21BD Owners: Using the Bike Rack

[NCBound]

I'm considering a 21BD (over a 21DK and 21SS) primarily because of its ability to carry bikes on the front deck. I'm interested in hearing about your experience using the OEM bike rack.

Is it well designed? Does it hold bikes securely? Would it be able to hold 2 29er mountain bikes (the attachments look very closely spaced)?

I'd also be very interested to hear about any mods you've made to improve the bike rack.

[rockfordroo]

Suggestion: If you find a 21BD, take your bikes along when you go look at it.

[NCBound]

I'll definitely do that. Unfortunately, 21BD's are as rare as unicorns at dealers it seems.

[bikendan]

Isn't the deck primarily designed for ATVs?

[chriscowles]

Originally Posted by bikendan

Isn't the deck primarily designed for ATVs?

That would be the 21SSL on which the deck extends past the front bed. In the 21BD, the deck looks to be about half the depth of the front bed.

[lablover]

We have a 2015 21BD and love it. Besides the floorplan, it was the bike deck that sold us on it. We do carry our bikes(2) with us but found that they took up too much space over the bike deck. We use the bike deck for carrying outdoor stuff that we don't want inside. We securely attached an over the spare tire bike rack on the back bumper which we secured with plates bolted to the frame of the camper. We have traveled well over 9000 miles and have not had one problem. It is just the 2 of us and 2 large dogs so we did not need a dinette and a couch but appreciate more floor space for the dogs.

[jgoldwood]

Ditto. It does work for bikes but with two adult bikes it's a bit of a pain to get them loaded. Very handy for hauling anything else though. If you are interested in coming to NE Indiana, I have a 2016 that I am considering putting on the market.

[my new roo]

Hi NCbound, We bought a 21ss for the floor plan, we love bringing our bikes. I did a lot of research and bought a bike rack that mounts over the propane tanks on my 21ss, it works awesome. E-trailer had it all in stock. Happy camping.

[NCBound]

Putting a bike rack above the propane tanks sounds perfect. I'd love to see how you did it. Do you happen to have pictures or a link to the setup you used from E-trailer?

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by NCBound

Putting a bike rack above the propane tanks sounds perfect. I'd love to see how you did it. Do you happen to have pictures or a link to the setup you used from E-trailer?

There are 2 or 3 different "over the tanks" bike rack systems out there.
Toppoprails was the original but they are expensive and hard to find in the US.

[my new roo]

I contacted e-trailer and they set me up with the Stromberg carlson bike bunk part #cc275 and the Lets Go Aero VEEME V2 part #VME-V2. I did have to modify the bike bunk, because it stands 2 inches to tall the the bed would hit it when down. All I did was cut 2 inches off the poles that mount to the tongue. But it works great. We brought our bikes every trip we went last year (28 days). I don't have pictures and right now in storage far from home. Good luck and god bless.