# Bike Racks On The Bumper



## FLYakman (Jan 26, 2006)

I know we've been through this before but I've got to ask this question.

Every comment I've seen says NOT to put a bike rack on the bumper of the OB. OK I buy that it becomes a weight problem that the bumper can't handle and eventually will fall off.

What I don't understand is this- right now I have the spare tire and it's mounting bracket attached to the bumper. That's the way it came from Keystone. I have got to believe that the bracket and tire weigh more than a bike rack and 2 bikes. What if I took off the spare and bracket and put them in the bed of my truck and used the bumper for attaching the bikes? Is it purely a weight issue or something else I'm missing?

We've been to several places over the last few weeks that we really would have liked to bike. before I go and spends some bucks on a bike mount that fits in the bed of the Tundra, I thought I'd ask the above questions of the experts.

Appreciate any comments or help.

Rayman


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## huntr70 (Jul 8, 2005)

The spare is basically mounted directly above the bumper.

A bike rack will be hanging at least 2 feet out the back from the bumper.

It's basic physics, in that the leverage the bike rack will have with the weight on it twisting away at the bumper that causes the problem.

Not sure what kind of bikes you have, but our 2 adult mountain bikes are definitely heavier than the spare tire and support rack.

Check out the mod gallery. I have pics of the receiver hitch that I mounted to the frame of the OB, this allows you to use a receiver bike rack on the OB or on the tow vehicle.

Steve


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## H2oSprayer (Aug 5, 2006)

The day that we brought our beauty home, I moved the spare tire over a few inches and bolted a 2 bicycle bike rack to the rear bumper. I had not been warned against it when I purchased the unit and I found nothing about it in the documentation for the TT. Well, after returning home from the first outing, I noticed a that the bikes were bouncing while on the rack. I started to examine why they were bouncing. The bumper had started to pull off of where it was attached to the frame. It had pulled about half way off. I contacted my dealer and was told that Keystone was not liable if anything had been attached to it. I took it to one of my buddies that builds race cars to see if he could re-weld the bumper back in place. In addition to grinding off all of the old weld, and re-welding the bumper to the frame, he added some bracing. After 2 Â½ years and many thousand miles, all is still well with the bike rack mounted to the rear bumper.

Long story short: you will need to add bracing between the bumper and frame or it *WILL* pull off!!!

Chris


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## FLYakman (Jan 26, 2006)

I hadn't thought about the twisting and turning thing. Well, I'll either go with a rack welded to the frame or one that mounts in the track bed.

Thanks to both of you for the insight.

Rayman


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## HootBob (Apr 26, 2004)

I couldn't have said it any better Steve

Don


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Rayman said:


> I hadn't thought about the twisting and turning thing. Well, I'll either go with a rack welded to the frame or one that mounts in the track bed.
> 
> Thanks to both of you for the insight.
> 
> Rayman


Rayman...there are a lot of other solution for bikes. I looked at all of them and finally went with hitch mounted to the front of my Suburban. For the $200 it cost, I figured I had a better overall solution.


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## roanokecampers (Jul 31, 2006)

We put our four bikes in the trailer. Is this bad? It was just the easiest way to haul them.

Roanoke Campers


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## Allsixofus (Mar 10, 2005)

We always carry the 4 kids bikes inside... been thinking about adding a front hitch to the Subdivision so we can carry 2 adult bikes too!

Allsixofus


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## skippershe (May 22, 2006)

No problem if you have a Kargoroo!!


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## LarryTheOutback (Jun 15, 2005)

You don't specify what type of trailer you are towing, but it it's not a 5th Wheel you have another option.

There are bike mounts you can get for your pickup bed, either with cover or without.

I'm surprised that PDX_Doug hasn't chimed in yet, as he has this setup.

Ed


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## sew4fun5er (Aug 28, 2006)

I had a 2 bike rack added to the bumper of my 2005 28FRLS right after I bought it in January of 2005 by Camping World. I have towed the 5er close to 5000 miles and have not noticed any problems at all.

Lola


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

roanokecampers said:


> We put our four bikes in the trailer. Is this bad? It was just the easiest way to haul them.
> 
> Roanoke Campers


I wouldn't say it was a bad thing, just added things that could dent/scratch the Outback as you move them in and out.


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## ee4308 (Aug 23, 2005)

Rayman said:


> I know we've been through this before but I've got to ask this question.
> 
> Every comment I've seen says NOT to put a bike rack on the bumper of the OB. OK I buy that it becomes a weight problem that the bumper can't handle and eventually will fall off.
> 
> ...


Rayman,

Some of us have this rack. It works great and can handle your 2 bikes with ease.

HITCH MOUNTED TOWING RACK


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

ee4308 said:


> Some of us have this rack. It works great and can handle your 2 bikes with ease.
> 
> HITCH MOUNTED TOWING RACK


No problems with sharp corners and the bikes hitting the crank handle on the trailer??


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## HootBob (Apr 26, 2004)

ee4308 said:


> Rayman,
> 
> Some of us have this rack. It works great and can handle your 2 bikes with ease.
> 
> HITCH MOUNTED TOWING RACK


THat is a pretty sweet setup









Don


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## FLYakman (Jan 26, 2006)

ee4308 said:


> I know we've been through this before but I've got to ask this question.
> 
> Every comment I've seen says NOT to put a bike rack on the bumper of the OB. OK I buy that it becomes a weight problem that the bumper can't handle and eventually will fall off.
> 
> ...


Rayman,

Some of us have this rack. It works great and can handle your 2 bikes with ease.
Thank you!
I think that's exactly what I need. That should work great with the 23rs.

Rayman
HITCH MOUNTED TOWING RACK
[/quote]


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

We added a receiver to the back and haul 5 bikes. Still looks as good as new.

Thor


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## arbee (Feb 3, 2005)

I just ordered a front receiver for our Suburban. $130 from JC Whitney.


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## chipb43 (Mar 22, 2004)

I'm welded to frame and bumper along with bolts. No issues here.


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## mountainlady56 (Feb 13, 2006)

huntr70 said:


> The spare is basically mounted directly above the bumper.
> Steve


OK. Silly me, I've just gotta ask.........







if the spare is basically mounted directly above the bumper, what would happen if you got a spare-tire mounted bike rack? Would this adversely affect anything?








Darlene


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## HootBob (Apr 26, 2004)

sgalady said:


> The spare is basically mounted directly above the bumper.
> Steve


OK. Silly me, I've just gotta ask.........







if the spare is basically mounted directly above the bumper, what would happen if you got a spare-tire mounted bike rack? Would this adversely affect anything?








Darlene








[/quote]

You would still evently break the bumper
With the leverage of the bike on the rack hangng out off the tire The torgue of pressure being applied to the welds would give out with the bikes bouncing around

Don


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## huntr70 (Jul 8, 2005)

sgalady said:


> The spare is basically mounted directly above the bumper.
> Steve


OK. Silly me, I've just gotta ask.........







if the spare is basically mounted directly above the bumper, what would happen if you got a spare-tire mounted bike rack? Would this adversely affect anything?








Darlene








[/quote]
The spare tire is almost directly in line with the bumper.

Add a bike rack to it, and it still will hang out over the rear and therefore but all the same forces onto the bumper as a bumper mounted rack would.

Steve


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## mskyoutback (Jul 27, 2004)

sgalady said:


> The spare is basically mounted directly above the bumper.
> Steve


OK. Silly me, I've just gotta ask.........







if the spare is basically mounted directly above the bumper, what would happen if you got a spare-tire mounted bike rack? Would this adversely affect anything?








Darlene








[/quote]

We were at a Hybrid Rally a few years back and one of the family's had used one of the bike racks that fastens to the spare tire. On the way to the rally, the bolt holding it on broke and all of their bikes fell off. Someone finally got their attention, but by the time they found a place to turn around, someone was already picking up the bikes and loading them in their truck. I would have hated to be behind them when they came crashing down!
We usually only take my 9 year old's bike and just put it in the truck bed (we have a cap). On our recent trip to Disney, we had 4 bikes in the bed. I'm not sure if I would do this with expensive bikes, but so far we only have cheap ones. Before we had the truck, we put both boys bikes on the front queen (23rs). We had an old comfortor we used to cover the bed first. It was a real pain to get them in and out and it had to be done every time we stopped. Having them in the truck wasn't bad because we didn't have to unload them for a one night stop-over. It's a little bit of a pain to get them in and out also, though. We have discussed welding a hitch receiver under the back of the trailer. Maybe something to consider next year.


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## arbee (Feb 3, 2005)

I installed my front receiver last weekend and it went pretty smoothly. I had to drill two 1/2" holes but that wasn't as bad as just getting it up into place and starting the bolts that went into the recovery hooks.

I'm sort of disappointed in the whole setup to be honest.
Pros:
easy to lift bikes onto the thing and easy enough to strap them in. Not as easy as throwing them in the back of the truck but not bad. 
inexpensive compared to roof mounted racks and crossbars etc from yakima.

Cons:
it is bothersome looking over the bikes while driving, I ended up taking off the seats (quick releases) and folding down 1 set of BMX style handle bars but they are still distracting
Daytime driving really isn't bad. You can look way past them and they are sort of in the bottom of your field of vision.
Night driving was very unpleasant and fortunately we only did about 30 minutes of it each way. Unfortunately, 30 minutes of it was winding some very curvy, steep mountain grades. The bikes blocked my head lights and you cannot use the highbeams or all you see is BIKES. They knock down alot of the light from lowbeams. It made me a little carsick driving that night because you can't look at the road way ahead and are essentially looking through the bikes on the switchbacks. Last night coming home they didn't bother me but you can't see very well and no bright lights.

Anyone else with a front receiver had issues with night driving?


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## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

arbee,

You know, I have always wondered about the vision thing on front bike racks, and especially as concerns headlights. I asked Jim (Oregon_Camper) about this once, and he said it's no big deal. Maybe you get used to it?









I am something of an automotive lighting zealot though (years of SCCA ProRally driving will do that to you), and demand top performance from my lighting setup. If it were me, I would look at adding a couple of auxillary lights, positioned to be clear of the bikes for use when the rack is mounted.

Happy Trails,
Doug


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

My bike rack actually folds down into a load position. It makes it alot easier to load your bikes. I normally load the 2 adults bikes from this position than put the rack in carrying position and load the 3 kids bikes. I found if I load all 5 bikes it gets a bit heavy to put the rack in carry mode.

Thor


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