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Thursday, July 5, 2012

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.

IMG_4764When 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….IMG_2424

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!! In love 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!

IMG_2417

 

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

 

 

IMG_2420With 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.

 

 

 

IMG_2421

 

 

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

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

8 comments:

  1. I have been wondering if we should be looking into some sort of bike rack. We have high end bikes that we have not used for at least 15 years. Two years ago I spent a couple hundred to getthem back into shape and still we have not ridden them. With this in mind, should we even bother? And yet on our few short trips I can see how riding could be a fun addition. dither!

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  2. third time lucky!..that is for sure!

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  3. That's the kind of rack I have and I like it, I only have one bike on it. If I try to put two bikes the inner bike hits my spare tire. Where did you get the hitch extender? Even though I am alone, I am looking for a 2nd bike. I have a beach cruiser and am looking for a mountain bike.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. We bought the hitch extension from Amazon. I tried adding a link but it didn't work. It was called - Hidden Hitch 80305 Receiver Extension.

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  4. Glad you were able to find a solution that worked for you!

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  5. We're very interested in getting that. We still haven't tried the bike rack on our fiver. Time is ticking away, we gotta get going!

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