Need bike rack that will drop down

mlowry100 · 03-21-2019, 09:03 AM

Hello,
We are new to the RV world and want to purchase good quality bike rack. We have a Winnebago View G that has a rear slide out. We will need a bike rack that folds down to accommodate the slide. Any recommendations?

WinnieView · 03-21-2019, 09:34 AM

We picked up our View 24G just a few months ago and then received a new bike rack for Christmas. We use a drop hitch which allows us to keep the rack in place but the bikes need to be removed when we get where we are going.

mlowry100 · 03-21-2019, 09:39 AM

Thanks for responding. Our problem is we often stop for a night at a Walmart and want to use our bed slide but still keep our bikes locked and secure to the rack.

BobC · 03-21-2019, 10:09 AM

I haven't taken the time to look through their offerings but I would think that either Yakima or Thule would have such a rack. Both make quality (but not inexpensive) products.

WinnieView · 03-21-2019, 10:49 AM

Our old bike rack had the bikes 'hanging' from the top tube and with a drop hitch would allow the slide to clear, or that rack also had the ability to fold down to 45 degrees to clear an SUV rear hatch while allowing the bikes to remain untouched.
It's still in the garage if you want it.

There was a promo sometime back that showed a bike rack that was mounted to the rear of the 24G slide, but we never found it for sale, it placed the bikes rather high off the ground, and the weight and stresses on the slide may have just been a pipe dream.

Seymour2Lane · 03-21-2019, 07:44 PM

Look at the Thule T2 rack. It can fold away from the coach or fold up when not being used. I think it would fold down enough for you to fully extend the slide. I have one for my ebikes and it is plenty stout. Regards, Mike

Markap6 · 03-22-2019, 06:26 AM

The Hollywood bike rack has a pin you can pull which will allow the bikes to tilt down. That said, with two 60lb e-bikes on it, it's hard to push back up

I bought the rack from etrailer.com

neub · 03-22-2019, 07:18 AM

Rather than deal with the weight of trying to lift up a tilt down bike rack do a search for "swing away bike rack". Had one several years ago on our SUV and it allowed me to pivot the bike rack up to 180 degrees away from the hatch to get into the back. Depending on the width of your slide it may allow you to pivot the bikes far enough away to deploy your slide.

Markap6 · 03-22-2019, 07:43 AM

Yes, the Thule Apex Swing Away should clear the slide. It's a very nice rack - I sold mine recently as it is not approved for heavy e-bikes. It will hold 140 lbs but expects that to be by up to 4 bikes at 35 lbs each. Pretty sure Yakama makes a similar one as well.

rhodesaz · 03-27-2019, 04:36 PM

Years ago I foolishly thought It would be fun to have bikes with us. What was I thinking!! We bought the Hollywood HR200 (holds two bikes). Look here for more information: https://hollywoodracks.com/products/...nt=15862462278
I live just North of Prescott if anybody wants to buy it!!

VIETVET72 · 03-27-2019, 04:41 PM

Harbor Freight has a 2 bike swing down rack for under $45. Works great on my Jeep so I can swing open the tail gate.

Meowtorhome · 03-27-2019, 04:56 PM

We also have the Thule and love it! We put it on the back of our toad - Honda CRV - and specifically chose this one so that we can open the back hatch without having to remove the bike rack. The tilt down feature lets us easily do this.

smokar · 03-27-2019, 08:33 PM

We have this rack that we picked up on amazon:

Allen Sports Deluxe 4-Bike Hitch Mount Rack with 2-Inch Receiver https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TRTSW46..._2adNCbFEW92NC

We also have a 24g and it works great with the rear slide. The bikes can stay on the rack even with it hanging down (though it can be difficult to remove them that way). I do get nervous that I'll forget and smash the bikes with the slide, but so far no issues.

Note that the rack is quite sturdy and maybe even a little heavy (24g doesn't leave much cargo weight) but overall we're quite pleased especially given the price of the rack.

If we were pulling our nice carbon fiber road bikes we might consider an upgraded rack but for the hybrids we use on trails and stuff this is great.

bkg · 03-28-2019, 04:45 AM

When we had our E450 Class C I installed a front receiver to carry our bikes. I had great results with it (no overheating of the V-10 or obstruction of front windshield view. In fact I was more comfortable seeing the bikes up front versus out of view in the back; plus we had a toad so I didn't care for more stuff hanging on that back receiver.
Now that we have a View 24V I've considered the same setup. There are front receivers for the Mercedes Sprinter, there just not cheap but they are totally bolt-on:

https://torkliftcentral.com/mercedes...front-ecohitch

https://www.etrailer.com/Front-Hitch...leID=201748495

PIC · 03-28-2019, 12:22 PM

We have a Thule drop down. Depending on how tall your bikes are it will, I think, drop enough to accommodate 2 bikes and let the slide out. 2 things; This rack is quite heavy and we took our bike with us last year on a 15,000 mile tour and never used them once. If you will ride infrequently then leave your bikes at home and rent them when the urge comes up. Also, the 15K miles in all kind of weather took a bit of a toll on the bikes.

Mooneypaul · 03-28-2019, 05:45 PM

We use a drop down hitch and mounts our bike below the slide. We can open without moving the bike.

jbhpetr · 04-02-2019, 12:08 PM

We recently purchased a used 2018 View G that has a factory installed bike rack. We're not bikers, so have no use for the rack. I'm not sure if the brackets that the rack attaches to can be "self installed". Anyway, if you're interested, let me know and we can investigate further.