MudSplattered

I have been searching for an affordable bike rack to go in my truck bed which doesn't require wheel removal. Didn't find what a needed so modified a design from my LBS bike rack and now I can fit 4 mountain bikes in my truck bed without wheel removal. The front rack is bolted to the truck bed and has adjustable forks to accomodate different length bikes, the back rack fits into slots in the truck bed liner and expands by twisting, like a shower curtain rod. To load the bikes, slide the tires into the ford at the front of the truck bed, when all bikes are in, slide the back rack forks onto the wheels and into the bed slots, give it a few twists and all is secure!!! work's awesome!!!

Check out May 5's entry for pictures:
https://runfromms.blogspot.com/

FF 6800

wow... thats cool

mtnbiker66

Thats cool. I made my own too.Why pay all that $$$ when you can put it on your bike.

MudSplattered

Yeah, it cost only about $80 in supplies and 2-3 hrs of my husband's time. I'm a happy dirt girl!

dminor 

Very sensible solution. Much better than all of the way-overpriced store-bought contrivances. Only thing more economical is good ol' motorcycle tie-downs.

cryptid01

Tough and complicated to fit four bikes with tie-downs, though.

I am a fan of the Dakine pickup pad - the absoulte simplest loading of any system, fits five bikes with ease and a lot of leftover bed space.

MudSplattered

I thought about the motorcycle tie-downs, but none of us know how to use them. Some of our bikes have the cables running under the frames so I wasn't sure if the Dakine pad would work without messing up the cables. We go over some big bumps to get to the trails and the pad might not keep the bikes from sliding around into each other, but as I have never actually seen the pad, I don't really know if that is a problem.

Olebiker

I had never heard of this product so I went to Dakine.com. It's one of those Web pages that won't let you click on the "Back" button. Grrrrrr!!! I want to smack 'em.

dminor 

It's moot point now that you have such a nice home-fabbed rack, but I'll throw it in here in case anyone else is mystified. Four bikes can go in with just two pair of tie-downs. Alternate bikes forward to backward (or two outer forward, two inner backward). Lash one tie-down to the ouside of each bike (shown in red) and then use a short tie (I use a small length of ski rope with a vinyl-coated hook - - shown in green) to lash between the two inside-facing handlebars fo the bikes. Here's a crude little diagram of two options:

cryptid01

It's okay, sometimes the intarweb can be challenging



I have downtube cable routing and have used this pad with no adverse effects.

dminor 

I've seen your post of this pict before. Nice, simple setup too. I've gotta ask, though: what keeps 'em upright?

cryptid01

Gravity + friction. The padding is quite thick, so the downtube settles in snug against the gate. The covering is also very grippy and makes contact with the fork lower and the tire as well as the downtube / headtube junction to stabilize it laterally.

As long as you're not driving like Ivan Stewart, the bikes stay put. I suppose you could always throw a bungee across the top if you were overly concerned about losing them, but I really don't see the need to.