securing bikes on pull-out bike rack

jimtoo

Moderator
Hi mbrady4,


Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and hopefully to the family. We have a great bunch of people here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge if needed.

I'm sure you will get some answers soon. The Heartland line is really good and with the factory support we get, you can't beat it.

Enjoy the forum.

Jim M
 
I lean the bikes on the upright post and stager them. I wrap a bungee cord around the frames to the upright post. And 1 tie down strap on each end of the bike to the hitch pin holes on the rack. Works great.
 

olyfire

Active Member
The way that CanadianAV does it is exactly how I do it. It's surprising how secure they stay. We traveled for two months and they stayed very secure. The only other thing I do is secure a bike lock around all the bikes and to the vertical support arm.
 

APT

Well-known member
I use bungees to secure the stuff I put on my rear bike rack too. If you need more details than that, I highly recommend not using the bike rack.
 

RanCarr

Well-known member
We're big believers in bungee cords. We have every size imaginable. We never lost anything secured with these elastic cords. They're cheap so use plenty. :)
 

7dolphin7

Member
I carry two 8ft Kyaks on mine and Bungie Cords are my choice of tie-down, we get some unusual looks, but it just makes the traveling better.
 

brianharrison

Well-known member
The pull out bumper with "bike rack" post is not designed to be a great bike rack - I guess the manufacturer has to compromise something when designing a multipurpose thing-a-majig, to carry bikes, generators, and kayaks and the such......

I had it on my old Montana Mountaineer 5th wheel. I started with a 2x4 carriage bolted to the post extending horizontally back towards the trailer. I found that to be quite inflexible though when I got different bikes as the kids got older. I then switched to hybid design where I cannibalized an older bicycle carrier by cutting off the horizontal bar that extends horizontally and bolting that to the upright post from the pullout bumper.

As other posters have mentioned, I used lots of tie down straps (racket kind) as well as bungee cords to secure the bikes so they did not bang around when travelling.

Sorry, I do not have any pictures as I do not have that unit any longer.

Take care,
Brian
 

CQPREZ

Member
I have the same trailer you do and have the same question. Did you ever figure out a good way to secure the bikes?
 

silvasp

Well-known member
The way that CanadianAV does it is exactly how I do it. It's surprising how secure they stay. We traveled for two months and they stayed very secure. The only other thing I do is secure a bike lock around all the bikes and to the vertical support arm.

Doesn't work well for me. I'm using about 6 tie-downs but the freeways around here get "bouncy." Several times I have found my bike(s) jostled enough to wedge one of them between the carrier and the trailer.

Currently, I'm toying with the idea of using some 3" PVC pipe cut in half and bolted to the carrier or some "C" channel welded to the carrier to keep the wheels from moving. It's my biggest problem.
 

Bogie

Well-known member
I'm not really familiar with this trailer, but noticed mention of a pull out bumper tray. If you have that, I can offer some suggestions. I had a pull out bumper tray on my previous 2011 Sundance. If you look at THIS thread, I have some pictures on post #28 of what I did. I used a Swagman bike rack and a bumper mount receiver. All mounted sort of backwards form normal. Worked quite well for me.
 
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