Anyone Safely Bringing Four (4) Bikes?

Andrew Cushingham

Andrew Cushingham

Novice
Hello,

We are a soon to be owner of a 560 with 2" hitch accessory. We are hoping to safely bring 4 mountain bikes along. I've done some poking around on the forums and see that a 2 bike carrier can go pretty easily on the back. Most rack manufacturers don't warranty 4 bikes on the back of a trailer. I've seen some solutions try to mount between the two vehicle and the camper via a dual hitch adapter. We have some pretty expensive bikes, so any risk to the bikes falling off, or getting crunched between the tow vehicle and the trailer would be a deal breaker. I am told by Cary that 4 bikes on the back will need counter balancing nearer the tongue to keep the tongue weight in check. We may add a Roof Top Tent to the trailer which will help with this. Has anyone found a good solution for four (4) bikes?

Cheers,
Andrew Cushingham
 
We have carried 4 bikes. Two with the 2" receiver hitch on trailer and two on top of tow vehicle. We use a Kuat 2 bike on rear of trailer. I considered a four bike carrier, but the trailer does bounce and rear carrier also bounces some in which a four bike carrier in my opinion would be too much for the rear trailer receiver. If this makes sense....R
 
Following up with our current solutions for hauling 5 bikes:

Between my wife, myself and 3 kids (7-13yrs) we have 5 bikes to haul. They are nicer bikes so we want to limit any damage to friction and reduce exposure to theft. Due to the roof top tent, we can't haul on the camper racks. Besides this, we would want to be able to drive the bikes from the campsite once we dropped the camper.

Here are our current solutions:

Honda Odyssey: 2 adult bikes on a 1up-usa Super Duty Double bike rack on the camper. The design is very robust and elevates the second bike tray which provides extra departure clearance. For the 3 kids bikes, we fold down 2/3 of the 3rd row seats and tetris them in. We have to remove the front wheels and I built a wood base with fork mounts to hold the bikes securely without rubbing on each other. This setup allows one kid to use the 3rd seat in the 3rd row and there is trunk space behind that seat for storing bike helmets, pump, firewood, etc. Once we drop off the camper at the campsite, we transfer the 1up bike rack to the tow vehicle and can now haul all 5 bikes to the trailhead.

We could have put the kids bikes on roof racks on the van, but by putting them inside the van we get the benefits of increased safety from theft, reduced wind drag when on the road, and peace of mind that they won't crash into a low hanging awning when driving through Starbucks or Chic-fil-a.

Bike Rack & Odyssey

Bike Rack & Odyssey

0C2EC261-DA77-4CF1-AA44-25C063509C10

0C2EC261-DA77-4CF1-AA44-25C063509C10

1up Super Duty double bike rack in up position
025163F8-0593-4390-B170-650D729F70F6

025163F8-0593-4390-B170-650D729F70F6

1up Super Duty double bike rack in down position

GMC Sierra 1500 with 6.5' bed: We use a Ride88 QR3 rack and squeezed 5 bike racks in there. The bikes take up all of the bed, but we don't need the bike rack on the camper with this solution.

For longer road trips, it will be hard to beat the comfort of the Odyssey, but for shorter trips closer to home, the pickup truck is a good option.

5 bikes side view

5 bikes side view

Ride 88 rack in truck bed side view 5 bikes
5 bikes top view

5 bikes top view

Ride 88 bike rack truck bed top view 5 bikes
Sierra 1500 plus SMUDGE and 5 bikes

Sierra 1500 plus SMUDGE and 5 bikes

Sierra 1500 plus SMUDGE and 5 bikes
 
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I have a 1 UP USA Rack and it's the best rack I've ever owned.

We only carry 2 bikes but you can configure them for up to 4 bikes depending on the combined weight of the bikes.

Andrew, if I were you I'd put 2 bikes up on the roof of the TV and carry 2 behind the trailer in the 2" hitch. It's very easy to move the rack over to the TV once your trailer is unhitched. Then you can drive with all 4 bikes to a trail head.

Also it's a great design if you only want to carry one bike on your car or trailer.

This rack is way lighter than any hitch racks I've owned and extremely well engineered. It can accommodate all bike wheel sizes too.

A nice aspect about this rack is that at camp - it's easy to remove one bike tray from the system and fold the remaining tray up to access the galley. I store the removed tray under the trailer.

If you are interested in purchasing the 1 UP system, the production / shipping is a bit slower than normal because sales of bike products, in general, have been in high demand because of Covid.

Best of luck and enjoy your new trailer!
 
Bruce, do I understand you correctly:
With only a single tray on 1sup you CAn fold up and still open the CI hatch? Any problems cooking up a cup of coffee on a short stop or overnighter (assuming the extra reach over is no problem).

That makes the post I just made elsewhere about a swing rack less of a concern as future expense and advantage 1sup again.
 
from my experience - one dragged on interstate to its death but protected other bile - another i caught after bouncing partially off - that area gets a lot of bouncing during travel - so make sure secure - recheck at stops and make sure any added strapping does not have possibility of catching on releases (check releases too not just the bikes)
 
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