|
|
|
| I'll show you two different bikes racks that I've used successfully. With these two racks, I can either haul 4 bikes, or put a bike on each one, and some lawn chairs. If you're using a Class III hitch, this may be the hot ticket for you too. |
| I now use this same bike rack on the back of my Jeep that
is pulled by Motorhome. I could also mount it onto the towbar that
pulls my Jeep. The advantage to leaving it on the back of the Jeep
is that I can haul my bikes with the Jeep once I arrive at the
campground. Sometimes the best way to get around a crowded town is
by bike.
|
| Back in about 1993, a friend had a Coleman Popup with a
factory bike rack on the back. I thought that was great, but I
didn't like the design. It mounted to the roof and hung over the
back of the camper. I decided this could be improved by mounting a
rack to the rear bumper. The only problem was the stock bumper is
flimsy, and incapable of supporting a bike rack.
The first step was to find a suitable piece of metal to replace the bumper. A friend gave me a piece of heavy duty aluminum that would work just fine. Plenty of strength, but it was a little short. Oh well, the price was right and it worked fine. The next step was to purchase a bike rack from Camping World. This was only about $30. The nice part is that it can be quickly removed. Oh, but I heard you can't put a rack on the back of a trailer! While some may try to tell you otherwise, I've used both of these for a decade, traveling more than 20,000 miles without any issues, including the dreaded sway. But it wasn't luck, it was careful planning. In order to keep the trailer behaving itself, it's very important that the tongue weight be 10% of the trailer weight. If you add weight to the back of the trailer, add weight to the front to balance it out. Not rocket science. Load the heavy items in your trailer forward of the axle. The trailers that are very prone to sway are the ones with a storage box on the front. Unless you load these very carefully, I'd suggest not attempting a bike rack on the back of the Popup. They are already too light on the tongue weight, IMHO. |
My favorite search engine!
|
Last updated 05/10/05 All rights reserved. |