Bicycle Racks

[Bonanza]

We have a Roadmaster Falcon 2 tow bar and are looking for a bicycle rack for two bikes. We tow a 2009 Smart Car and would like to mount the bicycle rack between the coach and the toad. Does anyone know where to purchase such a bicycle rack, I have seen them on some coaches before. Any help would be appreciated.

David

[saydiver]

Blue Ox makes a bike rack that mounts between the coach and toad.

Sue

Blue Ox Bike Racks

[Bonanza]

Sue, do you happen to know if the Blue Ox will work with the Roadmaster?

[saydiver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bonanza Sue, do you happen to know if the Blue Ox will work with the Roadmaster?

No clue. Perhaps someone else here knows the answer or you might want to call Blue Ox to see if they know if it will work or not. We have a Blue Ox tow bar.

I just placed an order for the longer bike rack with the 2" receiver base, parts BXJR117 and BXJR106, earlier today.


Sue

[wa8yxm]

Blue Ox, and I think Roadmaster, both make bike racks that slip over the 2" square bar and clamp on.. To install you remove the tow bar sytem from the coach, slip the 2" bar into the bike carrier, re-install on the coach and put the pin in, tighten a clamp and .. Job done.

Now... Question.. Do you use a drop-hitch? I have 4" drop adapter on my coach,, Blue Ox made it up special for me.. They welded a "tong" on top of the drop... the Tong is the kind of thing you'd use if you were going to use a ball hitch.

My Draw-Tite bike rack is a ball-hitch mount

Works great.

[Bonanza]

Hey guys thanks for the info I contacted Blue Ox today and they said the rack would fit any 2" tow bar and wa8yxm you are correct just slip the tow bar out insert the 2" sleeve replace the tow bar and you are done. I do not have a drop hitch, my installer said I would only need one if I had more than a 6" difference in toad and bar being level, didnt have to have it. Sue let me know how the rack worked out for you, I think I will order the BXJR117 long rack and the BXJl104 foot. Again thanks for the help.

[RVDude]

The Swagman bike racks at CampingWorld also fit over the 2" square part of any hitch. I use one on my BlueOx tow bar receiver.

Trailhead Bike Racks - Product - Camping World

Bonanza - BTW I think the spec for tow-bar to toad hitch height differences is more like 2", not 6".

[FlyingDiver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bonanza Hey guys thanks for the info I contacted Blue Ox today and they said the rack would fit any 2" tow bar and wa8yxm you are correct just slip the tow bar out insert the 2" sleeve replace the tow bar and you are done. I do not have a drop hitch, my installer said I would only need one if I had more than a 6" difference in toad and bar being level, didnt have to have it. Sue let me know how the rack worked out for you, I think I will order the BXJR117 long rack and the BXJl104 foot. Again thanks for the help.

Are you sure you want the 104 foot? That's for a 2.5" hitch receiver setup, which is pretty rare. Most coaches have a 2" hitch receiver, which requires the 106 foot.

I'm not sure what Roadmaster specifies, but Blue Ox says the car attach points should be level to no more than 4" below the tow bar mount on the coach. There's a sticky in the towing forum here that has a long post about it. Search for "tow bar physics", I think.

We actually had to install a 2" inverted drop receiver because the attach points on the Jeep are a couple inches higher than the ones on our previous car.

joe

[Bonanza]

Hey there guys, wow thanks for all the info, this is a great forum and very helpful people. Hey RVDude, 2" may be correct, the guys at Spiller in Austin, Tx put my tow bar on and said that I was lucky I didht have to have a drop hitch because the difference in the tow bar and toad height was a difference of 6" or less so I really dont know what the highest number would be but my toad tracks great and it doesnt look to be more than 2-3" difference when you look at it from the side. Thanks for the tip on the Trailhead Bike Rack I will look it up. Hey there FlyingDiver, you also were correct I dont need the 104 foot its the 2" model that I need, the 104 goes on the Blue Ox Extender which is 2 1/2" thanks for pointing that out, and as you can see from the above, you and RVDude are most likely right on the drop from tow bar to toad. This is great you guys are great and I sure have learned alot. Being a Newbie or Newbee or what ever you call it sure makes me feel, well, not so smart, but Im learning. Have a Great One.

[Mandys Man]

Quote:

Hey RVDude, 2" may be correct, the guys at Spiller in Austin, Tx put my tow bar on and said that I was lucky I didht have to have a drop hitch because the difference in the tow bar and toad height was a difference of 6" or less so I really dont know what the highest number would be but my toad tracks great and it doesnt look to be more than 2-3" difference when you look at it from the side.

OK, I can't take it any longer. Everyone seems to think that the limit is 6 inch diff, 8 inch diff?????
I personally agree that it is a 2 inch difference.
This is what blue ox adhered to for years.
Their website now says
If a deviation must be present,
it should be no more than four (4) inches from the
tabs up to the hitch receiver. There should be no
deviation allowed for the hitch receiver tube to be
below the level of the attachment tabs.

[FlyingDiver]

There's a certain amount of pragmatism in the recommendations from the manufacturers. They know there's no fixed height that will work, because the actual difference changes depending on loading of the various vehicles, etc. It's clear that the toad attachment points should never be higher. How much lower really depends on the geometry of the connection - what the lever arm is for each attachment point from the nearest axle.

joe

[RVDude]

JMHO - I would never, ever take the word of an "installer" of anything over the "manufacturer". Suffice it to say, we want the difference as near zero as practical.

Here's the towbar angle issue. It's NOT about tracking, it don't matter what the differential is, it'll always track true and straight. See my post #6 here. The issue is when/if you slam on the RV brakes (especially if there is no supplemental braking in the toad).

Here's a scenario, everyday one at that. RV slams on brakes, rear of RV raises slightly due to the braking. Front of toad is driven slightly downward as the towbar forces it to slow down. Angle of towbar even more exaggerated than normal. Next thing you know the entire toad is now diving under the RV bumper, tow bar be damned. Panic RV breaking is also the reason to use supplemental toad breaking - do you really think the front bumper/frame of the toad was even remotely designed to absorb the full load of a panic stop????? Nope, Ive persoanlnly seen toad frames kinked by the towbars in a panic stop.

So, I did a quick Google search "rv tow bar angle" and found an article re-posted right here by driver...

Tow Bar Angle and Height Difference

Original source is here http://www.towingworld.com/articles/drops.doc

I am still looking for the diagrams to make this very clear... Draw it out yourself, you'll understand the issue in a jiffy.