Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

We are thinking about adding a bike rack to the home built camper. The hubby has some ideas of constructing one out of pump barrels (pipe) ...a little welding here...a little welding there. Sides, back, front? We're not sure where to place it yet. We can't buy one...well, we could...but what would be the fun in that? The camper is home built, so the bike rack should be. Have any of y'all added a bike rack?

(We are putting the cart before the horse. We haven'teven purchased bikes yet! LOL Um, the bikes won't be homebuilt. Wouldn't even know where to start with that project. It's just that last year I really could have used a bike to cruise around Gulf State park while my hubby was fishing and I wasn't...it might be fun!)

There may be a topic on bike racks already, but I didn't find it.

I'm going to suggest putting the rack on the tongue.. it's sure easier to get the bikes on and off from there than it would be on the roof. plus you don't have to worry about ripping them off the roof going under something low like a friend of mine did.. $4,000.00 worth of bikes toasted in the blink of an eye.

Yes, that and getting them on and off of the roof sounds like too much work for my lazy ways.LOL

I use a 4 x 8 trailer and build a teardrop style box for it as a cargo hauler.

The top most part of the curve is chin high. Too much for me to want a bike rack up there. Even thought of just having fork mounts bolted to one of the roof spars to lower the overall height. Velcro straps onto another roof spar for the rear wheels. Some type of stabilizer. blah, blah.

It'd still be too high for me.

I'm now trying to design a hitch or something for the rear of the trailer to accept a regular bike rack.

Another option is to have a modified receiver on the tow vehicle. The trailer tongue would have to be extended to allow the 90* turning ability.

And the band played on..

My hubby is the builder. He is thinking of the sides or the hitch end/before the hitch. For the camper, he built a wooden hull onto a frame made from pipe basically, so he is thinking of attaching a rack to the frame itself ...I think. He explained it to me....but it was too tech for my brain. I can paint it a cute color and tell him how great it looks....but beyond that I have no idea how to help.

What I did,

When I built my frame I put a reciever on the back. I just put a reciever bike rack in and off I go. Also, once I'm where I'm going, the rack can be transfered to the TV. A hitch mounted bike rack shouldn't be hard to weld up, but I found one at HF on sale for $20

I would say at the rear of the teardrop or I really like the idea of the modified receiver at the back of the tow vehicle.

Just put a receiver on the back of the tear. You can find bike racks on craigslist very cheap quite often.

I am in the process of revising our bike rack for the tandem. It will now be two 1 1/2" aluminum pipe sections that bolt to the tongue with pipe flanges and a couple of arms that come out to hold the bike. Simple easy to remove and very light weight and you can access the galley with out removing the bike or the rack.

I welded a reciever hitch to the frame of my trailer.
I bought a two place rack that fits the hitch.

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/1948rob/hill%20climb%202007/bike.jpg">


Rob

My bike rack is a modified hitch clamp on style one. I just extended the mouth so it would clamp onto a 3x2 verses 2x2 tube.

Jan I welded a receiver on the tung and one on the rear.

Eddie

48Rob wrote:I welded a reciever hitch to the frame of my trailer.
I bought a two place rack that fits the hitch.

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/1948rob/hill%20climb%202007/bike.jpg">


Rob

Now, that's my idea of a bike...ain't no use wearin' yourself out...

If you put a bike rack in the back, make absolutely certain you have enough tongue weight. A bike can wag a trailer!

happy_teardrops wrote:
There may be a topic on bike racks already, but I didn't find it.

Here's are some recent ones:

http://mikenchell.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=35244

http://mikenchell.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=28726