Transportation of Bike



Greymattar

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Jul 26, 2005
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Does anyone in here just throw their bike in the trunk of their car?

I currently ride a Trek 1000 and for the past year have been taking the front wheel off my bike and throwing it into the trunk of my Honda Civic whenever I need to drive to my weekly group ride. I had toyed with the idea of getting a rack to put on the car, but liked the advantage I currently have of locking the bike in the car.

I'm currently looking into upgrading to a bike in the $2000+ range, this is causing me to rethink my bike transportation method.

I have a concern that putting the bike in the trunk is causing extra wear and tear on the bike.

Any comments?
 
Does anyone in here just throw their bike in the trunk of their car?

I currently ride a Trek 1000 and for the past year have been taking the front wheel off my bike and throwing it into the trunk of my Honda Civic whenever I need to drive to my weekly group ride. I had toyed with the idea of getting a rack to put on the car, but liked the advantage I currently have of locking the bike in the car.

I'm currently looking into upgrading to a bike in the $2000+ range, this is causing me to rethink my bike transportation method.

I have a concern that putting the bike in the trunk is causing extra wear and tear on the bike.

Any comments?
 
Greymattar said:
I have a concern that putting the bike in the trunk is causing extra wear and tear on the bike.

Any comments?

I used to put a blanket down and just made sure i put the bike in chain side up to protect the derailliuers. Other than that as long as you arent putting heavy stuff on it then it will be fine. Car racks are fine if you have more than one bike but with the bike being exposed to the wind and rain it is more likely to do damage on long trips.
 
Greymattar said:
I have a concern that putting the bike in the trunk is causing extra wear and tear on the bike.

Any comments?

I used to put a blanket down and just made sure i put the bike in chain side up to protect the derailliuers. Other than that as long as you arent putting heavy stuff on it then it will be fine. Car racks are fine if you have more than one bike but with the bike being exposed to the wind and rain it is more likely to do damage on long trips.
 
i know what you mean, mate...... and i've only got a cheap bike! :) fortunately when my brother was up the other weekend we were able to get both bikes in the boot of my freelander with no problem - just whipped the wheels off and inverted the frame. job done :)

i think i saw some kind of bike rack that has a cover too. i'll see if i can dig out the link.

Tim.
 
I've got a bike AND a Honda Civic. Wear and tear from putting it in the trunk? Nah, that's goofy logic. Always put it in the back, those rear seats slide down nicely and with the front wheel off there is plenty of room. I'm not a big fan of putting a multi-thousand dollar investment outside of the vehicle. If it's real hot out and it will be sitting a few hours crack a window and reduce the tire pressure.
 
I will say it actually does fit pretty well in the trunk with the seats down. I just wish I didn't put that aftermarket CD Changer into the car. It hangs from the back trunk deck and I am always hitting it with the pedals on my bike. :(
 
I started out putting my mountain bike in the back of my car with the seats down. After a while I bought a bike rack to put it on top. The bike is about 6 years old. I hit a few low braches when parking etc. and found bits of wood in my brake lever etc. I didn't worry too much cause the bike was old.

I recently got myself a nice road bike and with it weighing less than 15lbs I put it in the back of the car. I put a blanket down to prevent rubbing on the frame. I don't fancy putting it on the roof anymore, and with it being so light it's really easy. If I had a truck I would get one of those mounts for it, I just don't like the idea of exposing it to junk on the road or trees! ;-) I've also heard too many nightmare stories about driving into the garage with your bike on the roof!
 
Hmmm, let me think. Locked up and out of sight. Away from the weather and road grit. Not as subject to low overheads, somebody bumping the rear of your car, hot exhaust, or scraping the wheels on a steep driveway. If you've got room in your trunk I'm not seeing many downsides here.
 
As long as you make sure there is some padding and that you are not placing the bike in such a way that you could scratch the frame/damage things, then keep it in the trunk!
 
When I had a sedan I would take the front wheel off...throw an old blanket across the floor and back seat to protect the upholstery from chain grease, place the bike in there and then the front wheel. Always fit like a charm and was pretty hassle free.

Now that I have Tacoma pickup, I can't imagine a better way to transport the bikes. They mount in the bed in two seconds flat, and are very well protected back there. Here's a few pics:

orca1.jpg


cargo.jpg


efork2.jpg


fork8.jpg


fork10.jpg
 
Orcanova said:
When I had a sedan I would take the front wheel off...throw an old blanket across the floor and back seat to protect the upholstery from chain grease, place the bike in there and then the front wheel. Always fit like a charm and was pretty hassle free.

Now that I have Tacoma pickup, I can't imagine a better way to transport the bikes. They mount in the bed in two seconds flat, and are very well protected back there. Here's a few pics:

Orcanova, are your bike mounts attached to a built in rail system in the truck bed?

thanks,

blazer95
 
I use a roof mounted bike rack to transport my bike around (like you'd see being used on the Tour de France). It's good as it's very stable and secure the fuel mileage a bit.
 
blazer95 said:
Orcanova, are your bike mounts attached to a built in rail system in the truck bed?

thanks,

blazer95
There is a rail/moveable cleat system in the bed of the truck. Toyota sels a fork mount attachment that bolts to the cleat. However, you can also just buy a block head from Yakima or Performance and bold that into the track, and that only costs $5.00 plus whatever harware you buy to mount it.

For trucks that don't have a cleat track system, you can buy a Yakima or Thule bar that is designed to be mounted in that part of a truck bed and accomplish the same thing.

I have also seen people simply mount block heads to a 2x4 and just lay that in the bed here's a close-up of the cleat track mount, and a thread from a Toyota Tacoma forum about simple bike mounts...

http://toyotanation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=120255&page=2



fork6.jpg
 

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