Calsun

I have only bought pickups and SUV's that were long enough at 6.5 x 4 feet to hold a bike with the front wheel left on. With two bikes I put the first one in and it is directly on the heavy duty rubber cargo mat and then I put a piece of cardboard on it and then put in the second bike.

Now I use a two-bike platform rack that has arms to secure the front and rear wheels of the bike and no contact with the frame. For two to three bikes the 1UP while not cheap, works very well. It is much easier on my back to load the bikes on the platform rack.

Steve B.

I think you are overthinking this. With a 5ft. bed on my Frontier, I usually just take off front wheels, lean the bikes on either side of the bed and just bungie to my UtiliTrack to keep them shifting around.

Quadna71

Am I overthinking this? Absolutely! But that is why I posted up on here - get other perspectives, solutions, takes on what I could use. My current Yakima hitch rack works great for our other bikes but won't work for these two (weight and frame shape) hence me asking for ideas.

Quadna71

Due to the timing of stuff going on here, I caved and ordered a tailgate pad. Ideally I still want a better way to carry them more securely, but this will get me jumpstarted for a trip this weekend. I was also looking closely at a Kuat rack I saw online. Doesn't work for bed mounting, but I think if I can find a way to secure a hitch on the back of our camper then I should be good. That way we can use the truck hitch if just taking the truck, use the Jeep hitch, or use the camper hitch if the truck is pulling it. The challenge is the weight of the bikes. These are heavy e-bikes so 2 bikes and rack together will be close to 200#. That is more weight than I'm comfortable placing in a clamp-on receiver hitch...especially when leverage is taken into account. So some sort of reinforcement from the frames might be explored.

prj71

As I mentioned earlier...that's how bikes get frame or paint damage. At least you run the risk of it anyway. That's why we use bike racks. Preferable the tray type that clamp on the tire so no part of the frame is touched during transport.

rumrunn6

while there may not be a crossover application here, I use Curt stability straps with my bike racks. like I said, not sure how or where, you'd use them, but they make a product for other applications

Speedway2

I find it's a PITA to move/remove stuff out of the box to haul my bikes so I use my wife's hitch mount bike rack.
All that is required is using the adapter sleeve to fit the 2" receiver on my RAM.

Quadna71

I bet they really stabilize the bike rack over bumps too. I'm not sure it'll translate to how I'd like to carry them on the back of the camper because the lack of a reinforced bumper is really the issue. Since it isn't very strong I can't use a clamp-on receiver that grips the bumper...I've seen plenty of pictures online of folks that tried and basically rotated the bumper until the bikes dragged the ground.

Quadna71

I hear you. Normally the bed has firewood in it for our local park, but I'll have to get creative with stacking it if the bikes are coming along. Our current Yakima rack would have to utilize the bar adapters in order to hang the new bikes and I'm not a fan of them. Plus our truck hitch is a 2.5" which means I'd need another adapter just to neck that down to 2" so the Yakima rack would fit.

Steve B.

I have a multitude of bike racks that I use on required occasions, including the 1x6 on the floor with fork mounts. My experience in the truck bed is the rear wheel and the handlebar are the only contact points with the front wall and side of the bed, thus no real chance for scratching and hasn't happened yet. Like I said, sometimes you can over think things.

Quadna71

Well I ordered it last night, ir arrived today, and I’m already sending it back. It was a Yakima Gatekeeper and overall I wasn’t impressed. The liner wasn’t all that soft, the straps were too short (bike securing straps), and the 3 straps securing the pad to the tailgate still allowed it to slide around. Oh well - back to square one.

BillK56

I use the Inno Velo Gripper Bike Rack for Truck Beds. It is quick, easy and very secure. I can’t post the link because I don’t have enough posts. I purchased it through e-trailer. Love it!