Bike rack ideas

[apackoftwo]

I really would like to take my bike without putting it my truck bed

Apparently the rear bumper on my 1950 isn’t capable of having the extra weight along with the spare tire

What have YOU done to add a bike rack to your Sunline??

Thanks!

[ggrvguy]

I took the spare tire off my rear bumper and I throw it in the bed of my truck or under the bed in the camper. I installed a 2 bike rack carrier on the 4" square bumper and strap the bikes to that. The 2 bikes weigh a lot less than the spare tire , but the leverage on the bumper I think is greater , because they are farther back. I'm actually devising a plan to reinforce the rear bumper/ rack to ease my concerns on long trips over rough roads.
Gary G

[j52wf]

I got the Yakima Bed Rack. It easily attaches across the top of the bed like a roof rack system. Mine has held 3 bikes and a Thule cargo carrier and leaves the bed open. I then use the bed for another Thule cargo carrier to keep supplies that need to stay dry in an open bed. Still room for tables and chairs as well. One of my better EBay purchases for camping. I also have a Yakima roof rack system on the roof of the Ram.

[j52wf]

Look at my dignature picture for a good illustration.

[apackoftwo]

I only have one bike and a long bed. I assume they make one bike racks. I am a full time RVer so I use my truck bed for storage probably more than a vacationer RVer

Originally Posted by j52wf

Look at my dignature picture for a good illustration.

[j52wf]

The bike racks are a separate purchase. Only get as many as you need. It is mounted above the bed. Only issue would be if you have a bed cover. I take mine off or roll it up if I plan on using the Bed Rack system. It is very versatile and easy to set up and take off. I had all the locks on the Bed Rack, roof rack, and bike carriers switched over to the same key. Both my Thule cargo carriers are also keyed alike.

[jim44646]

I had 2" x 2" square tubing welded to my frame right behind my bumper and a square receiver mount welded to that. Then I use a bike rack made for hitch mount. That way no weight is on bumper. If your coming to mid west meet and greet I can show you better than explaining

[jim44646]

You ask that same question in 2017

[JohnB]

Joan,

A heads up on the T1950, I would not recommend a bike rack on the back of it, even if they attach direct to the actual steel frame. The unique way Sunline made the frame on the left side of the T1950 to deal with the dump pipe, creates a very weak left side frame rail behind he rear axle. The wood floor structure actually helps stiffen up the steel camper frame. I have more pics etc on that frame issue if wanted.

The other Sunline trailers without that left rear bathroom/frame issue may not have the T1950 frame issues and that is how they where able to do a direct frame mount bike rack.

Carrying a bike can be a problem pending ones tow vehicle and situation is. There is no one size fits all. I ended up making a bike rack to go on the A frame over the LP tanks on our T310SR. The only reason I could do that was I have 6" channel iron frame to mount it to and a truck heavy enough to deal with the added tongue weight of the bikes.

Some folks have created a front tire fork mount board that works inside the camper. We had someone here on our forum do this. They take the front tire off and clamp the fork to the floor wood panel he made and carry them inside the camper.

I forget if you have a truck cap or not. Others have created the fork mount setup inside the truck bed under the truck cap.

We had a member too with a fold up section tono cover, make a bike rack behind the truck cab. The rack went left to right and sat on top of the bed rails. His rack fastened to the bed rails hole pockets. His tono cover allowed him to have the bed rail holes open. My tono cover, covers over those bed rail holes so I could not do that method.

There is also a truck front receiver bike rack method. The bike goes on the front of the truck. The issue here is the truck lights and turn signals. The bike tires should not block the lights, especially the heads lights. It works in some cases and not others.

When we take our grand children camping, I wrap their bikes up in a sheet and put them inside the camper. It is a pain, but it works for the few times we do it.

Hope this helps

John

[apackoftwo]

I know but I never installed one and was thinking maybe there are more options now

Originally Posted by jim44646

You ask that same question in 2017

[apackoftwo]

Thanks John. Except for the front mount by the propane tanks which would be different for me the other solutions just won’t work for me. 😕

I took my bike one year and did store it inside or in my truck bed and it WAS a hassle so I left it in my storage.

Probably leave it again when I leave Michigan and head to warmer climates this Fall

[roger66ogden]

Hey everyone! Kind of jumping in late but how about a receiver on the front of the tow vehicle that you can mount the bike rack to?

[apackoftwo]

Hey,

What do you mean a receiver specifically? I don’t want to cover my radiator

Originally Posted by roger66ogden

Hey everyone! Kind of jumping in late but how about a receiver on the front of the tow vehicle that you can mount the bike rack to?

[roger66ogden]

A front mounted receiver is similar to the one at the rear of the vehicle that you tow with. Although the load carrying capacity is nowhere near the same. It mounts underneath the vehicle and allows you to attach in this instance a bike rack. A bicycle on a rack 8n front of the radiator should not restrict air flow enough to cause any cooling issues. If your intentions were to attach a carrying rack and let's say load it up with a generator or other large bulky items then I would not suggest that as that would restrict air flow to much. You can always ask the OEM of your TV and get their input to see if a bicycle would restrict air flow to much.
Just throwing an idea out there.
Roger

[apackoftwo]

Oh I see. Like this https://www.etrailer.com/Front-Recei...icleID=1997336

Originally Posted by roger66ogden

A front mounted receiver is similar to the one at the rear of the vehicle that you tow with. Although the load carrying capacity is nowhere near the same. It mounts underneath the vehicle and allows you to attach in this instance a bike rack. A bicycle on a rack 8n front of the radiator should not restrict air flow enough to cause any cooling issues. If your intentions were to attach a carrying rack and let's say load it up with a generator or other large bulky items then I would not suggest that as that would restrict air flow to much. You can always ask the OEM of your TV and get their input to see if a bicycle would restrict air flow to much.
Just throwing an idea out there.
Roger

[roger66ogden]

Yeppers that would be what I am talking about.

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by apackoftwo

Oh I see. Like this https://www.etrailer.com/Front-Recei...icleID=1997336

Yes, that was what I was talking about in my post, the bikes go on the front of the truck.

When we had our T2499 and our K2500 Suburban, carrying 2 adults bikes was an issue. A 2500 SUV is "way up there" to do a truck roof bike mount and I did not want to take the chance of falling trying to get the bikes on and off.

I ended up doing a front receiver on the Suburban. Being it was a 3/4 ton Suburban, I had more ground clearance then the 1/2 ton version.


This post has pics of my bike rack on the Suburban
https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f...html#post89329

There is the good and the issues to work through in doing this.

The Good.
- The bikes ride very well on the front of the truck. The front truck suspension helps the bikes travel nice and smooth.
- You can see them and know they are OK.
-It is easy to load/unload the bikes into the rack. The easiest by far then any configuration I have used.

The issues,
- You will get some bugs smeared on the bikes, especially if you travel at night. Depending on how this affects you, it may or may not be a problem. It was not an issue for us.

- Transmission heat. This I know, on a GM 3/4 ton truck (year 2000 to 2007) the auxiliary transmission cooler is not very large. Two adult bikes will raise the towing temps by 2 degrees just about all the time from the air flow reduction of the bikes. GM on the 3/4 ton trucks of that era at least gives you a real transmission temp gage so you can read what he temperature is. The 1/2 ton trucks never had the real Gage with graduations. The 2 degrees for 2 bikes was not a problem in my case.

I have a camping buddy who had the same truck, just the 8.1 liter engine where mine was the 6.0 liter. He had 2 adult bikes & 2 kids bikes on the front. This many bikes will create a problem. He was down south camping for the summer and on the way home towing the camper in 90 F heat, he started overheating the truck. He was 4 states away from home and tried to re-arrange the bikes, add pipes to try and get more air into the radiator, none of that worked in his case. He ended up taking the 2 kids bikes apart and putting them in the camper to get home. Point: 4 bikes will not work on that truck.

-Head lights. This was a problem for me. Cindy's bike has larger tires and would partially block the headlights. I reworked the bike rack to lower her tires down so the light shined over the tires. That made it at least usable but I really needed to drop the tires several inches lower. Do no forget ground clearance when lowering the bikes.

- Turn signals. Each state may look at this differently but there are federal lighting laws that regulate the auto industry on what is acceptable for turn signals and how many degrees to the side and straight ahead must be seen for the lights to comply. I do not recall the DOT standard now, but this needs to be checked.

Pickup trucks have snow plows on the front of them that totally block the headlights and turn signals. These vehicles comply by adding secondary head lights and turn signals above the plow when it is fully up.

Bicycles on the front of a vehicle is allowed in some cases, at least in OH, as the city of Columbus has bike rack on some of the front of the public transportation buses. They are promoting, ride the bike and the bus. You put the bike on the front of the bus, ride the bus, get off and go on your way with the bike. But the bus is wider then a 1/2 ton to 1 ton average PU truck, SUV or van. The bikes fit in the space between the headlights and turn signals as the buss is wider compared to the bikes. Point being, this comes back the lighting regulations for the front of the vehicle need to be inline.

My use of the front bike rack was limited to 1 1/2 years as we changed campers to the T310SR and went to the F350 truck. I felt I was on the edge of complying with the lighting regulations. If we would of kept the truck/bike rack, I was prepared and was going to add secondary turn signals on the front of the rack and figure out how to lower Cindy's' bike further.

The bikes do ride well up front, just passing along some of the things to be considered and worked through.

Hope this helps

John

[apackoftwo]

That is excellent information John, thanks!!

[JohnB]

Thanks Joan,

One other thing maybe unique to your full timing. If you get a front mounted bike rack, will you pull it out of the truck when you get to camp where you stay for a long time? Or ride around with it on the front? Parking lots may be an issue with it on the front or park in the back 40 where all the big trucks do.

If you can find just a single bike rack, the weight may not be that bad and it more manageable. A steel double rack weighs more to man or lady handle in and out of the truck receiver all the time. All doable, just something to think through. It they make a 1 bike aluminum bottom tire holding rack would be ideal for less weight.

John

[apackoftwo]

More good thoughts to ponder
They do make single bike racks. Never thought about aluminum but that’s a good idea too.

Thanks John