Recumbent bicycles

[Rickndebw]

Deb and I have two large recumbent bicycles. We have not yet brought our Monaco Knight 38 ft home yet. It has a 2 inch receiver and we plan to tow our 2007 CRV. Has anyone put the over/under dual 2 inch receivers on their coach and then used the top one for a bike rack and the bottom one for the toad.
Recumbents are so comfortable to ride we hate to think of having to convert back to a regular bike we could hang off the ladder

[l1v3fr33ord1]

Rick-

There are threads on iRV2 that discuss how to carry bicycles. Here's a link to a Google search of iRV2 posts with the terms "bicycle" and "receiver" in them.

I'm in the camp that it's easiest to carry them on the rear of the toad, with a receiver hitch (or, however you carry them now on the CR-V).

- less complication
- easier to get the bikes on and off
- easier access to the rear of coach (important if engine is there)
- doesn't block radiator (if radiator is there)
- no potential reduction in towbar/towing capacity
(actual reduction depends on how you implement, and your coach)
- potential for a shorter combined vehicle length
- you can use your toad to get to the bicycle "trailheads"

[what next]

I do exactly as you want to. I have a side radiator so no problems, don't think bikes would effect a rear radiator that much. It is a little harder to get at toad hook ups but being a bike rider I imagine you are agile enough to do it. I cover bikes with bike cover and tail brakes lights are still in plain sight.

[Rickndebw]

Easiest thing of course would be to buy a couple folding bikes. Itd cut way down on comfort though and by doing that cut down on distance and duration of ride

[twogypsies]

Recumbents are very expensive. Definitely get a good cover for them or they will be ruined in the elements...dirt, exhaust, etc. Also devise a good lock for them. Good luck!

[SpaceNorman]

I'm not carrying recumbents - but I do carry two "standard" bikes in exactly the manner you're hoping to. It works like a charm for us. The design of the "stacker" hitch even provides a great anchor point to secure the cables I use to lock the bikes .

The only downside of having the bike rack mounted on the "stacker" hitch is that securing the tow bar after unhooking the toad is a bit awkward. The bikes are directly overhead when you're trying to "swing and latch" the tow bars into storage position. However, I much prefer this minor inconvenience over the headache of constantly moving the bike rack between coach and toad (on the toad when we're travelling in the coach - and then back to the coach when we're "stationary").

You'll want to take your time the first time you install your setup - and be in a place where you have some room to test the clearances with everything hooked up. You'll want to watch to ensure that your bike rack doesn't interfere with the free movement of the tow bars (my "stacker" hitch puts the top receiver roughly 4 inches above the lower receiver).

You'll also want to confirm that your bike clear the front end of your toad when turning. We installed ours for the first time in a large parking lot - where I drove the coach into as tight a circle as possible after I hooked everything up for the first time. We confirmed that with two bikes on the rack - the wheels of the bikes clear the front our Jeep Liberty toad by less than 6 inches when the coach is turning as tightly as possible.