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

I’m down for a little Tahoe this year. I use a bomber pad. It’s smaller and for one bike at a time. I also use a master lock on a tie down with a bike lock through it to lock my bike in the bed. Works great. Easy. Effective.

 

With one bike, I just toss it in the bed. Doesn't get easier than that. I usually am hauling 2 bikes though. I might have to suck it up and just toss a pad on and deal with the scratches. It is a truck after all, albeit an overpriced rig to scratch up.

 

Two kinds of bikes. Does that still count?

 

Did the pad you had previously have the soft bottom side? I never had any issues with a pickup pad scratching the tailgate.

The hard part is the short bed though. I never had a problem with a long bed but my bike barely fits in the back of my short bed on a tailgate pad. I’ve never tried but will a mountain bike fit with wheels on in a short bed?

 

If guy have a long bed, Thule Insta Gater.
I have KB Voodoo bed bars with Thule ProRide mounts. PITA if you need to use the open bed regularly though.

 

I just tossed a set of raceface Chester pedals and a turbine bar on, man what a difference! It needs to stop raining here so the trails can dry up

 

I have the Chester reds. I was worried at first because of the composite stuff but they have held up great in spite of me tomahawking the tops of several rocks and roots.

Great pedal for the price.



PS. Pay no mind to the tires. I just tossed on some Maxxis Minion DHF tubeless tires. Sooo much better.

 

Oh yeah. The dakine pad with felt bottom. It's not sealed on the sides so dirt and sand gets between the pad and paint, then just normal driving with the pad slightly shifting all the time scratched it. Doesn't take much. Dirt and sand trump clear coat. Anyways, I have a short bed. The bike fits in with the wheel turned and tailgate shut or I just lay it down with the wheel straight, tailgate down. Really, that's the easiest. It's a pickup after all! One mentioned a bed rack. I can't since those just get in the way even more. We dirt bike often so the bed needs to be clear.

 

5ft beds + 29er bikes are a tight fit. I don’t use a tailgate paid and, instead, use the Rocky Mounts Loball track rail mount. Even after taking my front wheel off, I have to angle the bike to the right about 3 to 4 inches to get the tailgate closed. But with the extra pressure applied to the bike from the tailgate, I will say that bike is solid and isn’t going anywhere.

 

Yeah I know there are a few options for a long bed but the easiest for a short bed without a bed rack or pad is a hitch rack. Unless you went with a roof rack and some trays.

 

Yep, totally agreed there. If you want to be able to switch back and forth between loading dirt and MTB bikes, you either do roof rack or tailgate pad w/clearbra. I'd definitely go tailgate w/clearbra though, loading roof rack is a PIA.

 

To each his own but if you're just hauling one bike, why not just fold the tailgate down and lay the bike down? No fork mount needed, no wheel removal, easy 5 seconds.

For people mentioning a clear bra under the tailgate pad, I had been thinking about that. How much did it cost and who installs that? Tint shops?

 

Cheapest and easiest option for you if you dont want anything covering the top of your bed would be the tailgate pad. Just go to Amazon and get a roll of clear bra and install it on your tailgate. Done and done!

 

Hehe, photog got me in one of my favorite races... I call this one "Catch me if you can"

 

My Dakine tailgate pad doesn’t seem to be scratching much but I suppose once I notice anything, the damage is done. So I searched “clear bra” on Amazon ... interesting results.

 

Planning a Glacier/Banff family trip, I recently bought a canopy with no roof rack and I am looking for 3 bike hitch swing rack that I can feel "safe" to leave my bikes attached while doing a hike in one of the national parks.

Something like this, I know REI is about to have a 20% off sale so I may just pull the trigger, but doesnt seem the most stable rack.
https://www.rei.com/product/854781/yakima-fullswing-4-bike-hitch-rack

I saw a while ago, an awesome rear swing that would have been perfect but I cannot find it again and it may have been a two bike rack system. Thoughts on racks and any trail recommendations for the different areas would be much appreciated!

 

Anyone have experience with Santa Cruz Bronson CC?

 

What about it?

 

As long as you have a locking hitch like bolt-lock or something similar you should be fine. I used one of these racks for my bmx bikes back in high school and they work. Some of the designs of modern mountain bikes may have issues with these racks as your rear suspension components can interfere with the rack, and I don’t think you want your rear shock and linkage sitting on this rack with the weight of your bike on top of it for extended drives. But as long as those special cases don’t apply,they’re good

 

Kuat, Thule and I’m sure others make swing out attachments.

https://www.rei.com/product/129349/...MIwJilz8ig4gIVClENCh1j9Q0kEAQYASABEgIxR_D_BwE

It starts to get kind of expensive when you add a hitch rack and +2 extension. I use a Thule t2 pro which I thought was the best after playing with the Yakima and Kuat racks at REI.