Bike racks

[BusManRG]

Since it appears that adding a receiver for a bike rack to the back of the Big Horn will void the warranty, how do most of you carry your bikes? Are you just putting them in the back of your truck? We didn't go with the small receiver Heartland offered, since it didn't fit most of the racks we've either owned or looked at. Maybe I should see if we could still add it???

Hmmm?

Thanks,
Sandy

 

[danemayer]

BusManRG,

Lippert warrants the frame and if you call them, they will probably tell you that adding a receiver hitch will void the frame warranty. It's questionable whether they can easily do that as the burden of proof will be on them to show that your modification caused the problem. But they could make life difficult if you have a problem.

The frame warranty is 1 year. After that it may not matter. Except that if you have a frame problem of any kind after the warranty expires, ordinarily they might help you anyway. But once they see the hitch, they might just sit back and remind you that your warranty has expired.

That all said, I'm not aware of anyone having a frame problem from attaching a receiver hitch to carry bicycles.

A lot of people have had heavier receivers fabricated and attached to the frame.

 

[Gulf_Coast_Girl]

Since it appears that adding a receiver for a bike rack to the back of the Big Horn will void the warranty, how do most of you carry your bikes? Are you just putting them in the back of your truck? We didn't go with the small receiver Heartland offered, since it didn't fit most of the racks we've either owned or looked at. Maybe I should see if we could still add it???

Hmmm?

Thanks,
Sandy

Last week at a campground I saw a 5er with a bike rack mounted on the pin box. Found this picture on the internet, it's like the one I saw at the campground

 

[Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn]

Dan you always know just how to word it. Me not so much !!!
Put a good custom made 2" receiver on it and enjoy.
Happy camping.

 

[travelin2]

My dealer welded a 2" receiver on mine from the get go 3 yrs ago


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[Oregon_Camper]

I went with the custom fabricated hitch for my motorcycle. I've had friends follow me and they tell me the bike hardly moves. I credit this to the fact I designed this hitch with 2 inserts vs just 1 insert. This allows the weight to be distributed to 2 bars and stops all the side-to-side rocking.

Standard bicycles would be way easy.

 

[sengli]

Our rig came with the 1.25' hitch receiver from the factory, and it is flimsy. We have had no luck keeping our bikes on the back of our big horn. We have had two different bike racks break due to the bouncing of the coach as it goes down the road, and lost our bikes to road rash. You have no idea how bad things will bounce, til you see it. Special note every rack we have seen since, states if mounted on an RV, the warranty, if there was one on that bike rack.... is voided. We ended up putting a 2' receiver on the front our truck, and thats where we attach the latest bike rack. No problems thus far. I know its not perfect, but it has worked without ant issues for us.

 

[BusManRG]

Our rig came with the 1.25' hitch receiver from the factory, and it is flimsy. We have had no luck keeping our bikes on the back of our big horn. We have had two different bike racks break due to the bouncing of the coach as it goes down the road, and lost our bikes to road rash. You have no idea how bad things will bounce, til you see it. Special note every rack we have seen since, states if mounted on an RV, the warranty, if there was one on that bike rack.... is voided. We ended up putting a 2' receiver on the front our truck, and thats where we attach the latest bike rack. No problems thus far. I know its not perfect, but it has worked without ant issues for us.

Do you think if you would have upgraded the rear hitch to 2" it would have given you access to a sturdier bike hitch and changed your experience?

 

[MTPockets]

Do you think if you would have upgraded the rear hitch to 2" it would have given you access to a sturdier bike hitch and changed your experience?

Ditto on the flimsy 1 1/4" rack. We had a 2" receiver welded and still had problems with the bounce and broke the bike rack... Some have posted success, but we chose to do away with hauling the bikes.

 

[travelin2]

Regardless of the receiver, movement of the bike rack must be eliminated. The receiver can be rock solid but if the inserted rack loaded with bikes is bouncing and swaying, well...


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[Westwind]

Don't recommend welding a two inch receiver and putting a vehicle bike rack into it, why, saw this setup this past week traveling to West Virginia from Rhode Island and it was bouncing all over.
Design it and weld it so that it had multiple methods of attachment so there was "NO" movement or flexing and you might be OK, but it's out of sight and once gone it's gone.
You read stories of folks who never knew they lost rack and bikes until they reached their destination.

 

[SNOKING]

We have the 1.25 receiver! Might be a place to mount a BBQ table while parked. I am not sure yet how I am going to get our bikes to Arizona this winter. Might see if they will fit in the front compartment we both wheels removed. We had a pin box rack I made when we had a long box truck. With the short box there is no room. Yakima roof rack is 800-900 bucks for the TV. Looking for ideas!

Chris

 

[Abear79]

Just for thought, but we upgraded the back bumper to a heavier schedule square pipe. We carry 4 bikes on the back of ours and the bumper was flexing. The side bumper covers kept popping off. Now all is good.

 

[Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn]

Ditto on the flimsy 1 1/4" rack. We had a 2" receiver welded and still had problems with the bounce and broke the bike rack... Some have posted success, but we chose to do away with hauling the bikes.

When you mounted the "2 receiver did you use the factory mounting side plates or did you mount your new custom 2" hitch directly to the frame ???

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[Shortest Straw]

Just for thought, but we upgraded the back bumper to a heavier schedule square pipe. We carry 4 bikes on the back of ours and the bumper was flexing. The side bumper covers kept popping off. Now all is good.

Which rack are you using to carry your bikes?

 

[Abear79]

Which rack are you using to carry your bikes?

Trailhead, the Allen Sports rack I had didn't make a year. I didn't know at the time that Allen racks are not recommended for rvs. I did not lose any bikes but the rack arms bent bad.

 

[JohnD]

Our previous 2013 Heartland Trail Runner had the slide-out rear bumper-bike rack.

While it was a cool idea in theory . . . it was a major PITA to use.

So much so that we skipped it as an add-on accessory for our Prowler.

We found that we never took the bikes off of the rack as it was such a hassle to put them back on and strap them down when it was time to roll!













Notice the common theme with the bikes . . . trailer in the campground . . . bikes still on the rear bumper rack?

Plus, go down a dirt road and those bikes get filthy (found that rinsing off the bikes was the only real good reason to have the outside shower).




That rear bumper rack did come in handy when I bought new wheels and tires for the Trail Runner to replace the BlowMaxes . . .




A flip-down rear bumper rack was an optional accessory that we really considered . . . but passed on when we bought our 2015 Heartland Prowler.



Right now we don't carry our bikes with us . . . still looking for a solution!

 

[Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn]

I did a custom 2" hitch, and welded it directly to the frame. This thing is stout....
https://heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/54076-Project-LM-365?p=439083&viewfull=1#post439083

Then I bought this bike rack from Camping World and replace the 18" long square tube with a 30" tube.
XC Hitch or Bumper Mount Rack

To add to this post this bike rack is very easy to get the bikes off and on also easy to lock the slide tubes.
We also have a bike cover to go over both bike, now that's a bit of a project !!!

 

[Westwind]

To me the ideal setup would be to attach it in some fashion on either side of the receiver hitch then slip it into a total of three receivers to firm it up - to me that would be a bike rack I would use.
I have both bikes stored in my FW front compartment on a bike rack I attached to the rear wall of the compartment. I have to remove the wheels but at least I know they are in a safe place.

 

[Power247]

We have the slide out rack/platform on our Pioneer and we really like it. Now we have some 'walmart special' bikes but I find loading and unloading to be a breeze. I use a ratchet strap to tighten them against the support pole and then use a couple cable locks to make sure nothing comes loose.

Greg
2012 | 2500 | CCSB | Custom MCC by Double R Diesel