Bike rack + travel trailer -- anybody have a solid solution?

Oof! Tough areas for sure.

 

I feel like I've tried all available combos when towing my 16ft casita trailer, and nothing is perfect lol

When running my topper I've put the bikes on top... nice and out of the way but a PITA to get the mtb up and down with a lifted truck

A company makes a hitch for the casita and I put that on with a 1up rack... Doesn't affect it as much as I thought it would, just have to add a lot of extra tongue weight and not run a bunch of water in the camper tank. My model of casita is fairly tongue light so it's not the best option but doable.

Before that I was using a lippert jack-it bike carrier that mounts under the jack, it was OK, but turning radius was tight when running a topper - with the topper off the bars have plenty of room. This is with MTB though, road bikes would be so much easier with that set up.

$220 Let's Go Aero - 429756 Jack-It Double Bike Carrier System

https://www.amazon.com/Lets-Go-Aero-Jack-Carrier/dp/B01MYRM7MM I took it off so I could add a jack-e-up removable jack mount since I couldn't put my tailgate down with the jack in place

I've taken the topper off several summers and have used normal yakima bike mounts on yakima truck bed bar mounts... super fast to remove them when not using them and you could easily move 4 bikes around. Not a cheap option though, I had the bike mounts already and bought the bed rock bars on craigslist.
I have the older version of this, it really worked great and room to store stuff underneath.

$275 YAKIMA BedRock HD Low Profile Heavy Duty Truck Bed Rack Towers (Set of 4), 300 Pound On-Road Capacity, 180 Off-Road Capacity, Black

https://www.amazon.com/Yakima-Bedrock-Truck-Bed-Rack/dp/B07MDSNWVN

Now I have the topper off with a raceface 2 bike tailgate pad since I have a dirtbike now to haul around. I had it mounted to the side and crushed my brake lever when backing up sharply recently... I moved it to the middle of the tailgate and it was fine. I'm also running a stromburg carlson rack that holds a cooler over the propane tanks, without that I probably wouldn't have crunched them lol

Edit to add pics -

 

Putting that little Casita to work!

 

I've done the front bike rack thing before and would not recommend it. It's very distracting, and depending on the hitch and rack, it blocks a lot of your view.

This was a few years ago with 4 bikes on the front and four on the back, driving into downtown Chicago for an organized "Nite Ride" on a weekend. No issues, but not a fun experience. Always worried about hitting a pot hole or dip in the road and several thousand dollars of bikes end up under the Explorer. It does draw attention though.

 

I only run like this to nearby campgrounds across a couple counties on in-town roads. I’m down to about 12 like this. Usually I have our mountain tandem bike up there and at about 13.5mpg.

 

Lol I sure do, dragged that thing all kinds of places! It was much improved when I put 15in wheels on it and bigger tires with a higher load rating. Not sure how I didn't blow a tire before!

 

This is an issue I had to overcome last year. I have a pop up camper so there isn't much room to store things in there. I pretty much have it filled with the gear to set up a camp site and cook. I have a hard tonneau cover and load food clothes and fire wood in the bed so no room for my bike there.
My camper has a 2" receiver on the rear bumper so I got a two bike platform rack that I use on the trailer and the truck at times.
It works fine I took it on several trips some well over 100 miles each way and no issues..

This is the rack I bought for 2 bikes but 4 bike platform racks are available.

$90 MaxxHaul 50027 Hitch Mount Bike Rack Platform - Style 2-Bike Rack for Cars Trucks SUVs Minivans with Hitch Tightener, Great For E-bikes With Standard Width Tires

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GBPBW1T?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I see this 4 bike one is available

$70 MaxxHaul 70210 Hitch Mount Bike Rack 4-Bike Rack, Black For Cars Trucks SUV's Minivans, Large

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AK9YMIM

 

What about BillieBars? Bed bars that work with bed covers. I purchased a set and added their rockymount locking fork mount and the rear tire Trays. Used them for a month and traded my truck in. I kept the bars but new taco has topper so may sell them.

 

Put a Curt front end receiver and mount your bikes in front. You can also use it to push the trailer into tighter spots with sharper turns than you could by backing it in.

 

By the way- we stayed at Fort
Flagier State Park for our first night out of Seattle on our last long roadtrip. Right on the beach with good sea kayak access and nice bike trails for the kids, it was nice!

 

Even have room for a 17’ kayak

 

Not sure where you’re at, but I’m looking for some bed bars if you decide to sell.