5 Better Tips For Transporting Your Bike

we can all agree riding your bike is a lot of fun but figuring out how to best get your bike to the trails at home just isn't so here are my top five tips on how to better transport your bike to the trails [Music] hey guys josh here again with daily mountain bike rider and today we're talking all about getting your bike to where you want to ride it if you're anything like me you got super into biking you started riding around locally where you live and then you realize it's a lot more fun to throw your bike in or on your car to go to some new destinations but man it can be a lot of money to find a good bike rack option it can be a lot of time trying to load your bike in and out and man i've learned so many tips of the trade that i would love to share with you guys to hopefully give you a better experience on how to transport your bike so i'm going to cover the five main ways that you can transport your bike in your car or your truck and give you five huge tips on how to have a better experience let's get into it alright so transport option number one is probably something we've all tried at one point or another and that is simply putting your bike into your car or your suv or your truck you've probably found out as you first got your bike that you have to get at home somehow and the nice thing about bikes is you can take both the wheels off and whether you have a very small car like maybe a toyota yaris like i have driven before or you have a bigger suv it's pretty easy to either take one wheel off and fold down a real rear seat and get your bike in there or even take both wheels off put your bike sideways put it in the trunk and get your bike fitting so you can probably get at home or getting it to the trails now the biggest pro of this option is that it's nice and cheap it's free if you already have a car to just use it as it is but the biggest con in this is one it's such a hassle it's a hassle to take both your wheels off and it's easy to forget an axle or pull a hydraulic brake and then it messes your bike up and you're gonna have a bad time and then of course last but not least it is just super dirty and messy bikes have a lot of chain lube and grease and oil on them and taking wheels off and putting them axles back together and throwing it in your car can make a mess so a couple of tips i have for you guys number one always fold that rear seat down if you can and try as best as you can not to take the back wheel off unless you absolutely have to this will make it a much easier experience getting your bike in the car and then getting it set up to ride number two i would say put your rear axles back in right after you take them out i will say i've showed up to the trail and realized i left my front axle in the driveway at home because i always fall out and the last tip which is by far the biggest is a simple option to keep your bike's filth out and off of your car and that is to get a bike traveler bag these are often used to travel with your bike on an airline you can take both the wheels off and put your frame in there and then put the wheels on the side but this works really great for when you're done with a ride whether it's muddy or dusty is you can just take your front wheel off put your bike in this bag so it's just sitting open and loose and then when you put it in your car all that dirt stays in the bag and not on your car these run about 40 to 50 bucks on amazon you can click the link down below for this item and any other item i talk about so that you can see it on amazon all right moving on to option number two which is the second most popular way i see people transport their cars and this is the good old-fashioned bike rack that is meant for a truck or the back of an suv you've probably seen this maybe hanging up in your parents garage or in a friend's they're pretty inexpensive coming in about 50 to 100 bucks and these include four straps and a couple of uh plastic styrofoam things to protect your car and these clamp onto most cars with a little finagling and ease and then to sum up these bike racks basically once they get clamped onto your car there's just two uh poles that stick out that your bike can either go through or kind of sit on kind of sideways the pro of this design is it fits most vehicles on the rear except for a truck and they are pretty cost effective and cheap but the biggest cons of these is that they are such a hassle to put on your car and then get your bike tied to while it is nice to have all the dirt and filth of your bike on the outside of your car these feel like they're always just not the right size to put your them through the inside of your frame you got to kind of set the one in the frame and one on top and then you got to get bungee cords or zip ties or titles or something to keep it from moving and then your wheels are spinning it can kind of be a pain so here's my biggest tip if you are using one of these traditional style bike racks or maybe you have a trailer hitch mounted one that still has the two poles and that is to buy a simple little tool that connects uh your stem to your seat post by a little bar and i just call these bike rack mounting bars they cost about 20 on amazon they make it super easy to connect your bike and put them perfectly on these type of bike racks and it makes it so your bike's frame isn't rubbing on them it's easier to tie down and it just looks a lot better because your bike's not all sideways and caddy wampas so whether you have one bike or four bikes and you're using this type of bike rack buy these bike rack mounting bars it's gonna save you a bunch of time and frustration all right we're moving on up the lift to number three and literally moving up on top of your car now we're going to talk about roof rack bike racks these are the racks that you can go put on top of your car which has roof racks it gets your bike up and out of the way while still being outside it's more aerodynamic because it's pointed the way your car is going and it can make your car look pretty stinking awesome when you have two bikes on top now some of the cons of this option is this is where you're starting to buy a little more expensive bike racks and with these roof top racks usually the more money you spend the more stable and secure your bike is going to be on top now one of the biggest cons in this option is it involves putting your bike on top of your car which depending on how tall it is can be a pretty big pain in the rear usually people have running boards or they step on their tires and find a way to get up on their car but one of the biggest tips i can share with you is one that my friend matt shared with me because he's been using rooftop racks for a long time and that is to buy a simple one or two foot step stool that you always keep in your car ready to go when it's time to put your bike in the rack when it's raining or your bike is dirty or your car is dirty and you don't want to get all over yourself just getting a couple feet up off the ground on something super sturdy makes the bike loading and unloading experience much much simpler so these are actually a great option maybe you've had that old style rack or you're still putting your bike in the car if your car already has roof racks but again you can spend 60 bucks on amazon like i have before on a roof style rack but spend a little more money and you're definitely going to appreciate it all right moving on to option number four and this is probably the most popular option for those all around the world and and the country because it is for bike enthusiasts and this is a trailer hitch receiver bike rack most suvs and trucks do have a trailer hitch receiver so you can put a trailer ball or tow a bunch of stuff but along with that they design bike racks that slip right in there with one single bolt keeps your bikes on the back of your car so that it's still pretty aerodynamic usually holds them very well you can get the little two metal prong style like the old racks but most of these are tray racks and it creates a super stable low contact point on your bike way to transport them to the trails a couple of big cons with this option and the first one is this can be a pretty expensive option while suvs and trucks do come with trailer hitch receivers for a lot of people they have to buy a receiver themselves and if you go down to your local u-haul or some other auto place or even to the dealer they'll give you a quote of two to four hundred dollars in order for them to install a trailer hitch receiver just so you can use a bike rack that costs another two or three hundred dollars so my first tip is to use a great little source called etrailer.com i've been using these guys for the last eight years seriously to put all my trailer hitch receivers on my car and normally i find that their trailer hitch receivers run 80 to 120 bucks depending on no matter what your car is and with a little elbow grease and a lot of patience you yourself at home can put your trailer hitch receiver on and save hundreds of dollars now my next tip is when you're looking for a bike rack that fits on a trailer hitch receiver is i very strongly encourage people to buy a tray style bike rack tray style bike racks usually involve two little holders for your wheels so that way only your tires are making contact with the bike rack and this allows it so you have less wear and tear on your frames or delicate parts and it makes it a lot more sturdy when you have both wheels being supported and clamped down on a bike rack now these do run anywhere in the range of 250 all the way up to like six seven eight hundred dollars for really nice bike racks but i also encourage people my last tip is to look for used bike racks on craigslist people just like anything else buy nice bike racks use them for 5 10 years and they're still in great quality but they look to upgrade so you can save hundreds of dollars and get a really nice bike rack set up for the back of your vehicle and last but not least the fifth option for how you can transport your bike is my personal favorite that is putting your bike on your truck's tailgate here in america we love our trucks but all over the world people have their trucks and it's super nice to buy a tailgate pad in order to throw your bike over the rear of your tailgate if you're not familiar with tailgate pads basically if you think about putting your bike over your tailgate that is going to be the metal of your tailgate rubbing up against your bike which is going to cause a great deal of damage in a very short amount of time when you're transferring your bike to or from the trail so a great option for this is to spend 150 or 200 bucks on a tailgate pad which both protects your pad and protects your bike from your tailgate now these things are pro of them as they are pretty cheap but a huge con in them is these things kind of are a pain in the butt i've had three different tailgate pads and they all usually have the same three issues with them number one the straps do not work over time i have velcro straps on the yakima one i've had for only like the last five months and already the two straps that i've used the most which is not that often because i ride to the trails are already not sticky enough and can cause my bike to come loose now the bike doesn't come loose that often but the second biggest con is that these tailgate pads while they protect your bike so to speak still allow a whole lot of pressure to be on your bike on the stanchions and delicate areas that your bike is not designed to feel pressure on in fact i was shuttling my friend mike back when i broke my hand a couple months ago now with my gravel bike and one of the straps that i thought was solid came loose unfortunately and it caused my bike to flip over because it was resting poorly on my truck and it rubbed away a huge circle on my carbon fork on my gravel bike which i was not stoked about so what do you do in these situations well i think the first great tip that i would give you is look for a better way to use your tailgate uh there's companies out there who are coming out with great innovations one of them that i reached out to and sent me one of their items is the latch it rack the latch it racks set out to fix all the issues that i was mentioning and make a really sturdy bike rack that actually clicks into your tailgate that makes it so you have little to no pressure points on your bike keeping it nice and safe has better connections so that your bike doesn't move and gives you more storage space in your tailgate i've been using this for the about the last two months and i must say i probably will never go back to using a tailgate all the time because my bike is more secure i'm less worried about it being damaged due to high pressure points on my stanchions and my wheels and man it just looks pretty dang awesome so be sure to click down the link below to check out the latchet rack it is a little more pricey option than just a tailgate pad but i think the damage alone on one part of your bike definitely makes it worth it to check it out all right well i think that about wraps up the five main options on how to transport your bike and and more than five tips on how you can do it better but by all means i realize i may not have covered everything so leave your comments down below and please help some other people looking to find some better options so that their day is made a little better when they're loading up their bike alright that about wraps it up i think it's time for me to load up my bike and go for a ride but you know what time it is don't spend too much time watching a guy talk about transporting his bike in his garage but get out there ride your bike make sure you do it every day

Channel: Daily MTB Rider

Views: 887,937

Keywords: mountain biking, mtb, daily mountain bike rider, daily mtb rider, bellingham, bellingham wa, mountain bike vlog

Id: J-gACEEF57I

Length: 12min 26sec (746 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 29 2020