corrado33

I've tried many... many times to figure out a way to transport a bike with a bike. Most of them involved somehow attaching a bike to a trailer. None of them ever worked. The bike always flopped sideways. So today I tried something different and... well... it worked... sorta.





The problem it has is that there is no freedom of movement in the y direction (up). So if I went over a speed bump or through a significant dip, bad things would happen. Well, it wasn't too terrible. The cording I used was stretchy, so it soaked up the bumps. Luckily the road between where I started and where I ended was good and flat. It made it 5 miles home.

Basically I used three trucker's hitches. (Trucker's hitches are basically a rope's version of a ratchet strap. You can pull it very... very tight and it stays in place on it's own.) Two on the handlebars and one over the top tube. Then I pulled them tight. I shoved the fork dropouts on my rack on one of the cross supports. It probably would have worked a bit better if my rack had thinner tubing, as then the dropouts could have fit ONTO the tubing, instead of just sitting on top of it. The attachment was super secure regardless.

I know they make fork attachment mechanisms with quick releases for transporting bikes by truck, but that would run into the same problem as my setup, with no "rotational" freedom. So going over bumps or dips would be a problem. So any decent attachment would need to have two directions of freedom. Left and right, and up and down. Mine had plenty of the former, and only a touch of the latter. Optimally, if you could find a way to attach the front WHEEL securely without flopping, that would allow for two directions of freedom.

Have you found any better way to transport a bike by bike?

thumpism 

Take a look at my bike board, at the old front hubs with QRs that I use as fork mounts. Perhaps you could adapt something like this to attach to your rack; a piece of plank with a hub U-bolted to it and you would then clamp the plank to the rack. Good luck!
bike block in red van.jpg

corrado33

Oooo super good idea. I could even skip the board completely and attach the hub directly to my rack. We've got boxes of low level hubs at the shop. (We got donations from a shut down shop once, and the donations included literally (and I'm using that correctly) boxes of new front hubs that we will likely never... never use. I think there were low to mid range shimano hubs. Interestingly, bulk hubs come in a box with many many seperate compartments for each individual hub stacked vertically. (so you're looking at all the hubs from the side.)

rajarajan

I have done this many times. If you are not on clipless pedals, its fairly easy for short/medium distances.

corrado33

Yes, I've also ghostridden bike across town, but this particular time I had to ride on roads with no bike lane, so I wanted to be a bit... thinner than I would be if I were ghostriding a bike.

The trick when ghostriding a bike is that if the 2nd bike gets out of control, just lift the front wheel off the ground and it'll correct itself.

gabe3366

Nice, now try towing two bikes...

coffeesnob

easy peasy you have one hand on the handlebar you are on and the other on the one in tow. I used to do it all the time as a kid.

BobbyG

Cool!

Tape2012

You could try scavenging a lazy susan or an old swivel chair for the circular bearing. Mount the lazy susan to your rack and an old hub to the lazy susan.

The hub will give you freedom of movement over bumps and the circular bearing will give freedom of movement during turns.

thumpism 

Might be overkill. The headset of the towed bike provides that movement.

joejack951

Anyone ever try mounting a trunk-mount bike rack onto their bike (likely on to a rear rack)? That could allow for carrying 2-3 bikes, if one could manage the weight distribution.

CliffordK

Hmmm, sounds a bit like déjà vu.

https://www.bikeforums.net/living-car...e-bicycle.html

I have a photo of my fork adapter (off the bike). It works reasonably well, although it gets the weight pretty high.

I don't think I'd want to tow two bikes that way, although there is a photo of a person who carries two bikes with the front wheels in a small trailer, and the rears rolling.

locolobo13 

This is the only technique I'm familiar with.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rollingspoke/16029543778

corrado33

I've found it works better if you ride the lower bike and "hold" the taller bike. If you ride the tall/upright bike you'll be bending over a bunch to reach the low bike.

corrado33

Ooo I like the trailers in that thread of yours, although they're a bit specific. I don't know why I'd ever have to transport more than two bikes at a time.

I really like the idea of a simple front hub as suggested above. That should be secure enough and provide all of the degrees of freedom that you'd need. If I could mount it low on the rack it'd be even better.

pickettt

If anyone's got a good idea for transporting a bike on a motorcycle, I'd be interested.

CrankyOne

There's this:

CrankyOne

This.