Bike Rack Learning Curve

Although originally we didn’t intend to buy our fiver last year, we have been so glad that we did. Having the opportunity to use the rv over the past months has been such a valuable tool for us in learning what works and what doesn’t work. Surprisingly, one of the bigger challenges has been finding a bike rack that will work for us.

Both Harry and I love to bike, and we are hoping to be able to find campgrounds that are within biking distances of nice hiking trails, and also would like to use our bikes to run short errands etc. So finding a good bike rack has been high on our wish list.

When we bought the fiver last year, we asked our dealer to install a hitch for us. We intended to use it with the bike rack that we already had.

I didn’t take a picture of the rack, but you can see it pretty well in this picture I took last year as we traveled home from TN on our maiden voyage. The bikes were a little hard to get into the connectors, so that was a challenge. But the bigger problem was that the bike rubbed against the ladder and the handlebar against the side of the fiver. Even though we put something between the handlebar and the ladder, we could still see where they had rubbed by the time we reached home. We were not happy with that. So….

Enter bike rack #2….

It sounded like an awesome idea – hang the bikes from the ladder! But…several problems presented themselves…when we hung the bike rack from the rung shown in the picture, the bikes hung too low and rubbed against the fiver. So, in order to avoid that issue, we had to go up one rung. But that caused a new problem, or actually a couple of them. We couldn’t put the bike rack up while we were parked, because that upper rung is too close to the roof. So we had to hitch up, move forward a few feet, and THEN put the bikes up. That was a pain. And not easy either – we discovered that lifting the bikes up to hang on that rung is a challenge. Hey, we’re not getting any younger!! So…

Enter bike rack #3…

We are so excited!! We have finally found a bike rack that will work for us. Yes, we had to purchase a hitch extender, but the final product has turned out to be a success!

 

Both bikes fit easily into their own space – no contortions – by us or the bikes – trying to get them to fit together.

 

 

With the hitch extender, we have lots of clearance, so we don’t have to worry about anything making contact with the rv or the ladder.

 

 

 

 

 

The bikes fit easily, and we don’t have to lift them up over our heads!

 

 

 

I think the third try is going to be the charm for us!