Traveling with mountain bikes

[JRTrillium]

Does anyone out there with a 13 foot Trillium travel with their TWO bikes? We really want to bring ours with us an not inside the trailer - not convenient at all that way.

Looking for suggestions?

Thanks!

[Carol H]

My solution when dealing with heavy bikes was to put them on the roof of the tow vehicle.

[MC1]

Originally Posted by JRTrillium

Does anyone out there with a 13 foot Trillium travel with their TWO bikes? We really want to bring ours with us an not inside the trailer - not convenient at all that way.

Looking for suggestions?

Thanks!

J and R... What are you using as a TV?

When we towed with a Mini Van the bikes easily went inside the van.

Then with the car we put them inside the trailer. Not great but it worked for us.

On the outside you have options which include a mount on the front of the vehicle, on the roof of the TV, on a rack on the A frame of the trailer or on the back bumper of the trailer which IMHO is not recommended in most cases.

[stevebaz]

On my Nissan pathfinder I welded another receiver tube on top of my existing hitch and put my bike rack into that. I am too short to be putting heavy bikes on top.

[KevinScamps]

I bought a small folding plastic stool from BB and Beyond to make it easier to put bikes on roof of TV. Even if you put a rack on the trailer for bikes, you still need a rack once you get somewhere so you can drive to the trailhead which may or may not be where you are camped. Rack on the roof provide that.

[JRTrillium]

I forgot to mention we carry our kayaks on the roof of our Ford Escape. I've been told it's not a good idea to put a bike hitch on the back of the Trillium. We've carried the bikes inside the trailer and it's a pain getting them in and out and we can't secure them inside so they bounce around.

[Ice-breaker]

You could try using a fairly wide roof rack and carry both bikes and both kayaks on the roof of your car. Seems to work ok for these guys with a Subaru. Advantage of having everything on your roof is that you can go to the put-in or to your bicycle start point without having to bring your trailer along.

[mary and bob]

Most roof racks have a weight limit. Check your owners manual. Our Honda is rated at 50 lb as I recall. With two kayaks I'm probably over.

[Ice-breaker]

Originally Posted by mary and bob

Most roof racks have a weight limit. Check your owners manual. Our Honda is rated at 50 lb as I recall. With two kayaks I'm probably over.

Are you sure?

[ruscal]

No solution will be ideal, but I'll bet it can be done! With the water toys on the tug roof you may be over the weight limit to add the bikes up there. Maybe put one bike there, and the other on a rear trailer mounted rack. Putting the bike on the front of the trailer above propane and battery has been done, but may interfere with the kayak overhang. If you use a rear of trailer mount you will have to pay close attention to keeping shiftable loads way up front for balance. I use a rear mounted platform on the back of our 16' Scamp to carry a campfire pit, wood, and accessory tub which all together weigh in around 70 pounds. It tows fine if I put heavy stuff in the front bath and area just inside the door. Two bikes would be in the same weight area. I did relocate the Scamp's axle back 1" from stock which helped in my case.
Having bikes at a campsite is necessity.
Russ

[JRTrillium]

Thanks for weighing in, folks. I think the next time we take the trailer and kayaks out we will attempt putting the bikes in the back of the Escape. See out that goes.

[Meghan]

We travel with 2 mt bikes 2 kids bikes and 3 kayaks. We have the trunk attaching bike rack currently and kayaks on the roof and one inside the van. We are shopping for a bike rack that hooks into the hitch and has a hitch to hook up to the camper. So the bikes are hitch mounted between the car and camper. I think that would be ideal
http://www.etrailer.com/comparison.a...77-2&pc2=D-192

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[Meghan]

Originally Posted by Meghan

We travel with 2 mt bikes 2 kids bikes and 3 kayaks. We have the trunk attaching bike rack currently and kayaks on the roof and one inside the van. We are shopping for a bike rack that hooks into the hitch and has a hitch to hook up to the camper. So the bikes are hitch mounted between the car and camper. I think that would be ideal
http://www.etrailer.com/comparison.a...77-2&pc2=D-192

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[Carol H]

Originally Posted by JRTrillium

I forgot to mention we carry our kayaks on the roof of our Ford Escape. I've been told it's not a good idea to put a bike hitch on the back of the Trillium. We've carried the bikes inside the trailer and it's a pain getting them in and out and we can't secure them inside so they bounce around.

You may find the thread Bike Rack on 13' Scamp of interest.

Donna posted a photo in that thread of a way to keep the bikes from moving around in the trailer - basically you remove the front wheel and secure them to a removable board in the centre of the trailer that has front fork mounts on it. You can buy the fork mounts needed at most rack shops.

Floyd has also posted photos of the rack he built out of old bike rack parts and mounted it on the front of the trailer, over the trailers propane tank. A perfect fix for those who are as skilled as Floyd at DIY projects.

I have noted at FG rally's folks with trucks mounting the rack/bikes onto the front of the truck. That only works if you have a *really* large truck as more often than not the bikes will interfere with the headlights or they sit up to high and interfere with the drivers sight lines.

As others have indicated you do need to read your manual as to what the weight limit is on the roof of your tug. With the rack & its add ons and two fiberglass? kayaks you may already be at the max roof weight limit. Some might be surprised at how low the roof weight limit is on some vehicles.

[MC1]

This guy is resourceful. Bikes could go on a rack on the front of the vehicle. Wouldn't be my first choice though.

[David Tilston]

Well, I guess I should comment that we have a receiver on the back of our 4500. We have put a cargo platform, and a bike rack there. No problem. When we had the cargo platform, we ended up with such a low tongue weight that the hitch was bouncing up and down and clunking. I stopped at a closed weigh station to check. We only had 30 kg, (66lb) on the tongue. No sway, but the clunking was driving me crazy. There was a tap on the side of the building. I loaded up all the water containers I had and put them in the gaucho. Tongue weight went up to 80 kg, (176 lb). Still light for a 2400 lb trailer, but at least it was not clunking anymore. The bike rack, with two large bikes, and a small kids bike was no problem in comparison.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Meghan

We are shopping for a bike rack that hooks into the hitch and has a hitch to hook up to the camper. So the bikes are hitch mounted between the car and camper. I think that would be ideal
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When considering this type of set up, you really need to watch your tugs tongue weight specs. Add the trailers tongue weight, bike rack (many weigh 35lbs or more - you will need to buy a newer pricey light aluminum rack to get the weight down), receiver (7-10lbs) and a couple of mountain bikes (22 to 50lbs each) to it and your total tongue weight is going to jump up, Not to mention the strong possibility of the rack and bikes bouncing up and down right at the hitch may not be the nicest tow you have every had especially if pulling with a smallish SUV type tug.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Ice-breaker

You could try using a fairly wide roof rack and carry both bikes and both kayaks on the roof of your car. Seems to work ok for these guys with a Subaru.

An example of yet another person who probable has never read the manual. Not something we haven't seen before here

My guess would be it is at or over the roof limit. Subaru has a 150lb limit on the roof of the car in question. The plastic full sized single sea kayaks run between 55 to 70 lbs on average. The mountain bikes depending on their age and build run from 22 to 50lbs each, add on the weight of the rack accessories needed to carry it all .....

[stevebaz]

One thing to watch out for with the bikes mounted between the tug and the trailer is Keeping the bikes out of the propane tanks and trailer making tight turns. I have to mount the bikes high so they are higher than the propane tanks and I have to keep the pedals at the 12 & 6 o'clock position.

[Ice-breaker]

Originally Posted by MC1

This guy is resourceful. Bikes could go on a rack on the front of the vehicle. Wouldn't be my first choice though.

From your picture, it looks like he is towing a snowball.