Easy Bike rack for the bed

I thought some of you might be interested in a way to mount bikes above the bed without spending hundreds of $$. I just took an old Thule rack for a vehicle with rain gutters and disassembled the gutter clamps, then bent the lower edge back 90 degrees. Before you do the next steps, loosely assemble your whole rig with bike carriers and sit it in the rails of the truck, then put a bike in place to make sure you get it set up the way you want it. Mark where the feet will sit on the rails with a permanent magic marker. Then, I took the metal rails from the bed off and drilled holes through the Thule assembly and the rails to match. Replace the rails and bolt the Thule feet to the rails using lock washers---tedious job because of the confined space, but not too difficult. You need a set of load bars over 53 inches long--and longer is okay. slide the load bars through the Thule feet and put the clamp back together without the outer gutter clamp--the tightening knob/lock will be on the inside of the bed. A spacer under the knob would be helpful because it does tend to hit the inside of the foot assembly. Crank the knobs down and put your bike carriers on the rails. Presto, a primo bike carrier. Overhead Clearance required with my bike on it is just over 8 feet. There are lots of these old Thule rain gutter clamp assemblies available cheap. Road tested over 1000 miles now and it works great. Hope the pictures explain any ambiguity in my instructions.

 

that looks very neat.....good job and welcome

 

Nice work! And sweet looking rig too. Nice taco also.

 

Very nice bike! Welcome to TW.

 

How stable is that Thule setup with a 30lb rig? Does the bike sway to the side at all on turns or bumps?

 

I drove it to Denver and back in the past couple weeks (1000 miles one way) in some moderate winds and on some 2 lane back roads. It is very stable--a little side to side movement which is normal with the upright bike holders from Thule. Nothing came loose and I'm quite happy with the strength of the attachments.

 

Love'n it! We're doing a long road trip in early Dec. up to Ray's Milwaukee and would love to do a similar setup so gear could be stored underneath. Ive seen bed covers with similar setup mounted above and that would be great. I just haul too much stuff to mess with a bed cover.

 

Denver trips to ride a specific area, or just taking the bike along for the ride? Ellsworth looks set up for typical trail/xc, am I right?

Oh, and thanks for serving!

 

looks good man

 

Rode Lair of the Bear the first night there--descent in the dark! Then we did a road trip to Fruita/GRand Junction for some more exciting/challenging terrain. I live at low altitude, so I was definitely "challenged". I built the bike as a light all mountain rig. Lived in Germany for almost 14 years, so we had a lot of choices. French Alps, Switzerland, Scotland/England/Wales--it's all fun. Now in TX I'm looking for some lighter XC wheels since there is very little steep technical riding here.

 

wow! you've ridden some primo stuff.