Simple bicycle rack in bed?

Just got two "leisure" bikes for spouse and I, to use excellent paved bike path nearby.

I am looking for ideas to transport the bikes in the Taco bed on very short distances, preferably without removing front wheels.
Needs to be non-permanent, as I haul all kinds of junk in the truck.

I have some ideas for a dual wooden front wheel chuck, but not sure how to best keep bikes upright.

 

Get some quick fist clamps and mount them to the front rail. Then you can strap through the rear wheel and it will hold the bike upright.

 

I am not sure I am getting your setup suggestions.

I used to have an 1980s old school gutter-mount rack, and may be able to salvage parts form that....

 

Removing the front wheel and using a fork mount is always going to be the best way to transport bikes. Once you get used to popping the wheel off, it's kind of a non-issue.

 

Get this: https://www.yakima.com/crashpad-medium

Or buy a moving blanket (or use an old blanket) to accomplish the same. You can ratchet strap over the top tubes using the 2 D-rings next to the tailgate if you need to hold them down.

 

I made one out of pvc. Here's the design I used.

Here's how it turned out.
I made it using 1 inch pipe

 

The absolute best way to carry bikes without taking the front wheel off is the 1up racks.

https://www.1upusa.com/bicycleracks.html

 

it's a no brainer

just throw the bikes in the bed laying down on top of each other

it won't hurt the bikes at all, might scratch them but no one is looking
at your bikes and worrying about it

I have many bikes aluminum and composite, and not cheap either (6000.00, 4500.00, 3400.00...etc) and I just throw them in
the back and go. not once in 30 years have I had a problem. saves a shitton of time worrying about racking them and whatnot

 

This, too. OP stated that it's for a short distance, no biggie.

 

I just carefully put them in bed loose also.

 

Respectfully I have to disagree. ok for a single bike, not ok if you are putting anything on top of it. You scratch the paint, bend the wheels, bend derailleurs and their hangers and can do lots of other things. If you are stacking bikes on top of each other you can damage the frames and components. Do it if you want to, but I have several bikes that are worth more than the car I used to drive, so not me. Bike frames are strong when on the wheels and loaded vertically. Bike frames are very weak when loaded horizontally.

The PVC rack would work if you only transport the same bike and never change the tire. It doesn't work if you have fat tire bikes and skinny tire bikes and interchange them. If you use a pvc rack like that I suggest you do two things, tie it down to the bed (you could run a single strap through the bike frames and tighten it down) and put your "rear" tire into the rack. If you put your front tire in the rack the bike can flop over and bend your wheel. We routinely replace them at the shop I work in from just that happening.

The simplest cheapest and most secure way to carry a bike is the fork mount in your bed rail. $15 for mount and a few bucks for some screws to mount it. If you choose to keep your bed free then you can use a hitch mount rack with a tray for the wheels like 1 up above it a great way to go. I would not waste my money on one of the hitch mounts that has an 'arm' to hang the bike on. Seen way too much damage from then banging around and not held securely whit that type of rack.

 

Not with some basic sense of stacking bikes alternating front/back...no damage

I have stacked 45 lb old skool schwinns on top of my 16 lb road bike numerous times

nothing bad happens. At worse you get the pedals for one bike in the spokes of the other
and you need to tetris them apart. but no damage

I guess you could intentionally try to damage a derailleur....ya if you are totally clueless maybe


I commonly stack 4 bikes in the back of mine and roll out on 100 mile drives

I got everything

Old skool 1960 schwinn coaster brake
single speed road bike
single speed mtb
light fat bike
heavy fat bike
cx carbon
road carbon
brompton (this stays behind driver seat)
ti mtb
carbon mtb

it all get tossed on top of each other. zero damage except maybe a scratch here and there....30 years been doing it like this. no issues. racks are nice but bikes are pretty tough

 

I'll 1 up that!^

 

Good for you. Glad your experience has been ok. I'm not doing it, and working in a shop where I routinely seeing damaged bikes from mis-handling I would never recommend it to anyone.

 

ok

just pointing out bikes are not delicate little flowers, they love some abuse. much like
the skid plates on a 4x4...go ahead scrape them, that is what they are for. the plastic
one on the gas tank on newer tacos will protect the tank and make noise allowing you to
stop and pick a better line.

bikes don't need racks unless you are super picky about scratches.

as a (I will say hardcore cyclist) myself, a completely clean and shiny bike makes me wonder, do you even ride bro ?

 

I would have to agree. There's absolutely no way I would treat my bike like that.

Just the sound of it sliding around and slamming into the front and back of the bed every time I start and stop makes me cringe. Not to mention it slamming back down into the bed every time I go over a fast bump. No thanks. And maybe I drive a little too fast, but that's not going to change.

It takes literally 10 seconds to pop the front wheel off, then another 10 seconds to attach it to a fork mount, then another 10 seconds to secure the back wheel. I can spare 30 seconds to secure my toys the right way.

 

Here's my set up.


https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-daily-taco-build.397427/page-2#post-11939273

 

Totally get it.

Keep it even more simple.

Use the two built in forward low-in-the-bed-side tie points, one rail cleat, 4 non-ratcheting straps.

I haul local, have hauled over 100 miles at interstate speeds, no issues. I do have a bed mat which reduces slippage though. Would not work as well on a bare composite bed.

 

Well, I did the blanket-over-tailgate with a single bike on, and it just works.

Two shifter cables are near where the resting point is on the down tube, so I will make a little plastic shield to spare the paint job.

I could also go upright and tied up, like C Bill shows above, and I think a mat is in order to avoid bikes slipping.

Thanks for the useful tips.

 

I used to tie 3 bikes down in the bed. They would inevitably start to lean. I now have 3 Thule carriers mounted on 2 pieces of uni-strut, kindorf, strut, whatever you may call it in your neck of the woods. I'm using the shallow version. 20 feet, 16 spring nuts, and 4 inside 90° brackets. I opened up the brackets using a log and a 5 pound hammer, to accommodate the slope of the bed sides.

Cut my strut to length for the bed and used the leftovers for supports behind the L brackets.