I’m traveling to a race and need to fit my bike in the back of a large SUV (along with some luggage). My aim is to make the bike as compact as possible without removing the aerobars. If I take off the wheels, are there any products that allow the bike to be mounted by the forks? Given the distance, I’m not wild about a bike rack. Any insight is appreciated.
A couple of suggestions
- After taking wheels off, you could just lay the bike on it’s side (chain side up), resting on top of the rest of the luggage or a blanket
- If there’s enough room for the bike to be upright w/out wheels, you could turn the bike upside down resting on saddle and handlebars, then carefully pack/pad around it with luggage.
I’ve used one of these inside my motorhome and car.
https://www.evocsports.com/...cessories/bike-stand
I like that rack.
OP, what suv? We have a 4Runner and can fit both bikes in the back (back seat folded down) with all our race gear. Just used two fork mounts screwed to a 2x6. I have to turn my bike sideways and then straighten back up. Just so I don’t have to lower my seat to fit.
It’s a Cadillac Escalade. The 2x4’s with a fork mount is an excellent idea (as it putting it on top of the luggage).
what is the distance? I highly recommend a seasucker system…just did 1,000 miles with that badboy and the bike was chillin up top (and also has an attachment to fit the front wheel).
I keep my bike in a Toyota Camry trunk 100% of the time.
Take wheels off.
Bike on it’s side with chain side up. Bars turned up.
Blanket goes over bike.
Place front wheel in triangle of bike frame.
Dirty T shirt goes over front wheel.
Place rear wheel, cassette side down on T shirt.
Maybe it’s an advantage having something as small as a Camry trunk to work with as the bike “fits” the space pretty well with just a towel and a piece of styrofoam to help wedge it in. It’s worked for about ten years with much less wear than keeping the bike on a rack.
Once the wheels are off you should be able to put in in there many different ways. I like to put the wheels into a wheel bag, makes it easier to pack SUV (not worried about wheels bumping bike, etc).
Assuming you don’t have passengers sitting in the back, there’s no reason why you can’t fit your bike and luggage (I’m guessing your luggage isn’t that significant if your just traveling to a race) with the seats folded down. I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t even need to remove any wheels.
I don’t see the need to mount the fork to anything. One the bike is laid down on its side, it won’t move much if it moves at all.
I went 10 years before buying a bike rack for my 4Runner/Prius and the only reason I bought one is because I was getting tired of taking out/installing the car seats in order to fold the back seats down.
Assuming you won’t need to do this often, go simple and cheap. Old towels or blankets over your luggage, then lay the bike on top of it. Remove a wheel or wheels if necessary. A couple of bungee straps or even old tubes to secure the bike down, but unless you’re going off road the bike really shouldn’t move all that much unless you have hard shell luggage. But you could always use more or thicker towels.
If you plan to travel more often with the bike in the back of your SUV, then a simple fork mount on a 2x6 is the solution I currently use. Back wheel can stay on, but you may be limited by ceiling height if you have a big bike with a high seat.
For many years I packed my bike in the trunk of an Altima. Both wheels off, lay the bike down flat with the bars turned up towards the trunk ceiling, then used a double wheel bag and placed it right on the bike frame.
No rear seat passengers / 1 rear passenger:
Front wheel off. Seat down (or one half of back seats if 1/2 rear passengers. Bike in upright and to right hand side of car (so chain is not against bags etc), cranks rotated to put pedal over wheel arch. Front wheel in bag between frame and side of car. Use hand grab above door to do a strap tie to saddle. Add other bags around. Done.
5 up:-
front and rear wheel out. old fashioned aero bottle off. Bike in upside down down sideways against back of seat. Tie chainstay and bottom tube to headrests. Done.
Note that a version of the above that is bike in soft case bike bag is my preferred for longer drives. Shorter drives then I just wheel it in complete. I did however specifically buy my car with the height just tall enough to allow that.