Bike rack options?

[Rustymayes]

I have an E bike that I will be making part of my standard equipment on board. I am thinking of using a receiver hitch flat bed to carry firewood so was thinking of putting a reiver hitch on the front of the coach on the generator slide out frame for a bike rack. On my first trip out I put the bike on one of the slide out basement trays but as I continue to outfit the coach I am sure I will need the space. Once I get the Canyon set up as my TOAD, I'll have more options for carrying a bike as well. Just wondering what others do.

 

[JRS]

This is my setup but they're lighter regular bikes. Then can switch the bike rack to the back of the Jeep when local use is needed.

 

[lostinfla]

This was our setup when we had Ebikes using a Kuat nv2.0 rack on back of the coach above the tow bar. We went back to pedal type bikes and use the same setup now.

 

[Jim]

I'm on the hunt for a rack for our two ebikes and I'm seeing ads that say "Not for use on a motor home". But why is that? What's the difference if I have it behind a motor home or a Jeep?

 

[DennisT]

When we searched for the one we have, basically that means they have not certified for on the back of a motorhome. You will find the same thing on some that are not for use on a vehicle when towed behind a motorhome.

Personally I think it is to cover their bases since they didn’t specifically test that configuration and the overall stresses etc are a bit different depending on where you mount it.

ETrailer has some good filters for searching what they carry that are certified for those uses.

 

[widdershins]

We've been happy with this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09T9BCPNS/?tag=rvf01-20

120# capacity, sturdy and easy on/off. If we're hauling our toad and bikes.. the bike rack goes on the Jeep.

Going by carrying capacity, many racks are light weight. Put them on the rear of a coach where every bump is amplified by the distance to the rear wheels and the rack is hanging out there getting tossed about. And I'm sure some is CYA as @DennisT mentioned.

 

[Rich W.]

My bikes will ride on a hitch mounted rack on the jeep. That way I can take the bikes with me to trails or other places away from the coach. I’m combining a typical hitch-mount two-bike rack with a hitch-mount cargo rack (probably the same as what you are using for firewood) to ensure its strong and secure enough.

 

[Neal]

I'm on the hunt for a rack for our two ebikes and I'm seeing ads that say "Not for use on a motor home". But why is that? What's the difference if I have it behind a motor home or a Jeep?

Typically a rack that folds/pivots will not be "certified" for a motorhome. I went with Kuat and love it.

NV™ 2.0

The Kuat NV 2.0 2-bike hitch rack is a premium hitch rack for your car, truck, or SUV that’s thoughtfully designed with unmatched features and value.

www.kuat.com

 

[Jim]

Typically a rack that folds/pivots will not be "certified" for a motorhome. I went with Kuat and love it.

NV™ 2.0

The Kuat NV 2.0 2-bike hitch rack is a premium hitch rack for your car, truck, or SUV that’s thoughtfully designed with unmatched features and value.

www.kuat.com

I know you did. I actually did a forum search before I posted. lol How often does that happen, right? But at the end of the day, it turns out you have more disposable income than me. . .

 

[MemoriesByTheMile]

From my observations, on a RV the distance from the rear axle to the bike rack creates more violent movements which will create more stress that a typical passenger vehicle.

Watching how much the rear bike racks jump around on bumps (on the back of travel trailers) makes me not want to use a bike rack on the RV, unless it was significantly strengthened.

 

[Jim]

We've been happy with this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09T9BCPNS/?tag=rvf01-20

120# capacity, sturdy and easy on/off. If we're hauling our toad and bikes.. the bike rack goes on the Jeep.

I looked at that one, but my 2 bikes combined were over the capacity limit. But thank you, @widdershins !

 

[Rich W.]

We've been happy with this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09T9BCPNS/?tag=rvf01-20

120# capacity, sturdy and easy on/off. If we're hauling our toad and bikes.. the bike rack goes on the Jeep.

Going by carrying capacity, many racks are light weight. Put them on the rear of a coach where every bump is amplified by the distance to the rear wheels and the rack is hanging out there getting tossed about. And I'm sure some is CYA as @DennisT mentioned.

I bought a rack like that used on CL for $40 for parts for the contraption Im building. It will be a little ugly, but it will carry the weight, be very lockable and have additional brake/tail lights and turn signals. Hopefully that will cover all the bases, accept appearance of course. I’d have to buy a Kuat rack for that.

 

[widdershins]

I bought a rack like that used on CL for $40 for parts for the contraption Im building. It will be a little ugly, but it will carry the weight, be very lockable and have additional brake/tail lights and turn signals. Hopefully that will cover all the bases, accept appearance of course. I’d have to buy a Kuat rack for that.

I hope you'll post up a new thread on that, always looking for fun projects!

 

[gibsito]

I use a receiver-type rack that came with my old D250 Dodge. It's not pretty but it works great. The truck has 2" receivers front and rear, so if I'm towing the bikes go up front. The rack is built out of heavy gauge steel with good welds so I don't worry about it breaking. Up until now it's only carried human-powered bikes, but I converted one of them to an e-bike so it's significantly heavier than it used to be. I haven't carried that on the rack yet but am not worried about it.

I built a homemade rack out of iron pipe once, thinking that would be more than strong enough. I didn't realize that the weak points on it would be the threaded portions of the pipe. It worked great for quite awhile, but eventually broke - twice. Both times it dropped my old Specialized MTB (chromoly) to the asphalt at 65 mph, but both times it also stayed attached to the vehicle. That bike is built like a tank. It bent the rims and one of the cranks, but the frame was (and still is) straight as an arrow.

 

[Rich W.]

I have a good stout hanging 4 bike rack but I’m a bit concerned about the weight of these. Mine is now up to 60.4lbs. My wife's is probably around 56.

 

[Rustymayes]

I am in the process of putting together the bits to flat tow the Canyon and for now I will just carry the bike in the bed of the truck. The wife has not committed to wanting to buy an e-bike for her to ride so for now this should suffice. If we get her a bike I will buy a rack to go on either the truck or the RV when we don't take the truck with us. Thanks for the input and ideas. Incidentally, I decide to go with Roadmaster for my tow rig. I am planning on installing the invisibrake system as I like the idea of not dealing with brake set up and break down every time I hook up the truck. There is enough to deal with just getting the truck into neutral for towing being that it is all electronically controlled.

 

[JRS]

I am in the process of putting together the bits to flat tow the Canyon and for now I will just carry the bike in the bed of the truck. The wife has not committed to wanting to buy an e-bike for her to ride so for now this should suffice. If we get her a bike I will buy a rack to go on either the truck or the RV when we don't take the truck with us. Thanks for the input and ideas. Incidentally, I decide to go with Roadmaster for my tow rig. I am planning on installing the invisibrake system as I like the idea of not dealing with brake set up and break down every time I hook up the truck. There is enough to deal with just getting the truck into neutral for towing being that it is all electronically controlled.

I've seen a couple pickups with bikes standing up on/in the bed. They could be hand made but question if there are there bike racks for use in the bed of pickups?

 

[Rustymayes]

Truck bed bike rack | Thule | United States

A truck bed bike rack from Thule lets you easily, safely, and securely carry bikes in your pick-up. Find the perfect bike rack for your truck here!

www.thule.com

These look like they would do the trick

 

[Rich W.]

Some hillbilly engineering going one here (did I mention it might be ugly?), but I’m only in it for around $115 and it will keep the bikes safe. I bought the rack in the first pic used for $40 just to get the vertical support parts - it has everything for two bikes but I just used that much of it to go pick up a bike from my LBS. It might have been ok for two 60lb e-MTBs but I want more support under them than that rack could provide.

Bought a 4“ hitch riser ($50) because I wanted the tray higher, and when it was on the jeep hitch, the spare tire used up 11” of horizontal space of the tray. So now it sits 4” higher and further back enough that the spare doesn't interfere.

I’ve had the cargo tray in the barn for years. The wood is temporary (just sizing things up) and it will have tail lights (I’ll use my magnetic temps for now). I spent about 2 hours just strengthening the old cargo tray because even though its “rated” for 500lbs, it was a rickety POS. So I welded every seem and joint and with the help of a couple hitch stabilizers ($11 each) it doesn't move around much. I’ll also put some sheet metal in the bottom over the expanded steel ro keep the bikes a little cleaner.