How To Fit A Bicycle Under A Truck Cap
In general, hauling bikes in the bed of a truck isn’t much of a problem, even if it’s a short bed, as long as there is nothing on it.
By that i mean a cap – there are many reasons why you would want to have one on your pickup, though one thing for sure, moving bicycles from now on will become more of a struggle.
Remove the front wheel
If your pickup truck has a standard, cab-high cap, well, most of the time you will need to get the front wheel out first in order to be able to fit the thing in there.
How will it work out has all to do with how large the bicycle is, as there are times when doing so still doesn’t cut it. In that instance, what you can also do is tackle the seatpost, and by that i mean either lower it, or remove, if needed.
Now even though the bike may start to technically “fit” inside the confined space of a truck topper after doing all that, it could also be overly long. There is really nothing much you can do if that is true, unless positioning diagonally inside the bed, which normally provides you with some extra inches. Also, try airing out the rear tire.
Make a fork mount
You finally got the bike in there? Great, because the hardest part is over! The only thing left now is figuring out how to keep it upright and secure, for hauling measures.
The main component of the whole structure will certainly be the mount, or should i say, the quick release kind. The product makes it very easy to fix the bicycle in place as it’s all done without any need of wrenches or so, only a tightening and clamping system.
Before all that, you first have to figure out how you want to actually fasten the fork mount. You can bolt it down right to the bed, but considering that not everyone is as keen in doing so, your best option is to probably go for a piece of wood (something along these lines).
As long as you position the board in the right position, i.e. between the grooves of the bed, a corner, you wont have to actually drill the wood to the bed itself. (Keep in mind that the unit could still end up dislodging during a sudden stop or turning, so it is best to figure out a way to mount the platform permanently).
Summary
We all would certainly love to be able to fit the whole bicycle, without any wheel removal or anything of that nature, right into the cap of our kind, though you probably already know that everything is not that plain.
The problem here is that this could actually only be done if you have a camper shell that is taller, but then again, would you purchase a completely new one and throw out the old solely because of this reason?
I mean, if the ease of storage is that important to you, why not just go for a hitch rack? Well, i guess that isn’t much of a solution either, as it really ruins the whole hiding purpose a cap is all about.