carrying bikes

[Rarebird]

Hi all,
We are trying to figure out the best way to carry our bikes....two adult sizes, and one child size.
We have thought about a Thule rack that fits into the receiver on the Honda Element (our tow vehicle), so we can use the rack when not using the trailer. Then getting a receiver that fits onto the back bumper of the Boler to attach the rack to, so we can move the Thule rack there, when travelling. (they make these special receivers that clamp onto the bumper).
Will that add too much weight to the rear of the trailer?
What other options are there?
Thanks,
Marjie

[Donna D.]

Here's a solution from DaveK. It speaks to carrying two bicycles. Maybe if the child's bike is small enough you can get this to work for you too:
Receiver mounted 2-bike rack, You can use it while towing!

[kconley]

This is what I got to haul our recumbent bikes when towing... Got it on Ebay, I think it was under $50, very well made unit.. My carrier clamps around the receiver, but a insert unit will fit in the 2" receiver hole.. My carrier is made for 3 bikes, but our 2 recumbents are heavy & long... The entire unit hauls & tows great with very little wiggle of the bikes.....

[Bigfoot Mike]

Here is the bike rack I made for my Casita and two bikes.

[Booker B.]

We added a standard bike rack to the back of our Trillium - it holds 4 bikes but we generally just take the kids bikes:

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/index.ph...st&p=276870

[CarolnJim]

We have a Hollywood Bike Rack and it's great. It weighs about 24 lbs.. and with our bikes each weighing about 30 - we carry 84 lbs on the rack. The rack will carry 3 bikes.

We can use the bike rack on the back of the trailer and on the Odyssey. Jim made a way to attach the bike rack to the trailer so there is no back and forth movement of the bikes. This works great.

[Pete Dumbleton]

Be very careful about adding weight to the rear of the trailer -- That's the very worst place in terms of trailer stability.

Watch that video of the sway simulator discussed in another thread and see what happens when demonstrator moves the weight to the rear -- It still all looks fine going down the road until the demonstrator introduces a momentary trigger sway, as one would get from a passing truck, swerving to miss a deer, a tire on the shoulder, etc.)...

For safety's sake, the best rack is one like MIke has -- Less weight, that weight is on the tongue, not the bumper or on the ball mount -- One of the Yahoo Scampers has also had one made like that.

[John Hussey]

[quote]Here is the bike rack I made for my Casita and two bikes.

Attachment 18155


Attachment 18156


Mike:

Did you make or buy that neat looking diamond plate box covering your propane tank(s)?
I am interested in one, too.

[Dan Vang]

Be very careful about adding weight to the rear of the trailer -- That's the very worst place in terms of trailer stability.

Watch that video of the sway simulator discussed in another thread and see what happens when demonstrator moves the weight to the rear -- It still all looks fine going down the road until the demonstrator introduces a momentary trigger sway, as one would get from a passing truck, swerving to miss a deer, a tire on the shoulder, etc.)...

For safety's sake, the best rack is one like MIke has -- Less weight, that weight is on the tongue, not the bumper or on the ball mount -- One of the Yahoo Scampers has also had one made like that.

I understand weight is better on the tongue then the back of the trailer. However, my scamp has a trailer hitch added by Scamp, so I always figured the mfr thought it was safe to have weight there. I am figuring on putting two adult bikes, plus weight of hitch mount should be about 100 lbs. Can I offset it by shifting more weight inside the trailer forward? ie, a ten gallon water jug in the front end of the trailer (80lbs).

[Pete Dumbleton]

Scamp has reportedly had troubles with the rear hitch, including them or the bumper coming loose. One absolutely has to fasten the bikes to the trailer on top or they will create a lot of repetitious back and forth motion with some leverage on the hitch and welds.

Yes, you can offset the weights of the hitch, bumper/frame reinforcement, bike rack and bikes by moving or putting stuf on the opposite side of the axle -- A good thing to move would be the spare tire to the tongue or under it.

[Donna D.]

Have you considered carrying the bikes inside the trailer? Two positive considerations, they stay clean and dry and if you pull over somewhere to shop, etc. during your travels they'll be "out-of-sight, out-of-mind."

[Bill K]

Pete,
Would you mind telling me where you saw this information ?

The reason I ask is I plan on ordering a Scamp 16 this month with the hitch on the back.
I read here and Scampers forum everyday and had not seen anything about this problem.

Thank You
Bill K

Scamp has reportedly had troubles with the rear hitch, including them or the bumper coming loose. One absolutely has to fasten the bikes to the trailer on top or they will create a lot of repetitious back and forth motion with some leverage on the hitch and welds.

[Pete Dumbleton]

Could have been someone posting here, but more likely someone on the Yahoo Scampers group -- I have been reading it for years, so can't pin it down --

I've posted some quotes here because Y S can't be viewed unless member:

[2006]
> The receiver hitch was fabricated right after we purchased the
> trailer last
> year. It's worked well with two trips from NC to the Fl Keys and
> several
> in-state runs from the mountains to the coast. Before mounting the
> generator on
> the tongue, I did have to move around 100 lbs of gear to the front
> gaucho to
> get the trailer balanced. You will need additional bracing from the
> receiver to the frame as the bumper is just not strong enough on its own.

[2007]
> When I first added the 2" receiver to the rear
> bumper, I notched out the bumper with my torch and
> welded in the new receiver. Admittedly, I'm not the
> best welder around but I do have a number of years
> of experience in patching up farm equipement so I'm
> confident in saying the rear bumper itself wasn't
> weakened any by this addition. When I added the
> bike rack and bikes, the bumper flexed enough in my
> shop to convince me that some sort of additional
> support would be required. I then welded a piece of
> square tubing across the frame about eighteen inches
> forward of the bumper and used a piece of 1/4 " X 2"
> flat iron to tie the receiver to this new cross
> member.
>
> Everything seemed stable enough so we headed from NC
> down to the Fl Keys for our vacation. After a
> particularly rough stretch of I-95 in GA, I found
> the 1/4 strapping had broken in the middle
> apparently from the upward/downward flexing. The
> welds on receiver and the cross member were still
> good. We moved the bikes and rack into the trailer
> and continued our trip

Same poster, I believe.

Here's an instructive thread on the subject from the Casita Forum, plus a quote:

http://www.casitaforum.com/invboard/index....ike+rack+bumper

"In the 70s we had a bad experience with a 22' Airstream single axle. We had pulled the Airstream with a large trail bike on the back for many miles on different trips. Then the right combination of things happened all at once. One, I did not fill the water tank in the fornt of the trailer, we were going down a long hill, windy conditions , a large truck passed..... to make a long story short. we lost it... On the replacement trailer we added about 2 feet to the front and there after carried the trailbike on the front. I think that the trailer pulled better and sure did back better."

These are all after-market mods, however, I specifically recall someone posting about a chat with Kent Eveland about not putting on factory receiver for bike rack any more -- Perhaps they are reinforcing better now... I just can't find it.

Be aware that many of the Scamp bike rack success stories involve the 5W, which is a horse of a different color regarding sway and stability compared to a conventional ball hitch in terms of weight in the back, however, Joy has had good luck with her rack on an S13, which I would expect to be about the worst case (She did mention that she moved some stuf to balance the load and does notice more sway effect).

If Scamp is putting them on at the factory, then they must not be having problems now with mechanical stuf, but one would still have to deal with the loading/sway problem because it can be relatively hidden (as you can see from the Airstream quote above -- Bigger bike, but bigger trailer, still in ditch).

[Kevin A]

We have a bike rack from Cabella's that fastens to the drawbar (our bar is a step-up for added height). You attach the tow ball (very tightly!) and it functions as one unit. For added strength, I had the bike rack bottom plate welded to the drawbar so it becomes one solid unit. We can attach two adult bikes and it works well over our trailer tongue. Using bungee cords, we keep the tires from spinning or hitting the back of our VW Eurovan. We used this for trips to Minnesota and Iowa during the last year. If we had a 3rd smaller bike, I would just pop it in the trailer for traveling.

Here's a picture, but it isn't very close-up.

[Bill K]

Thank You very much Pete. )

I only went back 1000 messages when I started reading Scampers so I must have missed it or else I wasn't thinking about a bike at that time.

The salesman at Scamp says that they some metal going from one side of the frame to the other and weld the receiver to it and the bumper.

Bill K

Could have been someone posting here, but more likely someone on the Yahoo Scampers group -- I have been reading it for years, so can't pin it down --

I've posted some quotes here because Y S can't be viewed unless member:

[Roger H]

Not only does mounting the bikes on the bumper create tongue weight unloading (and problems for the rack itself), but the force generated by the bikes themselves while they're flung around back there are hard on the bike frames and anything attached to them. They also tend to collect road dirt which isn't good for the chains, bearings, etc. etc.

I carry our recumbents inside the trailer.

Roger

[Pete Dumbleton]

I didn't even think about the dirt angle -- Yes, the back of the trailer is in an eddy when moving down the road, with the side air flowing past the egg, turning and coming back at it (along with dust/dirt kicked up by the TV and Egg in passing) -- Kayak/canoe people know exactly what I mean.

Look at the back of my Scamp in this photo and envision your bike in all that crud...

[Doug & Anna-Marie P]

We went a totally different route for our bikes.
We sold our bigger bikes and bike rack and bought a couple of 6 speed folding bikes, that fold up very nicely and fit behind the back seat of our Escape tow vehicle. 25 pounds each and they fold/unfold very quickly..

No getting dirty and easy enough to hide when we stop somewhere.
Our Escape trailer did come with a bike rack ready receiver on it, but by then we had already bought these bikes.
I feel better knowing they are safe and sound inside..

Just having our old bikes on a rack on the trunk of our car years ago--they came loose and were dragging on the road--thankfully someone saw and got our attention before damage was done..

[christineb]

I didn't see any posts about a 5th wheel hitch and bike racks. I am definitely nervous about putting them on the back, but we have minimal room in the truck bed....................hmmm. How badly do we want those bikes! I just can't imagine lugging them in and out of the inside of the trailer.
christine

[BrianP]

I built one of the racks for carrying the bikes inside the trailer (see Donna's post). It actually takes me less time to load the bikes inside than it does to install my hitch carrier and load and secure the bikes. The first bike goes inside easily but the second bike is somewhat of a hassle - have to maneuver around the first bike and get the pedals lined up just right. I use bungee cords to secure the bikes to each other (less bouncing around) and the wheels to the bikes. The only other hassle is wiping the bikes down before loading if wet. In spite of the hassles, so far I don't miss dealing with the hitch rack and continually checking to see if the bikes are secure on the rack.