How do you haul your bicycles ?

Valerie56 · 02-24-2013, 08:07 PM

Looking at the 8280ws and was wondering if anyone takes bicycles with them and how . Didn,t know if the frame is heavy enough to put a reciever type hitch on or if the rear bumper is stought enough for that type of carrier . What do you do ?

**Herk7769** · 02-24-2013, 08:12 PM

There are many threads here, but the lion share say not to use the bumper, the ladder, or the frame of Ultra-Lite campers. When I carried bikes it was on a nose hitch on the truck.

acadianbob · 02-24-2013, 08:30 PM

I simply put mine inside the trailer.

Snowsail · 02-24-2013, 08:33 PM

We always bring our bicycles and put them in the fifth wheel between the two lazy boys and the sofa. We carefully tie them together then attach them to the lazy boy tie down. We also tie rags on the pedals for them not to scratch the furniture.

birddogfun · 02-24-2013, 08:36 PM

We purchased bike rack stands and use those to park our 2 bikes inside the TT next to the bed or by the sofa, anchored with the cooler. It's a little bit of a hassle to get the bikes in and out but the best and least expensive method we have found.

FloridaPhil · 02-24-2013, 09:29 PM

We are a just stow them inside family...makes it easy and keeps them clean and dry

bakken · 02-24-2013, 09:43 PM

We have a similar camper, and we just put them in the basement.
I take the front wheels off, and it surprising how little room they take up.
Of course, it doesn't hurt that these campers have such huge basement compartments. That was one of the reasons we bought it.
But I would definitely not put anything on the rear bumper. The frame is so light that you would have to do major modifications to make it safe.

garbonz · 02-24-2013, 09:48 PM

I got folders that go in the front compartment. You can see them on the pic. I have really nice Bike Friday's, but Dahon makes them as does others. They fold really easy and strap right in and stay there till the next trip.

5er_tom · 02-26-2013, 01:38 PM

We have a bike and a tricycle. I am able to put both in the bed of the truck. The handle bars on the tricycle fold down and I turn them 90 degrees. The tricycle fits just behind the truck cab and wedges between the back of the cab and the 5th wheel hitch. There are no clearance issues with the 5th wheel trailer. The bike just lays in the back of the bed. I do strap both of them so they will not move around.

In the future I may get a front hitch and add a platfom for the tricycle, as it is a little heavy and I am getting older

. We used the platfom on the rear hitch of our Class C and it worked good.

**ependydad** · 02-26-2013, 02:34 PM

Ours go inside with a neat sheet laid on the dinette and them on top. Right now I carry 2 bikes - mine and my daughter's. Next year I might also be taking along my wife's beach cruiser. In a couple of years, my now 9-month old will have his own bike. We'll see how long this basic plan works - just another sheet and slap 'em on top/together.

We won't do the front or rear hitch as we're already long enough (currently 58 1/2' bumper to bumper when hitched up).

I'd like the king pin hitch mount, but we have the pretty king pin cover and that would break the looks. AND, if I get rid of that, it'll be so that I can go to a Trail-Aire/Tri-Glide replacement pin (which I'm not sure if/how that king pin mount would work with that).

My only alternative is to put the kids bikes in the truck bed and the bikes on top of the truck. I don't mind this, but it means I'll be spending the money on a Thule rack (boy do I miss my discount!).

DAISY BOYKIN · 02-26-2013, 03:52 PM

I have a short bed f-150 and a ROCKWOOD 5TH wheel 8285WS. The bumper on the 5 TH wheel is too light weight to carry bicycles. The TV bed is too small for bicycles. So I opted to purchase 20"wheel, folding bike, six speed, comes with a rack on the rear for storage of small items (6 PK beer or news paper). Hand brakes for front and rear. Folds in the middle with a hinge, folding peddles, removable Handel bars.

Can be purchased on AMAZON. COM for around $159.95 shipped to your address.

It folds, stores in the pass through storage compartment. Takes up very little space.

I was surprised when we were at the "LAID BACK & RELAX RALLY" in Florida how many people had similar bicycles.

Mark and Linda · 02-27-2013, 07:11 PM

DW got us two folding bikes last year to use when we had our Pop Up. They were purchased from Camping World. We did fold them up and put them in back of our Dodge Caravan when towing our PUP. Now, just fold them up and put them in the back of the truck. We used them well last September when we went to Tybee Island, GA. I put baskets on the front bars so we can carry our things to the beach, etc. We could put them inside if needed, but just easier in the back of the truck.

AquaMan · 02-27-2013, 07:44 PM

I'm building a pin box bike rack to carry what I'm hoping will be 4 bikes. I'm still in design right now, and since my truck topper is still on I can't get accurate measurements for cab clearance. I may have to re-engineer the bike rack to mount the front bike with the front wheel off to squeeze it toward center for more clearance. As a last resort, I can remove the front mounts altogether and should have plenty of clearance. Thanks to Golfmedik, he does a 3 bike rack on a short bed, I have a long bed. Will be posting pics as I go, right now it's just a pile of steel.

Valerie56 · 03-01-2013, 10:53 AM

I b uilt a front mount carrier for my travel trailer and it worked very well but plan to use the sidewinder pinbox so the fw will turn right into the bikes so that won,t work for me ~

tnclays · 03-02-2013, 06:21 PM

I had my dealer weld a 2" receiver hitch to the frame of my 8281SS. This allows me to use a standard bike rack--I am using the "hanging" kind of rack--mine has room for 5 bikes. But---I have DW and 2 DDs with "girls" bikes. I do not trust the bars you can buy to hang a ladies bike on these types of racks, so I installed a set of Yakima Raptor racks on the roof of my crew cap P/U. The ladies' bikes go up there and the 2 guys' bikes go on the rear hanging rack. The roof rack has built-in locks and I use a standard bike cable lock for the guys' bikes.

I have traveled thousands of miles with no problems. I had the same arrangement on the rear frame of the hybrid TT I owned before the fiver.

coupevillefish · 03-02-2013, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tnclays

I do not trust the bars you can buy to hang a ladies bike on these types of racks, so I installed a set of Yakima Raptor racks on the roof of my crew cap P/U. The ladies' bikes go up there and the 2 guys' bikes go on the rear hanging rack. The roof rack has built-in locks and I use a standard bike cable lock for the guys' bikes.

I have traveled thousands of miles with no problems. I had the same arrangement on the rear frame of the hybrid TT I owned before the fiver.

We have hauled my DWs hybrid bike (sort of heavy) on a standard rack mounted in a 2" reciever welded to the frame and rear bumper of our prior TT for way over 15,000 miles using the removable bar. Never a problem except they get dirty back there after a while.

Now looking at options for carring the on the MH.

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