Beds & Bikes - any suggestions?

[4campinfoxes]

I've been wistfully looking at hybrids for a couple of years now and I figure sometime we might move in that direction.  Stopped at the RV show in Des Moines this weekend and came away with a lot of brochures.  Unfortunately no one had Starcrafts there & I did want to see them.  Oh well.

I have 2 things that have kept me from making the move (besides money :rolleyes: ).

1. The bed size.  They seem to be so much smaller than my Coleman king size.  How do they compare with a real queen size mattress size?  I like the hybrids with bunks or extra beds out the side so my 2 girls have no chance of "touching" each other during the night.

2. Carrying bicycles.  We tend to have 4 or 5 bikes along for most of our trips so we'd need to figure out a way to haul them.  I saw one company, Keystone maybe, with an advertisement for a bike rack just over the propane tanks.  Unfortunately it'll only hold 2.

So - any suggestions???  Before I even seriously consider purchasing one I need to figure these out!

Many thanks!

[Cheryl]

Hi CampingFox,
We have the Rockwood Roo 21SS and the front bed is listed as a Queen yet two twin Coleman Air Mattresses fit on it snugly just as they did on our Coleman PopUp king bed. Go figure! Tho listed as a Queen, DH and I who are used to sleeping on a king, have no problems. We sleep with our heads out over the tongue and our feet do not go over the end of the mattress into the trailer. I'm 5'10" and DH is 6 foot.
As far as the bikes go you could put two over the tongue and two on the rear......or, a rack on your tow vehicle.
Good luck,
Cheryl

[homecrew]

I'm thinking of trying a bike stand inside the hybrid. Something like this...  http://www.bicyclestand.com/2place%20mountain%20bike%20stand.htmAnyone try one of these?

[griffsmom]

We don't have a hybrid....yet ...but we tow our pop up and take our bikes along.  We use the swagman hitch-style carrier and ours can hold up to 4 bikes.  They also offer a model that will carry 5 bikes.  If you have an SUV where the back opens up, the carrier has a nice feature where the upright bar folds down so you can access the cargo area.  We love ours!

 
http://www.swagmanbikeracks.com/

[CanadianMom]

We had a receiver welded onto the rear under-frame of the hybrid, the dealer had it done for us.  We used a class two hitch and just put the rack right on the back of the hybrid.

[4campinfoxes]

Do Hybrids have problems with weight distribution?   I thought about mounting something on the  rear bumper but wondered if that would cause problems while towing.

Sharon

[dee106]

in the popuptimes store they have a bike carrier!, we get 10% off

[6Quigs]

The Tahoe and Wanderer line of Hybrids from Thor have a King sized bed in the front,(74x80) that is in fact bigger than the king sized bed in your Bayside, (70x77).
Unfortunately, Thor has deided to stop makinh Hybrids, but you can still find a few left overs in some dealers, that they are discounting to get rid of.

As for transporting bikes, maybe a combination of a hitch mounted system for 2 bikes, along with another reciever at the rear of the hybrid for 2 more bikes, or even a front mounted reciever on your Ford E-150, to carry 2 more bikes.

We put all 6 of our bikes in the bed of our truck, and I like not having to unload them immeaditly when we arrive, unlike the rack we used to have on the top of the popup, as the bikes were the first thing to unload, and the last to be put away when leaving.

[edoengr]

We have a 23' Coyote with a slideout.  We love it.  It is perfect for 3 young kids (6, 4, 1.5).  Every year we go to the camper show & look at other campers.  We haven't found anything better that we would want.  I built a rack that drops into my truck hitch for hauling things.  I then built a receiver on the back of our camper.  The rack slides into the receiver.  It's a little heavy but it is solid & holds 3-4 bikes.  Sometimes I only put 2 bikes on & put the rest in the back of the truck.  Our queen size bed is plenty big.  The U table also folds down.  I think it is an oversize queen.  The U table is nice for our family as it occomodates more than 4 people.