Roo 23IKSS Rear Bumper

[murphlett]

I'm looking to put a bike rack on my rear bumper with a Curt Specialty Trailer Hitch receiver on the rear bumper. Does anyone know the weight rating for this rear bumper since I already have a spare tire on it?

[Purdyquibb]

Man you found the hot button topic. Everyone differs on this subject and there are a ton of threads on this. I'm going to give you my .02 and tell you the rating is o. There are pictures all over this forum of broken Bumpers and failed welds. Completely different dynamics than your spare. Not sure about all trailers I have a huge sticker on my bumper telling me not to put a bike rack on it. Again just my thoughts.

[DK-in-SC]

Hello. Unfortunately, the bumper won't support a bike rack or a hitch receiver. Our IKSS has a sticker on the bumper which states that anything other than factory installed items will void the warranty. So aside from the spare tire and RVQ grill arm, nothing else should be attached to the bumper. Sorry.


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[bikendan]

Suggest you do a search on the Forum, since this subject has been discussed ad nauseum.
Bottom line:
The bumper is not strong enough to do this. Have you looked at the thin and cheap bumper welds or the thin bumper metal.
Doing this may void the frame warranty. Many ultralight trailers have a sticker on the bumper stating this.
The only safe way to do this, is to have a receiver welded and braced to the frame, which again, will void the frame warranty.

[drhroo]

Dang. Another reason to hesitate on this trailer. This was how I was going to address the "where do I put my off road spare because the after market trailer hitch won't let me carry it under the vehicle." Weak sauce, Rockford. And, yes, I was hoping to put a bike rack back there as well.

[RooVader]

drhroo you could take a look at the BD model. That would get you the bike rack and the place for the tire. Nice interior layout as well.

Of course that bumps up the tongue weight, which i know you are monitoring closely.

[murphlett]

How do I get to the threads on this subject? When I click on the underlined words in the posts it just brings me to ads.

[RooVader]

Are you using Tap-a-talk or something? I don't get any highlighted words but pretty much on any forum if you see words highlighted it is to launch ads and help pay the bills.

Stick to thread titles or links posted by members and avoid word links. That said, I don't see them in my Forest River app or desktop.

[rsdata]

on a laptop computer, either use SEARCH (upper right) bumper and or bike rack, or upper left click on Forum, then scroll down and search for Roo/Shamrock and read through all the thread titles for bumper/bike rack related threads

I am one that does use my bumper for a bike rack on my Shamrock 183 and have for a year and have about 4,000 miles on the camper.

I monitor the welds constantly, even on the road. I have a custom close to the bumper bike rack that does not lever the bumper or allow my bike to bounce. I also used a product from mount-n-lock.com that seems to work well giving the stock bumper added support and makes it less likely to twist. I put this on before adding anything to the bumper.

I took off the spare mounted on the bumper and carry that in my TV. IMO think you CAN put stuff on the bumper you just have to be smart about it and not overload it with one of those racks that hang your bike and let it bounce. One guy on here mentioned he wanted to carry firewood on his bumper... NOT a good idea!

Good luck and I think you can make it work for you.

[rockfordroo]

You can't put a bike rack on the BUMPER, but you can put a bike rack on. See pics and drawing of the receiver I had on my Roo 19 for 3 yrs, no problems. Also, you could put your spare under the trailer using one of these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsPze0XeHj8

[vinmaker]

Unfortunately the rear bumper will not hold much weight at all.

You will need to find another way like a frame mounted receiver.

Vin.

[DK-in-SC]

This pretty much answered the question for me.




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[Rrickim63]

Can you do it, yes. Should you do it...no. if you choose to do it, have someone follow you and see how much the bikes bounce around. I lost a bike doing this and won't do it again. Just my 2 cents.

[bikendan]

to the OP and other ultralite HTT/TT owner:

if you have a trailer that's frame warranty has expired, go for it. get a receiver welded and braced to the frame and bumper.

if it hasn't expired and you do either a rack attached to the bumper or a rack receiver welded to the frame and bumper, if damage occurs to the bumper or frame you won't be able to go to the frame manufacturer for any help.

personally, my bikes are not cheap and i refuse to put them somewhere that i can't see them while traveling.
luckily, i have a truck so i have options. i currently use a step bumper-mounted fold down Swagman bike rack on my tow vehicle. that way i see them in the rear view mirror. it holds the bikes high enough to clear the tongue/batteries on all but the tightest of turns.



but even if i had a SUV, i'd go with a vehicle roof rack first, a tongue-mounted system second, a front-mounted receiver third and storing them in the trailer fourth.

[RedStick]

Bikendan,how is your bike rack attached? I can't quite make that out. What model?

We've got two 29er mountain bikes and a 24 that my 10 year old rides. This last trip liked to do me in as we transport them in the trailer (one suffered damage to the rear derailleur).

Do you remove the bikes when making tight turns?


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[bikendan]

Originally Posted by RedStick

Bikendan,how is your bike rack attached? I can't quite make that out. What model?

We've got two 29er mountain bikes and a 24 that my 10 year old rides. This last trip liked to do me in as we transport them in the trailer (one suffered damage to the rear derailleur).

Do you remove the bikes when making tight turns?


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here's a pic of the model of rack:


here's how it's mounted on the truck's step bumper:


i have yet to need to remove them on tight turns.
but if it was an extremely tight turn, like parking in a campsite, i'd remove them.
because the open area between the front and rear wheels is over the jack and battery, you have room to make tight turns.

but that's with two adult bikes. adding a third one might require removing one for a tight turn.

all my pics of the setup, are in my photo gallery here.

[RedStick]

Thanks for the information. That looks like a ball hole mount rack. I've got a Yakima Fulltilt for transporting the bikes when we aren't camping rather than loading them in the bed of the truck. It would be nice if my hitch receiver was a double, but I wouldn't feel comfortable at all installing an extension for a bike rack and the Equalizer WDH. That would be nuts in my view.

I've got a Bakflip cover on my F150 preventing simpler bike transport systems in the bed of the truck. I seem to pack a few lightweight things in the bed of the truck when camping (rug, bbq grill, a few tools, container for black tank stuff and another container for my fresh water hose). That stuff takes up quite a bit of room.

I know what some do with their black tank equipment with the fence post mod, but what do people do (that own hybrids and limited space) with fresh water hose?

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by RedStick

Thanks for the information. That looks like a ball hole mount rack. I've got a Yakima Fulltilt for transporting the bikes when we aren't camping rather than loading them in the bed of the truck. It would be nice if my hitch receiver was a double, but I wouldn't feel comfortable at all installing an extension for a bike rack and the Equalizer WDH. That would be nuts in my view.

I've got a Bakflip cover on my F150 preventing simpler bike transport systems in the bed of the truck. I seem to pack a few lightweight things in the bed of the truck when camping (rug, bbq grill, a few tools, container for black tank stuff and another container for my fresh water hose). That stuff takes up quite a bit of room.

I know what some do with their black tank equipment with the fence post mod, but what do people do (that own hybrids and limited space) with fresh water hose?

Since my Avalanche has a 3 piece hard cover, I've thought about Yakima's system for that kind of application.
Saw one at a the Sea Otter bike festival. But it's pretty costly.
I usually have room in the bed for the bikes, when we camp.

We simply put our FW hoses either in the shower pan or in a rubbermaid tub.

[urocav2001]

What do you use to mount that bike rack on the Avalanche?


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[bikendan]

Originally Posted by urocav2001

What do you use to mount that bike rack on the Avalanche?


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It's designed to mount with a trailer ball but I just used a bolt and nut.
That's why it's called a ball mount bike rack.