Bike rack?

[biff]

I am about to purchase a new bike for myself.  My son is just reaching the age where he is constantly asking to go for bike rides and I can no longer keep up on foot (just took off the training wheels two weeks ago).  I'm wondering what kinds of bike racks are available and what those of you out there who use them have been happiest with.  We have a 1997 Jayco 1207KB that we pull with a 2003 Kia Sedona.  His bike is so small that I am usually able to fit it in the back of the van.  That won't be the case with anything I purchase for myself.  Any input would be appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

[zamboni]

If your model is a popup, you could get bars mounted on the roof of it, and put a bike rack (and basket, for carrying other junk!) on it.  My Coleman Niagara popup has Yakima bars on it, and I put 2 Yakima bike racks on it.

Another option:  With my previous Starcraft popup, I had a bike rack that clamped onto the receiver bar (you may need a hitch extension for this), and carried the bikes on there.  It held them high enough (especially since I had a 7" drop receiver for my tiny popup) that the bikes cleared the battery and other stuff on the popup when turning a corner.

[tlhdoc]

I have the Pro Rac Bike Rack that they sell here at PUT.  It can be mounted to any PU and it can be moved from PU to PU if you upgrade your PU.  No holes in the roof either.  Bikes are easy to load and you don't have to lift them over head to put them on the roof.

[4campinfoxes]

We currently have a Yakima rack on top of our Bayside.  If I had it to do over again I'd seriously consider the Pro Rac through the PUT store.  The Yak rack isn't so bad if you just have one or two bikes, but we usually have 4 & getting the inside ones up on top of the camper (& back down) can be a pain in the rear.  We've also had issues with the bolts breaking & the cross tubes shifting.

Sharon

[Bikrchar]

Okay, I've been looking for a way to take 4 full sized bikes along when camping.  I looked at the Pro Rack on this site.  This might be a dumb question, but since you own this product, I will ask anyway:  What keeps the rear tires and bikes from shifting side to side o nthe roof?  Also, where do you put the front tires?  They don't pack very well anywhere.

[Camping Coxes]

Okay, I've been looking for a way to take 4 full sized bikes along when camping. I looked at the Pro Rack on this site. This might be a dumb question, but since you own this product, I will ask anyway: What keeps the rear tires and bikes from shifting side to side o nthe roof? Also, where do you put the front tires? They don't pack very well anywhere.

The pressure of using tie-downs keeps the rear tire from going anywhere.  And we've always put our wheels side by side inside our Suburban, but if needed, I'm sure you could use a bungee cord to strap them to the sides of the bike frames.  We love ours. DH doesn't complain when the kids want to take their bikes anymore.

[tlhdoc]

Okay, I've been looking for a way to take 4 full sized bikes along when camping. I looked at the Pro Rack on this site. This might be a dumb question, but since you own this product, I will ask anyway: What keeps the rear tires and bikes from shifting side to side o nthe roof? Also, where do you put the front tires? They don't pack very well anywhere.

There are tie-downs that keep the back end of the bikes from moving around.  The rack comes with clear plastic adhesive squares that stick to the roof so that the back tire doesn't mark up the roof.  You can also purchase plastic squares that attach to the roof that have straps to hold the back wheel in place.  As far as the front tires, you can purchase wheel holders.  I just bungy cord the front wheel next to the bike.  I put the wheel crank slightly forward of being straight down and the tire sits on the bike rack and the pedal.

[dog007dog]

I built a bike rack out of pvc pipe.  It will hold six bikes, but we generally bring 4 bikes, baby jogger that connects to the bike, and assorted big wheels.  I found the plans online and was easy to build.  Here is a link to  pictures of it.  The pictures are about 900k in size, sorry thats what the camera was set on.

http://www.icehouse.net/kyrstin4/bikerack2.html
http://www.icehouse.net/kyrstin4/bikerack1.html

[Johnowolf]

Well, I just decided to bite the bullet and try the folding bike rack on Overstock.com that clamps onto the hitch mount. It's a 3-bike rack. When they dropped the price to under $60 I figured I couldn't go TOO wrong. Just got it today and it looks pretty nice. I'll be trying it out in the next couple of weeks and will let you know how it is. The only disadvantage that I can see right now is you have to unclamp and remove it to access the back of the TV. Hopefully that will be the only drawback. Time and testing will tell.