How to bring bikes?

[rayandre]

Does anyone have a solution to be able to bring bikes on a trip with a trailer? Would love to have the option to do some biking on long trips but I haven't seen anything that could work. My TV is an 05 Toyota Sequioa towing a 2' 1970 Overlander. Thanks!

[DanielB]

Bicycle or motorcycle?

[boatdoc]

Originally Posted by rayandre

Does anyone have a solution to be able to bring bikes on a trip with a trailer? Would love to have the option to do some biking on long trips but I haven't seen anything that could work. My TV is an 05 Toyota Sequioa towing a 2' 1970 Overlander. Thanks!

Hi rayandre;
Presuming you are talking about bicycles, there is nothing out there made as stock Item. We take mountain bicycles every time we camp. It was a hassle to load them in the truck bed with ARE truck cap among other necessities. Tired of the hassle I have build a SS class#1 receiver to mount in the front of my 2006 2500HD Sierra. From then on I built removable holder designed specifically for our brand of bicycles. One bicycle fits on the inside of the holder the other on the outside. If you have fabricating capabilities I can send you a pics of my setup. Thanks, "Boatdoc"

[AirsDream]

There are many threads on this topic. Seek and ye shall find. Several solutions seem to have emerged, depending largely upon your tow vehicle and whether you care about bug spatters on the bike ... and I don't know anything about Toyotas...

1.) Some put bicycles in the trailer, either on a blanket leaning against gaucho, etc., or 2.) standing on racks purpose built to take them. 3.) Some folks use racks, either on top of the tow vehicle, in the bed of a pickup, or on top of a (hard) tonneau bed cover. 4.) Some use front-mount receiver carriers, as boatdoc suggests. 5.) Some folks (and I'm one of these) just fold the Dahon or BikeFriday, etc. and stick it behind the seat in the truck. Lots of solutions.

Now, if that's a motorcycle and/or your trailer is really a two foot long one, then there are a host of other issues!

[kidsgone]

We were at an AS dealer yesterday and spoke with a couple that had a '98 Excella...beautifully kept...anyway...they had bike racks on the back the the AS.
They had a hitch welded to the undercarriage (didn't look under) and then had the
bikes on a hitch mounted bike rack. Pretty neat idea.
Andi

[Pacerized]

We take a queen sized bottom sheet with the elastic ends. Place our bikes inside the Airstream on the sheet and pull the ends up over the tires to keep tire marks out of the Airstream. We may look at another solution in the future but this has worked for several years with no problems.
Charlie

[rayandre]

Thanks folks! I was talking about bicycles, sorry for not clarifying that earlier. The inside solution may have to be it for now-it's tough because we have 2 kids with full sized bikes so we have 4 total to deal with. If I had a truck bed that would be my first choice. I've considered having a reciever welded on to the back frame area by the bumper so we could put a rack back there but my only concern with that is the weight on the back end of the trailer-seems like it could be a lot of weight with 4 bikes. I'd hate to be the cause of separation in the back end. I also like the idea of a reciever for the front of my SUV. Basically my Sequoia is the frame of a Tundra so it could handle it and this thing sits really high-higher than some full sized pick ups which makes the roof option very difficult although not impossible. We'll keep workin on it among other storage issue for our first long trip. (we're hoping to go to Florida in June)

[FreshAir]

Some have had no issues with bikes on the back though it's not a good idea. It's not the weight of the bikes but the 'weight created' by the up down spring action. It can (will be) unbelievable and could ruin the coach frame ESPECIALLY on the longer coaches. Imagine you jumping up and down on the bumper. Yours is 27'. I wouldn't even consider the option.
Neil

[Airstream25]

Here is the way we carry our bicycles. .
The rack is a stock item from GMC.
Need to mount a receiver hitch on the front same as on the back.

[barts]

We use a standard Yakima bike carrier fitted into a front mount receiver on our F250... the front receiver is commercially available and also comes in handy when maneuvering trailers into tight spaces - the truck is a crewcab and has a large turning radius. It has room for four bikes.

Webspinner's bicycle doesn't fit the Yakima, so it rides on a plastic tarp on the bed in the Airstream - a plush ride indeed.

We could also mount a bike rack to the construction-style rack on the truck; that gets pretty tall, though.

- Bart

[Steamy1]

Curt industries makes a front 2" receiver for Toyotas. Easy to bolt on. Then you can buy a Thule or Yakama receiver bike rack. When pulling the trailer, the bikes can be on the front. If you do not have the trailer, then the rack can be mounted on the rear receiver hitch.

This really solves the problem, and you do not risk damaging your trailer.

The bikes are easy on easy off of a receiver hitch rack. I use the front hitch on our 2010 Tundra.

[dkottum]

rayandre, could those bikes be taken down slightly to slide into the back of the Sequoia? We carry ours in the bed of the pickup, thinking that we don't want much weight back there anyway.

Not much for the front carrier, although it has advantages of weight distribution and convenience. The bugs, grease, and road debris as well as the headlight interference make me wonder. I like the clean look of an Airstream rig going down the road. Maybe there is a bit of Beverly Hillbilly's style with bikes on the front?

Doug K

[noreen&sal]

Im going to carry the 10 speed in the back seat of our extended cab F250. {Unlesss the grand kids are coming.} Sal.

[wahoonc]

I recommend going vintage to match the Airstream

Mine are early 70's Raleigh Twenties. They don't have the smallest fold and they definitely aren't the lightest, but they match the age of the trailer and do fold small enough to stuff in a truck bed with plenty of roof to spare. They (along with most folding bikes) have the ability to fit a wide range of riders. I am 6'-2" my bride is 5'-1". I had to add a longer seat post to my bike, but it does fit both of us.

Aaron

[Wingeezer]

We do te same as Airstream25 and put the bikes up front of our pickup using a stock front 2" receiver and a bike rack. I did cut the bike rack down and reweld it though becouse on our GMC 2500HD, the bikes were sticking up too high in front/

Works great - we've been carrying bikes this way for the last 12 years or so.


Brian.

[Bird's Nest]

We had an Armada when we purchased our CCD. We immediately purchased a GMC 2500 and sold the Armada so that we would have somewhere to carry a generator and our bikes.
We installed four Yakima BedHeads. We love them.

Now we have a Westfalia and we are trying to figure out the best way to carry our bikes and have easy access to the back doors. We are sold on the Kuat NV rack but are still researching the swing out hitch mount options. Our camping is almost always tied to a biking event.

[rayandre]

Thanks again for all of the suggestions. I think I'll install the Curt front mount reciever and use my existing bike rack in the front-thanks for the lead on where to look for a bolt-on-really appreicate all the tips. Also makes a lot of sense to have the option to go noce in on a tight camping space-I woul dhave never thought about that. I especially like the vintage bikes-reminds me of a bike I had in 4th grade! (without the lime green sparkle banana seat!) I no...now I've kinda dated myself. Pay no attention to that last comment.

[Jack46]

I just posted this for a similar question. This solution works very well for us. Expensive!
Arvika

[rayandre]

Jack46-thanks for the link! Nice product line. Where did you buy yours from, which rack did you get and if you don't mind me askin-what's the price range of these? Looks like a great product. They should have a US dealer-I don't think I've seen anything like their trailer racks!

[Jack46]

Rayandre, At the time - 3 years ago - we bought it directly from the manufacturer. The name then was Top Rails. I remember that it cost about $450.00. WOrks well for us. Ours is mounted over the propane tanks. Two clamps on either side of the "A" frame. Rack itself is removable. I use a small step stool to lift our two bikes up onto the rack. They travel just fine. Jack