Bike Rack with Utilitrac

[waltj]

I ride mountain bike several times per week which is the reason I bought the Frontier Crew Cab Short Bed. I searched everywhere for a bike rack that would haul 4 mountain bikes without having to remove the wheels. I found one called Advantage Bed Rack by Heininger Automotive Heininger Holdings, LLC - Products for People in Motion
I found it for $130 at Costco. When it was delivered, the frame was too wide for the Frontier so I called Heininger, and Nick Holmes went to a local Nissan dealer and measured for proper size. Without a charge he fabricated and delivered a new one. It works great! I can use it for both mountain and road bikes. The greatest thing about it is that I can use the Nissan cleats to hold the back of the bike frame to the Utilitrac and the Nissan blocks on the lower Utilitrac rails have conduit straps that I bought from Home Depot to attach the lower part of the bike frame. (I had to free up the peened bolt ends on the Nissan blocks to remove by unscrewing in a vise). I can now go riding with 3 friends and all our gear.

[characterzero]

Excellent Find! I have been considering fabbing something like that. I wonder if your buddy kept the dimensions handy!
What keeps the bikes from rolling out of it other than the styrofoam wheel cups?

PS- can you get some bigger pics up?

[waltj]

Nick Holmes is an employee of Heininger and I'm sure he still has the specs. The bikes are held in by an adjustable metal rod that presses against the tires. You just push in hard and they stay. Just to make sure, I bungee the frame to a cleat, but they hold in very well. My mountain bike tires are so big (29"x2.3") that I don't use the sponge holders. If you click on the thumbnails they should enlarge. Let me know

[characterzero]

Originally Posted by waltj

Nick Holmes is an employee of Heininger and I'm sure he still has the specs. The bikes are held in by an adjustable metal rod that presses against the tires. You just push in hard and they stay. Just to make sure, I bungee the frame to a cleat, but they hold in very well. My mountain bike tires are so big (29"x2.3") that I don't use the sponge holders. If you click on the thumbnails they should enlarge. Let me know

Do you think they'd fit a 2.5? Nice surly, btw.

[waltj]

The Panaracer 29's I have are listed as 2.35" and are a tight fit. But tires are flexible so they probably will work. Thanks for the nice comments on the Surly. I have owned it for about 3 years. It is a single speed with Chris King wheels and Magura Marta hydraulic brakes. I am 56 years old and am having a great time mountain biking and tri's. The Frontier is great for all my activities. I have tried to post larger pictures here, I hope they work.

[dubie2003]

Thank you sir for the larger pics.

I'll have to check into this instead of just putting one together out of 2x4s and 1x4s.

[characterzero]

Originally Posted by waltj

The Panaracer 29's I have are listed as 2.35" and are a tight fit. But tires are flexible so they probably will work. Thanks for the nice comments on the Surly. I have owned it for about 3 years. It is a single speed with Chris King wheels and Magura Marta hydraulic brakes. I am 56 years old and am having a great time mountain biking and tri's. The Frontier is great for all my activities. I have tried to post larger pictures here, I hope they work.

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, I suppose the 2.4/2.5s on the Ventana will squeeze since I run them about 30psi, but the 2.4s on the Cove pumptrack bike wouldn't budge since I run them at about 50psi.

I have a great above-the-bed setup that I use occasionally, but don't have it on right now. I have actually been considering just mounting my cobras in the bed, but that would require utilizing one bungee - at which point, I might as well use tie-downs.