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Stef frequently says that I always have to have some sort of RV project going. She’s teasing, but she’s also correct. In fact, when I run out of projects, I’ll sometimes do some of them over again, which is how we get to this week’s project decking out our small trailer for bikes.
We bought “George” (that’s what we’ve named the trailer) 6 months ago, and I immediately added some storage and some mounting for bikes. Now I’m re-doing all of that.
You see, after having used the trailer now for a while, we’ve learned what works well, and what doesn’t with our current setup. So yes, I’m making improvements to a project that was already basically complete. This is the first installment of that, and probably the easiest.
I’m adding a bicycle repair stand to George. Why? Well, imagine trying to work on your car if you car kept falling over. That’s how annoying it is to work on a bike without a repair stand. They just make life so much easier – even if you’re only changing a tire. And I’ve found that I do enough of this on the road that I’ve been wishing for a repair stand.
Now typically, bike repair stands are two-legged or three-legged affairs that are kind of big and awkward, or at the very least require level ground. Sure, they fold down like tripods to move, but then you still have to store them. The one I found for our trailer is a wall mount one, and it comes with two mounting brackets. I mounted one of the brackets inside the trailer so we can use that to store the stand in when we’re underway.
Beyond that, you can see everything in the video.
You can find the repair stand on Amazon, here: Conquer Bicycle Wall Mount Repair Stand Bicycle Rack – Rotating Head
And before anyone asks, this is the kind of trailer we have: http://www.sundownertrailer.com/tlr-MiniGO.html
To see the NEXT mods I did on George, and trust me it gets WAYYYY better than this, CLICK HERE FOR PART TWO: “PIMP MY TRAILER”.
were did you get the trailer and what is the weight and measurements of the trailer.
my wife and I have two recumbent trikes (catrike), I would like to mount it on the back but there would be issues with that , like making a carrier for both and the trikes would get dirt on them etc.
Minigotrailer.com
Ours is a 4×6. It’s quite small, and extremely difficult to back up!
I want one but really worry about backing up.
Yep, it’s certainly a pain. It really does make us rethink our stops so we don’t get stuck in a situation where we have to back up! With just the van alone we don’t have to do that. But! I guess it’s all about trade-offs. It’s a pain, but worth it for us to have more space inside the van when we travel with Mel!
Most of the time, rather than even try to back it up, I just unhook it and muscle it around by hand.
I wonder if that bike stand bracket could be mounted to the bike rack on the back of the Travato or somewhere on the Travato. It seems like it would take up much less space than a regular bike stand.
Hi Rex!
The mounting plate for that bike stand is nothing special – it’s just a piece of steel. If you wanted to mount it to the Travato, you certainly could. You would just need to reinforce it from the inside somehow so that it wasn’t just mounted to the sheet metal. There are 5 mounting holes, and you would need an area about 8 inches by 8 inches of clear surface to mount it to.
Now that you have conceded that the bikes belong outside of the van, does this open more floorpan choices specifically bigger bed layouts? It seems your original layout choice was influenced by a narrow bed that folded up to accommodate the now trailered bikes.
Well, we haven’t really concluded that the bikes belong outside.
We only use the trailer, basically, when we take our cat along. There just isn’t room for both the bikes and litter box inside. Plus, it keeps chain grease off the white cat.
For quick trips like our outing last weekend to Antelope Island, we still prefer to have the bikes inside.
For an overnight race or cycling event, we’d keep the bikes inside as well.
We don’t really like driving with the trailer. But we sure like having it once we’ve landed and detached it!
Ultimately, we’d really prefer to have a European floor plan on a compact C with a bike garage.
When you are done with all your projects…we have an LTV Unity that we want to put Sumo shocks and a sway bar on….so let us know when you can fit us in! LOL
Oh yeah. That’ll be the day when Stef lets me take on other folks projects! lol.
She has her own list of projects for me… that I’m way behind on…
Outstanding James. Great stand you found. Like it’s compactness.
Being able to mount it inside is what sealed the deal for me.
That trailer is an excellent solution to the problem in the USA where small motorhomes never seem to have decent storage for bicycles. In Europe many of our small motorhomes have a large storage area at the rear suitable for bicycles.
That trailer is also, possibly, a solution to the problem of motorhomes with very load payload. Usually the motorhomes can pull a small trailer even if the have limited payload and so you could carry quite a lot of stuff in the trailer that would put the motorhome overweight. Of course you’d need to read all the relevant figures supplied by the manufacturer.
So, the little trailer gets a big thumbs up from me ☺
We’re still holding out hope for one of those European floor plans. We tried one in Germany and loved it!
I never considered a palyoad issue. Typically, Class B RVs like Lance are OK in that regard. But some of the class C rigs could use the help.
Thanks for the thumbs up!