rear bumper bike rack/tray?

[Jarmuszd]

i have a North Trails Caliber trailer and they tell me the rear bumper fold down tray is a bike rack? It comes with a post or bar but nothing to secure the bikes? Anyone have experience using this as a bike rack? Could you share pictures or your experience as to how you secured the bikes.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Doug

 

[JohnD]

I think I posted about this over on the facebook page . . .

I had the slide-out rear bumper/bike rack on my previous 2013 Heartland Trail Runner 22RK (RK=rear Kitchen).

While it sounded good in theory and looked good on paper, using it as a bike rack was a major PITA.

So much that I opted out of the fold-down one offered for my 2015 Heartland Prowler P292.

The bikes rode good back there, but hooking them up to the provided vertical bar and locking them down took forever, plus provided me with lots of skinned knuckles!

Almost every time the bikes went on a trip I didn't take them off of the rack because of the hassle of putting them back on.







Notice the common theme here . . . the bikes are always on the rack!



Best use I ever got was when I had the axles, springs, wheels and tires upgraded that bike rack was a good place to haul the old tires and wheels home.

 

[Jarmuszd]

Thanks JohnD! I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Apparently not many people have history using this rack for bikes.

 

[Lane]

Doug,

I have the North Country with a pull out bumper. I took a platform bike rack and modified the fit and mounted it on the bumper rack using u-bolts. I now have a double bike mount secured to the bumper with the bike hold downs for each bike.
You may be able to mount a platform bike rack to this bumper mounted rack also--

 

[Jarmuszd]

Lane, great idea! Thanks so much for your input. Can you share what platform bike mount you used? I checked swagman bike racks and was trying to see if I could buy the top hold down piece and mount it to the vertical pole provided on my rack?

 

[JohnD]

Doug,

I have the North Country with a pull out bumper. I took a platform bike rack and modified the fit and mounted it on the bumper rack using u-bolts. I now have a double bike mount secured to the bumper with the bike hold downs for each bike.
You may be able to mount a platform bike rack to this bumper mounted rack also--

View attachment 55854

Got any better pics of the bike rack where it is mounted?

Can't see much through that spare tire . . .

 

[Lane]

Sorry not a better picture of the rack. The camper is in storage for the winter. I used a sportswork rack, bolted to the rear slide out bumper. Will attach photos of the rack stored in my basement for the winter.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JohnD]

That is pretty nice!

I wish someone made a bike rack that attaches to two receivers instead of one so that the stress would be put on two points of the rear bumper instead of one.

Wish I was a welder and I'd invent one so I could retire!

 

[Boatman]

Here's a rack I built for our 5er. The use of two 2" receivers takes out all the wobble. I also learned that you should support the bikes from the bottom, do not hang them. I attached the rack using grade 8 bolts. Have pulled all over the US, with no problems. Do it right the first time -- overbuild it.

 

[JohnD]

I just gave away both mountain bikes during what I call ‘The Purging’, where I emptied pretty much my entire house into a 22-foot roll off (see my Facebook Page for photos of it).

I still have my old Fuji 10-speed from the 70’s, but will probably look for a light-weight mountain bike that I don’t need to win the Powerball to buy.

Still looking for a rear-bumper mount alternative for the Prowler.