All Things Bikes and Tacos! (...and every vehicle imaginable)

Awesome thanks man! Looks great. Left the rear alone?

 

lift blocks

 

I have a 2016 with Toyota receiver and the heavy duty, 2 bike 1Up rack. It fully clears the tailgate when the trays are latched in the horizontal (bike carrying) position. It tilts up the full 90 degrees to vertical, with the hitch inserted far into the receiver. And (with two trays) there’s plenty of clearance in the folded up position to open the liftgate on our shell. Best of all, it’s a one person job to tilt the rack down, with 2 bikes on it, and with proper crank orientation, we can open the tailgate fully ... at least with my wife’s medium 29-er mounted closest to the truck, and my large size 29-er mounted on the outer tray. See pic - there’s at least an inch clearance between bike and tailgate. Honestly, unless you need to grab the frame ‘cause your bike has fenders and you can’t use a tire holder, there’s no other choice: 1Up FTW.

 

Anybody here camp or better yet use a RTT on biking trips? The reason I ask is this morning I was looking at my planned bike trips for 2018 and if I were to pay for a hotel for all the trips I could cover the cost of a decent RTT. I have no camping equipment right now and my thought was that if I am going to buy a tent and such maybe i should go big and get a RTT. Any pros/cons y’all have from experience?

 

Worth every penny. Do you use a bed pad to transport your bikes?

 

Not currently no; I have just been putting my bike down in the bed (not a big fan of this and I will end up with the front of the bed fork mount if I don't go the RTT route).

I have seen a couple bed racks that have RTT's and "outboard" bike racks on both sides and I love that setup!

 

We had an RTT for a while. It was great for riding situations where you can at or near the trail head. Soon after we got it, we camped outside Mammoth, in a private, level spot that had a lot of blowdown that wouldn’t have been fun for a ground tent. Set up the RTT, rode 2 miles to town, took the shuttle to the mountain. The next day we did some National Forest trails in the area, and just took the RTT down for the trip home. Other times, we can’t camp close by, and setting it up and taking it down got old. I realize that some tents are easier than others ... we had a Tepui. Sold it and back to ground tent, though I’m tempted by the GFC camper.

 

My biggest drawback on the RTT is the set-up and take down. For example I have a multi day trip planned in the Chattanooga, TN area on multiple trails spread around a ~30 mile radius of downtown. Setting up and tearing down everyday/change of trail could get old. I get that there is still set-up & tear down of a ground tent but they do seem easier (and significantly cheaper)

 

Exactly. Plus, my wife couldn’t reach the RTT to help, let alone do it herself, but she can do the ground tent herself while I load/unload heavy boxes or have a beer. Plus, where we camp we can leave the ground tent set up while we drive to the trail and then ride. So just consider your situation. For some, it works great.

 

You and I had the exact same thought. The tailgate pad is a great way to do it but reduces bed space. If you can find a decent hitch rack (1up) or shuttle type rack (recon / alta racks), it frees up more bed space. I'm trying to get one made that has a swing out so I can actually use my tailgate. I can open it on mine fully, but it is pretty cramped. It'll cost a little more up front, but saves a lot of headache over time.

Pro Tip: Measure the highest point off the bed rails of your bike on the fork mounts/tailgate pad vs befd rack height BEFORE you buy your bed rack for the tent. My bronson fits like a glove, but I still have to take out the seatpost on my fatbike since it is ~1" too tall.

Pros:
1. If no camping gear is had already, cost is still a premium, but gets you a better setup IMO. For me, I get outside way more now that I can just go, and camp wherever I can park my truck. Plus a 3" memory foam mattress feels amazing after a long day of riding.

2. No wet and muddy ground tents to deal with. (pretty much all of why I bought an RTT. I HATE dealing with muddy ass ground tents ever since I was a boy scout.)

3. Deferred costs of hotel lodging on trips after the first several nights. The RTT has already broken even, so if you can find good places to free camp (harder back east) then it really costs you nothing after a handful of weekends.

Cons:
1. You do have to break camp if you want to go somewhere else. Can be a PITA for weekend trips, but if you are "waypoint" camping like I do most often, then its a wash.

2. If you want to air/dry out your RTT at home, it gets a little tricky if you are dealing with#apartmentlife

 

That one does work but it puts the bikes in a risky situation. It also probably drops MPG's. A normal hitch mounted tray rack probably works best, but if you do use a bed pad make sure to get a bed rack that's tall enough that you can put your bikes under it.

 

Great point on the side mount... I stumbled across a Napier tent and although it is a neat idea all bed space is lost when its set up which sucks for storing cooking equipment, coolers and bikes! I'm going to do some more research on RTT's and see what happens!

Thanks everyone for the helpful tips

 

From a couple months ago heading to a track day.


Thinking of doing a tow hitch carrier for my track bike so I can do a RTT set up for the race track/Anyone see any problems if I were to do that? I believe our tongue weight is 680 pounds and I think I should be Sub 550.

 

This might be one of my favorite threads

Bikes and trucks ... 2 of my favorite things!

 

I dived into the world of mountain biking and RTT's about 2.5 years ago. I have had my RTT on two different vehicles, going on a third (my taco with the prinsu rack
) with a setup without any issues I hope! And by issues I just mean small things such as can this come out of the car before this, and can I setup the RTT without help, etc. For example with the jeep I had to pull my bike rack off to access anything inside everytime it was a PIA. The 250 setup was much better however the truck couldn't fit in some areas so now its taco time.. lol The RTT can be a pain taking down and putting up all the time, especially after long days of riding. That is where it kicked my butt. My girlfriend and I go out a lot during the summers and ride parks. After a long day, the last thing I wanna do is setup the tent again and get all my gear out. This is the only negative in my opinion. I absolutely love the tent and the whole camping up high thing. It is great. The way we work now is on our trips- we book a night in a hotel here and there to split up our camping. I was opposed to this prior but after two summers of doing the RTT thing and riding, having a night here and there in a hotel is awesome. I think it depends how long you want to be out as well. We do 2-3 week trips during the summer and it becomes tiring after a few days. Now when we went camping and left camp up for 5 days in the same spot, I LOVED it. Another time we camped right off a bike trail for 2 nights and it was great not having to worry about putting the tent up! The only other negative is it is a brick on top of your car so it will be louder and your gas mpg will suffer a bit. But its worth all the looks you get (haha). And for the note I am 5' 6" and my girlfriend is 5' 2" and we make it work when getting it setup and put away.

 

Anybody ever ridden Angel Fire in New Mexico? Is it work the 10.5 hours of driving from SLC to get there?

I suppose if I did go, I would do SLC - Grand Junction - Angel Fire - Moab - SLC

 

I have and yes, the riding in the park is good but other than that, there isn't much else in town. The lost lakes ride is also a great one that's not to be missed. Long but worth every mile.

 

That's the real reason I am hesitant to drive all the way down there. Would probably be better off heading to Crested Butte, etc

 

I would go to Crested Butte every time over Angel Fire... Don't get me wrong, the riding in AF is good, but other than that, once you're done riding, there isn't much or anything to do, whereas downtown CB is awesome, great restaurants and a lot to see and do.

 

Last weekend