Carrying Bicycles with a Pop-Up Camper

[cyclist]

I have a tundra with a palomino 800 camper (I bought Logan's/panamnotes's truck) and am currently traveling through south america. Today I just bought a pair of mountain bikes, so we can get back outside and riding, which is a passion for both me and my girlfriend and we are very excited.
However, we now have the dilemma of the best means of transport. In an ideal world this would likely be a hitch-mounted rack, but this we are in Chile and unlikely to find that for less than $1000, and it would have to clear the tailgate, which is stuck in the down position.
Short term at least they will be inside the camper, but this is going to be difficult to fit, especially with the surfboard we still have (know any surfers in southern chile?) but might be able to tie that to the roof.
Longer term I would like to find an easier but still secure solution. Has anyone put a strap type rack on a camper before? It is hard to find stuff down here and expensive when you do, so DIY ideas from home-depot type parts are great.
thanks

 

[goodtimes]

We have an 8' camper (FWC Granby) on a 6.5' bed, so we can't put the bikes out back either - so we put them up front.

Probably easier said than done in your locale, but a front receiver is little more than a piece of 2.5" square tube with some mounting tabs welded on, and a bike carrier is little more than a couple pieces of tube welded together.

 

[Runt]

The answer to your issue is a North Shore Rack. Awesome bike rack! http://northshoreracks.com/ I love mine. You can probably set it up as is to clear your tail gate.....if not add a extension or request a a longer tube on the bottom. North Shore Racks is a small business (husband & wife business) and they are very helpfull.

 

[tanglefoot]

I now use a hitch-rack with an extension to clear the open tailgate and camper.

On my previous tent trailer, I made some fork-mounts that bolted to the top out of pieces of L-bracket, threaded rod and nylock nuts. The L-bracket pieces were bolted to the roof with the threaded rod going through a hole in each piece. Nuts on the inside of each L-bracket held them apart and nuts on the outside with washers clamped down on the ends of the bike fork. It's basically a home-made version of this:



The back tires went in between more L-brackets with a bungee that went through each wheel. Then you only need to store the front wheels inside...or you can build mounts for those too.

You probably wouldn't want bikes standing on top of a truck camper...that'd be too tall. That type of idea might work on the back wall of the camper though. You'd just have to make sure the attachment points are very stout--there are some definite stresses at the base of the bike fork. If they are vertical, you might add a supplemental strap or similar to hold the bike up if the fork were to work its way out of the mount.

Here's a rack design that mounts on the back of the camper and holds the whole bike that you can use for inspiration:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/68424-My-new-custom-ATC-flatbed-camper

All the best with your adventures!

 

[chnlisle]

I use one of these;
http://www.bodiak.us/front-end-receiver-hitches/

With one of these;
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hollywood-R...Mount-Rack-1-25-inch-/140743932877#vi-content

 

[mtnbike28]

Something like this?

 

[SLO_F-250]

I now use a hitch-rack with an extension to clear the open tailgate and camper.

On my previous tent trailer, I made some fork-mounts that bolted to the top out of pieces of L-bracket, threaded rod and nylock nuts. The L-bracket pieces were bolted to the roof with the threaded rod going through a hole in each piece. Nuts on the inside of each L-bracket held them apart and nuts on the outside with washers clamped down on the ends of the bike fork. It's basically a home-made version of this:

View attachment 100922

The back tires went in between more L-brackets with a bungee that went through each wheel. Then you only need to store the front wheels inside...or you can build mounts for those too.

You probably wouldn't want bikes standing on top of a truck camper...that'd be too tall. That type of idea might work on the back wall of the camper though. You'd just have to make sure the attachment points are very stout--there are some definite stresses at the base of the bike fork. If they are vertical, you might add a supplemental strap or similar to hold the bike up if the fork were to work its way out of the mount.

Here's a rack design that mounts on the back of the camper and holds the whole bike that you can use for inspiration:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/68424-My-new-custom-ATC-flatbed-camper

All the best with your adventures!

Based on your constraints (currently traveling in South America) I would suggest bolting something like this to your camper as others have recommended.

I would personally fab up a rear hitch extension. Very simple little project to do and either go with Northshore Racks (VERY expensive IMO) or if you are not too worried about your bikes (not super high end expensive), just get a used standard hitch mount rack off craigslist to go with your hitch extension. They are all over the place and very cheap.

Personally I did this. That link goes to my thread where I have pictures of the bike rack I built.
Good Luck and have a blast on your travels! :sombrero: