bike towing: bed or trailer for best mpg?

Hey, new member and first post here. Planning on traveling with a 550 lb. bike this summer. Strictly in terms of mileage, which would turn the best mpg's do you think? In the bed, or with a small lightweight trailer with the Undercover tonneau cover on the bed? I have a new Prerunner 4 cyl. with only 500 miles logged so far, but I'll have the 1000 mile break-in covered by the time we travel. Thanks, and am looking forward to this forum.

 

bed. less overall weight the truck has to lug around, and less surface area for drag.

 

Well if you lose the trailer you will loose a few hundred pounds and the extra rolling resistance, so I would say in the bed for sure. Welcome to TW!

 

in the bed just like they said less weight....and i live in california and wen you pull a trailer here you can only go 55mph on the freeway so im not sure if its the same where u are from

 

yeah, but going less than 65mph is best for mpgs anyways. Over that speed the aerodynamics of a truck suck ass and totally kills the gas mileage. With my truck its like 19mpg at 60mph and only 15mpg at 70mph, and around 13mpg at 75mph.

 

Makes sense. The bedcover claims a 10-15% gain in mileage in aerodynamics, but I guess you would still have the turbulence back at the trailer. Other factors are a little leery of loading up ramps, and loosing the weatherproof storage in the bed. Then theres the cost of building the trailer on the other side. But, I'll have to weigh all that--just wodering about the mileage first! Thanks for the input.

 

I would put it in the bed for sure. Much less weight and friction.

 

Really? my truck gets about 20mpg when the cruise is set at 65mph. i usually drive at 69mph and itll get 19mpg

 

3" lift, heavy/aggressive 35" tires, and all sorts of extra weight from my offroad armor drops it a bit, not to mention there isnt much flat road where I live.

 

very true lol, the lift doesnt really affect it just a little more wieght but the 35" tires and all the metal u have on there... your truck is doing good on mpg then lol