Why not just use a tailgate pad? Significantly cheaper, doesn’t put the front wheel into the airstream, holds more bikes, and doesn’t really take up any more space in the bed.
wacksonjagstaff on
I would just get a hitch rack and skip the excess.
Revpaul12 on
Bird bits definitely improve brake performance
YetiSquish on
I wouldn’t – I’ve been perfectly happy with a quality tailgate pad. But if my tailgate shape wouldn’t work well for a pad and I never needed my truck bed for other stuff, then maybe I’d consider this. I think I’d still opt for a hitch rack first.
To deal with the issue of scratches from a pad, I had a self-healing protective film put on my tailgate. And I almost never transport bikes with a tire that is touching my turn signal light.
There is no perfect system, however.
Point510 on
People will go through so much effort to not just use a truck bed, after they bought a truck
Fuzzy-Age-3700 on
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As much as I dislike tailgate pads, I would use one all day before paying all that money for a setup like this. I don’t see any benefit at all. You still can’t use the bed for anything while the bikes are mounted.
I made a setup for my bed that gives me 2ft of bed height underneath our bikes and full use of the tailgate. Granted, the track system came with my truck, but everything else only cost me $60, not counting Thule sidearm racks
6 Comments
Why not just use a tailgate pad? Significantly cheaper, doesn’t put the front wheel into the airstream, holds more bikes, and doesn’t really take up any more space in the bed.
I would just get a hitch rack and skip the excess.
Bird bits definitely improve brake performance
I wouldn’t – I’ve been perfectly happy with a quality tailgate pad. But if my tailgate shape wouldn’t work well for a pad and I never needed my truck bed for other stuff, then maybe I’d consider this. I think I’d still opt for a hitch rack first.
To deal with the issue of scratches from a pad, I had a self-healing protective film put on my tailgate. And I almost never transport bikes with a tire that is touching my turn signal light.
There is no perfect system, however.
People will go through so much effort to not just use a truck bed, after they bought a truck
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As much as I dislike tailgate pads, I would use one all day before paying all that money for a setup like this. I don’t see any benefit at all. You still can’t use the bed for anything while the bikes are mounted.
I made a setup for my bed that gives me 2ft of bed height underneath our bikes and full use of the tailgate. Granted, the track system came with my truck, but everything else only cost me $60, not counting Thule sidearm racks