Carrying our bikes with us as we travel was a must!
Finding the right bike rack for a truck camper setup turned into one of the most challenging aspects of our preparations for travel. This article will share some of the details of that challenge and explain how arrived at our current setup. We will also share some of the products that we needed to get the job done. This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Once we decided to start pursuing a full time travel lifestyle, we knew that we would take our bikes along for the journey. They are indispensable tools for camping, getting around cities, beaches, towns and trails that would not be possible or too slow otherwise. Early on, we decided to sell our old traditional bicycles in favor of some e-bikes to assist with hills and long distances. The other goal was to get something that would fit our individual needs and style better than what we had already.
Over a few months, we looked at and tested out many different bikes and finally settled on two different bikes that fit our personalities perfectly. The only thing left, was get a bike rack and cover to carry them on our adventures; it sounded easy. The months steadily passed and we were deep in the middle of building, buying, selling, packing and planning. We had some pretty large projects and tasks to deal with and getting the bikes mounted on the camper was something that could wait since it was just as simple as buying a bike rack, loading the bikes up and we’re off… Or so we thought!
We already had an Allen Sports 4-Bike Hitch Rack designed to go into a 2” receiver hitch that we had been using for a couple years on the back of our old camper. We assumed that we could simply get a receiver tube extension to clear the back of the camper, attach the hitch, load up the bikes and be on our way. Given how simple this project was going to be, we put it off until the last couple weeks before our departure. Once we had gotten most of the other critical preparations taken care of so we decided to finally tackle the bike rack.
Finding a bike rack for a truck camper setup!
After some initial thoughts about our existing bike rack, we understood that while it would hold the bikes, it would also block access to the back door and stairs of the camper. Our search lead us to some swing-away hitches that would let us keep the existing bike rack and allow the entire setup to swing out of the way. This type of setup seemed like the ideal bike rack for a truck camper. The Wilco Offroad Hitchswing was a good option, but cost a little more than we wanted to spend. Not to be deterred, we started looking for a used version online to save some money. We didn’t have any luck finding that exact model, however, we found a great deal on a like new Thule Apex XT Swing 4 bike rack that would fit our setup perfectly. Now that we had the bike rack, we just needed a hitch extension and we would be all set.
A few days later we met up with a fellow truck camper, after an hour or so of chit-chat, we discovered that he had a 24 inch receiver extension tube that we were looking for. As luck would have it, we had a drop hitch that he needed; we made an even trade, success! We went home to put everything together and quickly discovered that the extension was a few inches too short to completely clear the rear bumper. We knew that the 24 inch extension was going to be a little tight, but, somehow we failed to factor in a few measurements… Live and learn.
Luckily, we had an 8” CURT 45792 Dual Receiver that we used as an extension to at least get the rack mounted. We tried the bottom and top mounting positions to see what worked best. Both of us liked having the bikes and rack higher up for ground clearance, but the rear screw used to secure the swing arm prevented us from keeping it there. We went with the lower receiver and figured it was good enough for some testing. Finally, the bike rack was mounted and we were ready to add the bikes.
Accommodating different styles of bikes.
The bikes are different styles; Sasha’s bike has a dropped frame, fenders and a cargo rack over the rear wheel. Mine is a fat tire mountain bike with a traditional open frame design. With great difficulty, we tried to load the bikes on the newly assembled bike rack only to discover that it won’t work. 
We continued trying to mount them in different orientations; same direction, opposite direction, vertically, upside down… nothing worked. After a great deal of effort, we couldn’t get the rack arms through the frame tubes on Sasha’s bike. We were able to get the bikes mounted vertically, but this left very little clearance between the bike tires and the road. To make matters more frustrating, in the midst of trying all of these configurations, the expensive, high quality Thule bike rack broke. The pin that holds the swing arm in place temporarily while you screw in the main bolt pulled right out. We also had another issue with the screw that secures the swing arm to the main arm, it’s small, detented and very hard to turn. Another detail came up, when we swung the rack out it wasn’t long enough to clear the camper and seemed to have quite a bit of flex at full extension. We opened and closed the swing arm and went through the process of securing and un-securing the rack. It was clunky and difficult, not something that we wanted to do several times per day. After a couple hours of struggle, we admitted defeat and decided to pursue another approach.
The pressure was on!
At this point in our preparations to leave, we didn’t have any extra time to deal with this unforeseen problem. With our frustrations running high, we located a used roof rack on Facebook Marketplace that we planned on mounting to the ladder on the back of the camper. We have seen this setup many times and it too had its own set of pros and cons. However, in our minds, it seemed like a workable solution. The next morning, we went down the road and purchased it for $50 and went home to get it setup. A couple hours of measuring, cutting, drilling and locating suitable stainless steel U-bolts, we had the main cross tubes up along with the bike mounts that came with the roof rack. 
We were able to get Sasha’s bike put up with a lot of struggle and wrestling. 
These e-bikes are heavy and awkward to lift up on the back of a truck camper bumper, but it worked! We both had concerns about the weight of the bikes pulling down vertically on a mount designed to hold a bike horizontally. It was a problem that would take time to test out, so onward to my mountain bike. My bike is about 10 pounds heavier than Sasha’s bike and just a little too heavy to lift up comfortably. We rigged up a strap to act as a hoist, I pulled it up and Sasha guided it into position. Unfortunately, not only was the bike to heavy lift up in this manner more than once in a lifetime, but the fat tires wouldn’t fit into the plastic slots meant to hold them. Within a few minutes we aborted the operation and lowered the bike back to the ground. In our rush to get the bikes mounted, we failed to test it out on the ground first. Frustration was again peaking, and now, the sun was setting. I spent another hour by flashlight trying to figure out how to cut and modify the mount to hold the fat tires and support the weight of the bike. The next morning I bent some of the aluminum channel in hopes it would be wide enough to accept the fat tires and the tire straps would fit around the rim. Try as I might, it wasn’t going to fit. We looked online for strap extensions, ratchet straps and new bike mounts. One big question kept coming up in our discussions. If we get the bikes up there, will we ever want to take them down knowing that we would have to wrestle them back up there again? We quickly agreed on a big NO!
We started to talk about getting a trailer to haul them, and that having them on the back would make it more difficult to quickly enter and exit the camper for roadside pit stops. Then we talked about how we didn’t want to deal with having a trailer which would make parking and off road driving more difficult. We wanted our rig as compact and simple as possible. The bikes were challenging this idea. In a moment of extreme frustration we even talked about just leaving them behind, however, that thought quickly dissipated as rational thinking returned. We spent hours searching for a bike rack for a truck camper online and kept going in circles.
Back to the drawing board…
We circled back to the original idea of a swing out, hitch mounted bike rack that would work for both of our bikes. We went back to researching and reading forums, Facebook groups and watching videos to uncover the ultimate solution to our dilemma. After coming so far with our setup, we refused to allow the bike rack to be our sticking point. With 75k-100k miles of driving ahead of us the bike rack system would have to be thought out in more detail and designed to last.
Our RAM 3500 came with a 2.5” Class V hitch and we were using a 2.5” -> 2” reducer that came with the truck to hold our 24” extension. That didn’t sit well in our minds and also introduced a lot of movement and wiggle to the equation. First thing we need is a hitch extension that was the correct length and a full 2.5” to match the truck’s receiver. Another consideration is cost. We were aware of several high quality hitch extensions, but they were overkill for our needs. We aren’t going to tow anything and just need the bikes to be securely attached to the truck. We wanted to find a compromise. We discovered a 34 inch CURT 45048 Trailer Hitch Receiver Adapter Reducer and that seemed to be a good base to build from.
The pressure was on, the weather was getting bitterly cold and we were already one month behind our original schedule. We ordered the Curt 45048 extension and started to look at our bike rack options. We knew that we needed something that didn’t involve the frame of the bikes since that had caused so much grief already. Additionally, we needed something to handle the fat tires and extra weight of my bike. Having the bikes low to the ground would make it easier to load and unload them and increase our desire to use them. The ability to swing the bikes out was also a must since we would need to get in and out of the camper. Since our first attempt with the Thule Apex XT Swing 4 seemed promising, we thought it best to look at similar options that might be of a better build quality. We read reviews and looked at all of the models that hit the mark.
Is this the right one?
One model kept popping up more and more as a top contender, the “RockyMounts BackStage Swing Away Platform Hitch Rack”. It seemed to check off all of the boxes for our needs and we had some excellent over the phone Q&A about the specifics with their support. We contacted RockyMounts to talk to them about durability, function, warranty, and what we were planning to do with the rack. We pushed the issue of daily use, lots of miles, the need to have it easy to open and close several times a day and not break down in the process. They were adamant about their build quality and provided some details backing up their confidence in the product. The public opinion seemed to support their claims and the answers to our specific questions were right on target. The true test would come with time on the road and it seemed that we had a winner! We talked to them about the speed of shipping and they directed us to Amazon to have it fulfilled by Amazon Prime. We placed an order for the bike rack along with some locking receiver pins for security.
Keeping the bikes dry
The next important step was to get a good quality cover for the bikes that would also work with the bike rack. That took several hours of research and a little bit of creativity. We found that most waterproof covers were not suited for use while in transit, the nature of the materials leads them to tearing very quickly. There were a few high quality covers that were suited for use during transit, specifically on RVs, but they were only rated as “water resistant”. Upon reading the reviews, we found that the water resistance would quickly disappear leaving the bikes wet after a rain. 
We wanted to make sure that the bikes could breath and not get wet from condensation, but that they were also protected from hard rains and the road mist that we would inevitably encounter. We decided to go with a hybrid approach and use two different covers. We found an inexpensive Heavy Duty 210D Oxford XXL Wheel Rain Cover that goes over the bikes and the Swagman RV Approved Horizontal Bike Bag to wrap everything up. Shipping took a few days and when all of the parts arrived we started to put everything together.
Final Assembly
The hitch extension went in first along with the locking pin. We assembled the RockyMounts bike rack and were pleasantly surprised with how easy everything went together. There are some nuts and bolts and some basic adjustments, but the instructions were clear enough to get through the assembly in about 20-30 minutes.
We started by installing the main swing arm into the receiver, then bolting on the bike rack parts. We each grabbed an end and slid it into the receiver extension and continued assembly. 
After we thoroughly tested everything and checked if we missed anything during assembly, it was time to load the bikes onto the rack. Since my fat tire mountain bike is the heaviest, that goes on the front closest to the truck, we lifted that up and ran into a new problem. The spokes of my wheels hit our rear steps. 
We have a set of “Torklift GlowStep Stow N’ Go” stairs. They have some adjustable landing pads that allow you to adjust the height of the steps when on the ground. Since our truck and camper sit a bit high, these are usually fully extended. Collapsing them solved the clearance issue with the bike spokes, but would mean that we have to re-extend them for each use. 
Reluctantly, we grabbed our leftover double hitch extension to add some additional space. This would let us keep the landing gear fully extended and have some extra wiggle room to protect the spokes.
The bike fit well and was held securely in place using the upright brace for the front wheel. Next we installed the strap extensions for the fat tires and we had our first bike mounted. Next, we lifted Sasha’s bike up and secured it with the front tire brace and secured the rear tire with the straps. Everything looked great.
Success at last!
At this point, we were excited at the possibility that we had finally found a good solution and all that remained was to swing the bikes out to see if it all went to plan. 
The swing out arm was easy to release and swing to the side. Once the arm swings out fully a pin automatically locks the arm in the extended position. The same goes for the actual bike rack that also pivots 90 degrees and lock in position. We stood back and marveled at a working bicycle transport solution, success! Next we unlocked the pins holding the rack in its open position and swung it back to its closed configuration. The locking pin fell into place and we secured the swing arm using the T-handle screw. It worked so well that we were giddy; never would we expect to be so excited about a bike rack. We opened it and closed it several more times to make sure that we hadn’t missed something, but we were happy to find that it function perfectly.
The completion of this project was our ticket to finally leave on our travels. It never crossed our minds that it would be so hard to setup a bike rack for a truck camper. We did have to remove the rack once more in order to get the cover installed since it fits around the 2 inch square tube on the rack to fully enclose the bikes. Luckily, that was a simple task given the rest of the hassle we had been through already. 
With the exterior bike cover installed on the rack, we put the waterproof cover over the bikes with ease and started to zip up the exterior cover. It didn’t quite fit and required some pulling and tugging to slightly stretch the material out to allow us to get the zipper fully closed. With the zipper closed we started to clip the tension straps together to keep everything tight and prevent any billowing in the wind. The project was complete, not perfect, but functional. After a few miles of driving and some wet weather, the exterior cover had loosed up and and made zipping it closed much easier. Within a couple days we had some pretty hard rains and found that our bikes stayed completely dry and we couldn’t have been happier.
After a great deal of frustration, stress and research we had put the finishing touch on our travel rig. The bike rack really was the last thing we needed to complete to before we could actually hit the road. With everything double checked and the bikes bundled up, we were able to finally drive off for the adventure of a lifetime!
Final Thoughts
In the eleven months we spent planning and preparing for our adventures, the bike rack still remains one of the toughest technical challenges (which sounds crazy, I know). Partly because we were pressed for time and partly because our unique setup prevented us from using some tried and true bike transport options on the market. We learned a great deal in the process and hope that this information may help someone else in a similar situation. As I write this, we have driven with the setup for approximately 4,500 miles with no problems. We use the bikes frequently and love the ease and simplicity of the mounting system.
The bike rack has exceeded our expectations and the only sign of wear is a slight sag in the swing arm, which is to be expected. RockyMounts built in a tapered plastic ramp to compensate for this type of sag and when closing the swing arm, you just have to give it a little extra push to get it up the ramp. We will update this post if anything changes with this setup, for now, it’s solid and has endured many bumps and rough roads. We use the swing arm almost daily and are very happy with how it has been working.
20k mile update 8/27/20
If you stuck it out and read the entire article above, we commend you and thank you for your persistence! Those experiences were 10 months and 20,0000 miles ago. Now, we have some updates about the bike rack setup and how it’s held up. We put together a video on YouTube to go over everything that we have learned on the first leg of our journey.
Video Update:
How did things hold up?
the video above. In this update, we’ll include some photos and details of what happened in our travels.The first 7000 miles
heaviest one) was leaning. We disassembled the rack and discovered some stress fractures and/or fatigue cracks. They were bad enough that we didn’t feel comfortable driving any further.
and we were able to get back on the road in about a week from when we first noticed the cracks.What broke?
fatigue cracks. The first signs of fatigue occurred after about 7,000 miles of use. Because of the amplified motion back and forth, the metal fatigues and cracks over the miles. Predictably, the first crack formed with the heaviest bike. We always keep the heavy bike closest to the rig as the rack instructions indicate. This helps minimize the force on the rack, and makes complete sense. The other cross bar that holds Sasha’s bike, seemed fine at the time.
The next set of problems happened after another 8,000-10,000 miles. We were able to get home with the broken rack by using some straps and velcro to stop things from wiggling around so much. Once we got home, we were able to disassemble the bike rack and do a better inspection. This time, we found that both cross bars had similar fatigue cracks. After seeing the movement that the bike rack is exposed to, these fatigue cracks are to be expected. I think a section of thicker metal welded the base of these cross bars would greatly extend the life of them. I’m not sure if that is something RockyMounts will consider doing in the future. Our use case is pretty far outside their target market, however, I have found many people with Class-C RVs and Truck Campers struggling to find a good bike rack setup.
well. The only other issue that I have seen is a crack in the main mount for the cross bars. This piece is the one holding our heaviest bike and has had the most abuse. Other than that one crack, the rest of this mount looks really solid and in good shape. Overall, these components are build very well and are designed to last a long time!How we fixed it
Our first temporary repair was to spread the load out across the lower bracket. We only had a couple of hours and resorted to what we had in our box of parts. We used a fender washer to help spread the force out across the bracket until we could find a better solution.
The next fix seems to be much stonger and will hopefully buy us another 10k-15k miles before something else starts to let go. We were able to locate the correct size U-Bolts and Frame Straps to clamp around the weak area. The placement of the U-Bolts brings the clamping force in closer to the main bar and welded plates. Our hope is that this will help move the forces to areas that are strong enough to survive. We have noticed a significant improvement in the stiffness of the cross bars and have seen no additional cracking or fatigue in the first few hundred miles.