra. They are ready to go in 30 seconds and, depending on the model, can do about type of biking one might like. We bought ours through Amazon.com.

I do miss my recumbent and mountain bike at times, but these are a good compromise where space is at a premium.