Enough space for two mountain bikes inside Traveler with seats down

[jlrichar]

Look, putting bikes on the roof of really tall vehicles sucks—hard. Having rear spare makes hitch mount weird. It’s still possible, just imagine you have bikes mounted and you need to open the rear to get something. I don’t want to put my carbon mtb on some wonky thing hanging off the spare tire either. In my Scout II I could remove the front wheel of the bikes and use fork mounts on a board to get two bikes upright in the back. Same with my ZJ. Rear seats folded down, front bike wheels removed, seat posts lowered, forks mounted to a board that just rested on the folded down seats. Perhaps a factory solution could offer factory fork mounts near the back of headrests of folded down seats? Might have to stagger due to stupidly wide bars on modern bikes to get two in.

Repeat after me—putting bikes on the roofs of tall vehicles sucks!

 

[R1TVT]

I would agree that loading MTB's on a roof is the worst. Not to mention aerodynamics on road while heading to to trail-head. That specific edge-case may not be a real problem for Scout to tackle with its interior design though. There are already options/solutions that exist for this (and preserve interior cargo and passenger space). What Scout could potentially do is either design the spare tire carrier to more easily accommodate a swing-away rack, OR maybe you could configure your Scout without that spare tire carrier (delete the option) and provide your own tire carrier WITH a rack attachment like these?:

The RIGd UltraSwing Hitch Carrier Multi-Fit Works With All 2″ Receivers

Got a vehicle that needs to carry a spare tire on the back but you've gotta carry a bike rack too? Well, if it has a 2" receiver, the RIGd UltraSwing Hitch Carrier Multi-Fit fits all vehicles now. The original UltraSwing only fit the 4th/5th gen 4Runner but the Multi-Fit works with just about...

theradavist.com

Bike Rack with swing away?

Wait 1, I’ll take some pictures tomorrow and post.

forum.gofastcampers.com

 

[J Alynn]

Look, putting bikes on the roof of really tall vehicles sucks—hard. Having rear spare makes hitch mount weird. It’s still possible, just imagine you have bikes mounted and you need to open the rear to get something. I don’t want to put my carbon mtb on some wonky thing hanging off the spare tire either. In my Scout II I could remove the front wheel of the bikes and use fork mounts on a board to get two bikes upright in the back. Same with my ZJ. Rear seats folded down, front bike wheels removed, seat posts lowered, forks mounted to a board that just rested on the folded down seats. Perhaps a factory solution could offer factory fork mounts near the back of headrests of folded down seats? Might have to stagger due to stupidly wide bars on modern bikes to get two in.

Repeat after me—putting bikes on the roofs of tall vehicles sucks!

Agree though I don’t ride as much anymore. Have you looked to see what Bronco owners have come up with? They may have solved that issue already?

 

[jlrichar]

I would agree that loading MTB's on a roof is the worst. Not to mention aerodynamics on road while heading to to trail-head. That specific edge-case may not be a real problem for Scout to tackle with its interior design though. There are already options/solutions that exist for this (and preserve interior cargo and passenger space). What Scout could potentially do is either design the spare tire carrier to more easily accommodate a swing-away rack, OR maybe you could configure your Scout without that spare tire carrier (delete the option) and provide your own tire carrier WITH a rack attachment like these?:

The RIGd UltraSwing Hitch Carrier Multi-Fit Works With All 2″ Receivers

Got a vehicle that needs to carry a spare tire on the back but you've gotta carry a bike rack too? Well, if it has a 2" receiver, the RIGd UltraSwing Hitch Carrier Multi-Fit fits all vehicles now. The original UltraSwing only fit the 4th/5th gen 4Runner but the Multi-Fit works with just about...

theradavist.com

Bike Rack with swing away?

Wait 1, I’ll take some pictures tomorrow and post.

forum.gofastcampers.com

View attachment 4236

I imagine if Scout doesn’t come out with a good solution that I’d do something like this. Usually on my weekend ride it’s just two of us. For more than two the hitch and maybe even roof (as a last resort) would be needed. For trips with the fam to Moab or Sedona (8 hr drive) I’d want a good hitch solution-as you point out sticking bikes on the roof would kill range. The other reason I also want a good inside the vehicle solution is for security. Great for camping with just the two of us, or stops pre and post ride. For example for “recovery” beverages after the ride.

 

[J Alynn]

I imagine if Scout doesn’t come out with a good solution that I’d do something like this. Usually on my weekend ride it’s just two of us. For more than two the hitch and maybe even roof (as a last resort) would be needed. For trips with the fam to Moab or Sedona (8 hr drive) I’d want a good hitch solution-as you point out sticking bikes on the roof would kill range. The other reason I also want a good inside the vehicle solution is for security. Great for camping with just the two of us, or stops pre and post ride. For example for “recovery” beverages after the ride.

Aaah-recovery beverages are important. HYDRATION!!!
You still have the option of going standard tire mount under vehicle without the spare then you could use a hitch mounted bike carrier.

 

[R1TVT]

Agree though I don’t ride as much anymore. Have you looked to see what Bronco owners have come up with? They may have solved that issue already?

This the the RIGd Supply RambleSwing on a Bronco:

Kuat and others make them too:

 

[J Alynn]

This the the RIGd Supply RambleSwing on a Bronco:

View attachment 4278

Kuat and others make them too:

View attachment 4279

That’s a hell of a lot of steel but that certainly gets the job done and easiest way to access. Even on my A yea wagon it was tough to get bikes in top. I like this solution

 

[Logan]

I posted a longer version of this in response to your comment in the other thread.

Fellow mountain biker here. Fellow ZJ owner as well.

I’ve mentioned a few times already that roof racks suck for bikes, particularly on SUV’s (and I say that as a 6’1” barefoot adult man). And particularly for mountain bikes (which can be 2-3x heavier than some of the super light road bikes).

My ZJ won’t fit modern long travel 29’er bikes inside (at least not in sizes L or XL). I have to do them upside down, with the rear tire between the front seats. What size/genre of bikes are you fitting in your ZJ like that?

But the very first time I saw the traveler my first thought was “crap, I can’t use my bike rack “ (1up super duty single). Because of that, I really hope they offer an in the rear storage area spare tire (like our ZJ’s), or a smaller (but not tiny doughnut) spare under the floor/under the vehicle.

All the biking friends I have either use tailgate pads, vertical racks like the velocirax, or the 1up hitch racks.

Photo (well, screenshot of a video actually) from this weekend when I flew down to visit a friend and ride for a day.