Monday, June 23, 2014

Bike Rack Rack - My second meta bike rack project

Last year I upgraded my bike rack to the Thule T2 918XTR, which carries bikes tray style.
It's awesome, and works with bikes where frame geometry or size makes a frame carrier impossible.

The problem is that it is a 90# monstrosity when not mounted on a car, using up a ton of floor
space, and difficult to stand up vertically or hang.

My solution was to weld together a Bike Rack Rack. It is constructed of 6 4' 2x2 steel
sections, and 3 trailer hitch receivers, all welded together in a simple manner.

I got the Thule Rack for 4 bikes, be we only move around 3 bikes at a time, so that gave us
an extra tray, which I can use as a single bike rack on a car by just using a 2x2 insert into
the car hitch. This single tray can be seen on the left side of the image....mounted
higher on the Bike Rack Rack.

I can also move the single tray to a 1 1/2" hitch using a 2" -> 1 1/2" adapter so it
can be used on a car with only a 1 1/2" hitch receiver.

So now, all the bike racks, and 3 bikes can stand neatly and safely in a 5'x 6' space.