Who knows what about Bike Racks?

[johnkimble]

There are tons of options that I'm exploring as far as bike racks. I purchased a spare tire rack on craigslist for $30 the other day but haven't attempted to attach it just yet.

I have a feeling its not going to work. I don't know how much I trust mounting bikes on the ladder or on the spare tire because I don't know how sturdy they are... but I don't have many choises because I don't have a hitch for the back yet.

I'm rambling. I guess let me know what you've had luck with... or bad luck with.

Departure for Cape Cod is on Monday.... aka the firs time I get to use the toyota.... very exciting.

[bajadulce]

Man I hear ya! I went to price bike racks at my local bike shop and the cheapest one was like 400 bucks! Holy crap, what ever happened to those Hoops that we would bolt to our VW's?

Anyways, frustrated, I put a little rack together with 3" ABS.. Thing made it 2000 miles on the worst dirt roads you could ever imagine! The thing has been in use now for 2 years. Hey it looks funny I know, but damn if I was going to spend that kind of money on something I only use 2x a year or so.

I wish I had a better picture, but this one will have to do.

good luck with your bikes! NUT AND BOLT it! ... and lots of bungees!

[Foxy]

There are tons of options that I'm exploring as far as bike racks. I purchased a spare tire rack on craigslist for $30 the other day but haven't attempted to attach it just yet.

Just been through the delima myself. The easy route would have been to get one of the racks that goes in a class III hitch, which we have installed already, however I really did not want to add much more weight to the back end.

We also have a canoe and would like to car top it as Mike does rather than towing a trailer for it. Adding an aluminum ladder and ladder mount rack was about half the weight of the receiver rack and I now have a way to the roof for the canoe rack. We have about 500 miles carrying 2 bikes and the ladder rack works well.

[Desert nomad]

If it is a factory spare tire mount and seems really sturdy you might be fine with adding bike rack or just a bike to it.... If it is just one bike what I have done in the past is use a couple ratchetting tie-downs and strap the bike to the spare (one vertical strap through tire, other horizontal and around it to the mounts, plus use a bike lock through tire for safety as well) - this worked well on our Roadtrek van we hade before the Toyota.

Another option may be to make some brackets from angle iron, bike clamp, etc. that you mount the bike(s) to above the bumper (which you have to space out to do this). Like what I have done for a single bike as per my photo in this discussion topic: 92 Warrior looking to replace carpet and tow jet ski

They do sell bike racks for ladders but should again be a factory mounted ladder and very sturdy...

[bufbooth]

I was able to go with a $10 solution.

My spare tire mounted on the rear bumper and the mount was a U-Channel. I went

to the hardware store and purchased a few sections of water pipe, basically made a

Z-shade bike rack that sliped down the U-Channel. The pipes that I used were:

1) one 36 incher (in U-channel, ran from bumper to just a couple inches above spare tire)

2) one 90 elbow (attached to 36 incher in #1)

3) one 24 incher (ran from elbow in #2, this is where the bike sit one)

4) one 90 elbow (attached to end of 24 incher in #3)

5) one 6 incher (attached to elbow in #4, this prevents bikes from sliding off)

Dennis...