Tornadom
New member
Introduction:
Hello T4R members! I decided to write somewhat of a how-to on building your own interior bike carrier for a 2nd generation 4Runner. This isn't a fancy, feature-packed, step by step write up, but it should be enough to show you the gist of it and maybe spark a few ideas of your own. I'm not sure if there are a lot of cyclists on this board, but for the ones who are out there this may be of interest.
The problem:
The first weekend I had my 4Runner I was presented with the challenge of carrying two mountain bikes to our local trail head. My trunk mounted bike carrier did not work, seeing that I do not have a trunk. I couldn't put the bikes onto my hitch mount carrier because, well I don't have a hitch. I'm sure there are attachments for my factory roof rack, but I didn't have time to order parts and wait around for them and truth be told, the roof rack on my 4Runner is tiny and mounted all the way to the rear of the roof. I've seen bike carriers that mount to the spare tire, but that seems a bit silly to me. If only there were a way to get two bikes into the interior where they could be locked up and secure while away from the vehicle... oh, and they have to be secure so as to not bang and clang against one another or go flying in the event of an accident.
Temporary Solution:
My LBS (that's Local Bike Shop for the average reader) is great. I've known the shop owner for a good number of years now and consider him my friend, more so than I consider him my mechanic. He had a few of Hollywood Rack's fork mounts in stock, so I looked them over to see what they were all about. They are a simple setup that you mount to a secure location, then clamp down the bike using the fork's drop-outs similar to any other fork mount bike carrier. I bought 2 of them and pondered how to make it all work. I am not one for drilling holes in my vehicles, so I had to be creative in mounting them. For that first weekend ride, the solution was ghetto, but it worked:
We folded a large box onto itself a few times, punched holes in it with an awl and zip-tied the mounted to the cardboard.
With a heavy toolbox on top of the cardboard it sort of stayed in place. The bikes had to have their bars rotated and stuck out the back window (requiring it to be down). This was not a good setup and it killed my cargo space.
Better Solution:
The temporary setup got us through the weekend, but there was no way I was keeping that. Fearful of drilling holes in my floor I envisioned cutting a sheet of plywood to the shape of my cargo area, carpeting it and mounting the fork mounts to it. A setup of that nature would not move around if it were cut just right and wedged into place firmly. But first, I wanted to test fit the bikes in different positions to maximize my cargo space and be able to roll the rear window up.
I mounted the mounts on a scrap piece of wood and experimented with locations. I settled on this as the final location.
Two bikes, only 1/2 of the rear seat folded down and they do not hit each other at all. The rear seat passenger has amble space and shoulder room, plus both of the bike's removed wheels fit on the passenger side of the bikes, thus taking up no extra usable space in the cargo area.
As you can see, the bikes are mounted close to one another but are offset enough so they do not to hit.
I bought a sheet of 3/4" OSB, a roll of carpeting, spray adhesive and 4 tie down anchors for the project. It isn't the best stuff in the world, but it is dirt cheap and good enough to test my idea. You will need to measure, mark and cut the board to fit your cargo area. This might require you to test fit the board a few times before you get it right. After the board was cut I used my temporary mount to find where the bikes needed to be, then marked everything.
No pictures of the carpeting process, but basically it involved spray adhesive and staples on the back side. Since I was covering up my 2 rear tie down points I added 4 tie down points to the final product.
Everything in place and ready for use. The floor isn't 100% flat on my 4Runner, so there is a slight gap between the bottom of the board and the floor in the very rear. This is not an issue.
The carpet doesn't match. That's okay with me. I'll probably redo the carpet on the tailgate and the seat backs so it matches, but the wheel well covers will remain original (or maybe get covered with spray on bed liner?).
Hello T4R members! I decided to write somewhat of a how-to on building your own interior bike carrier for a 2nd generation 4Runner. This isn't a fancy, feature-packed, step by step write up, but it should be enough to show you the gist of it and maybe spark a few ideas of your own. I'm not sure if there are a lot of cyclists on this board, but for the ones who are out there this may be of interest.
The problem:
The first weekend I had my 4Runner I was presented with the challenge of carrying two mountain bikes to our local trail head. My trunk mounted bike carrier did not work, seeing that I do not have a trunk. I couldn't put the bikes onto my hitch mount carrier because, well I don't have a hitch. I'm sure there are attachments for my factory roof rack, but I didn't have time to order parts and wait around for them and truth be told, the roof rack on my 4Runner is tiny and mounted all the way to the rear of the roof. I've seen bike carriers that mount to the spare tire, but that seems a bit silly to me. If only there were a way to get two bikes into the interior where they could be locked up and secure while away from the vehicle... oh, and they have to be secure so as to not bang and clang against one another or go flying in the event of an accident.
Temporary Solution:
My LBS (that's Local Bike Shop for the average reader) is great. I've known the shop owner for a good number of years now and consider him my friend, more so than I consider him my mechanic. He had a few of Hollywood Rack's fork mounts in stock, so I looked them over to see what they were all about. They are a simple setup that you mount to a secure location, then clamp down the bike using the fork's drop-outs similar to any other fork mount bike carrier. I bought 2 of them and pondered how to make it all work. I am not one for drilling holes in my vehicles, so I had to be creative in mounting them. For that first weekend ride, the solution was ghetto, but it worked:
We folded a large box onto itself a few times, punched holes in it with an awl and zip-tied the mounted to the cardboard.
With a heavy toolbox on top of the cardboard it sort of stayed in place. The bikes had to have their bars rotated and stuck out the back window (requiring it to be down). This was not a good setup and it killed my cargo space.
Better Solution:
The temporary setup got us through the weekend, but there was no way I was keeping that. Fearful of drilling holes in my floor I envisioned cutting a sheet of plywood to the shape of my cargo area, carpeting it and mounting the fork mounts to it. A setup of that nature would not move around if it were cut just right and wedged into place firmly. But first, I wanted to test fit the bikes in different positions to maximize my cargo space and be able to roll the rear window up.
I mounted the mounts on a scrap piece of wood and experimented with locations. I settled on this as the final location.
Two bikes, only 1/2 of the rear seat folded down and they do not hit each other at all. The rear seat passenger has amble space and shoulder room, plus both of the bike's removed wheels fit on the passenger side of the bikes, thus taking up no extra usable space in the cargo area.
As you can see, the bikes are mounted close to one another but are offset enough so they do not to hit.
I bought a sheet of 3/4" OSB, a roll of carpeting, spray adhesive and 4 tie down anchors for the project. It isn't the best stuff in the world, but it is dirt cheap and good enough to test my idea. You will need to measure, mark and cut the board to fit your cargo area. This might require you to test fit the board a few times before you get it right. After the board was cut I used my temporary mount to find where the bikes needed to be, then marked everything.
No pictures of the carpeting process, but basically it involved spray adhesive and staples on the back side. Since I was covering up my 2 rear tie down points I added 4 tie down points to the final product.
Everything in place and ready for use. The floor isn't 100% flat on my 4Runner, so there is a slight gap between the bottom of the board and the floor in the very rear. This is not an issue.
The carpet doesn't match. That's okay with me. I'll probably redo the carpet on the tailgate and the seat backs so it matches, but the wheel well covers will remain original (or maybe get covered with spray on bed liner?).
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