Carrying ebikes in SUV

[ronniebellie]

I have a medium size Priority Current. Soon we will purchase a small one for my wife. I'm thinking that with the front wheel off (which is easy to do) and the seat post removed (which is also easy to do) and the handle bars angled down, the bikes will fit upright in our Kai Telluride. However, I would need some kind of "holder" so they would each stay upright. And I found this on Amazon. Would something like this work?

 

[JerryB]

Should work......as long as the height of your bikes fits in your vehicle.....a buddy of mine used a similar product in his mini van......he cut a 2x6 to fit snug the width of his van.....mounted the hardware to the 2x6......this made it easy for him to remove when not in use. It worked well for him. Good luck.

 

[Smaug]

ronnie, what did you end up doing?

I was thinking as I read your post that the bikes don't necessarily need to be upright.

I fit my Aventon Level.2 (about the same size bike as yours) in the back of my wife's Subaru Crosstrek, which is smaller in back than your Telluride. It was tight and the bike was on its side, but it was doable.

Another thing to consider is having a trailer hitch installed on your car and get a heavier-duty hitch-mounted rack. Then, you will not have to lift the bikes up so high, nor remove the wheels or seats. I am thinking about this option, but I'm not sure I want a hitch on my Subaru WRX. On a car, a hitch looks ugly...

 

[ronniebellie]

Good points Smaug. We actually already have a 7-pin hitch on our Telluride, an after market one. It works well. And I have a rack for 2 bikes. And removing the batteries on our bikes (which is possible) would reduce the weight of each from about 52 lbs to 42 lbs. However, with our travels, at times, we would rather not have to leave the bikes on the rack as we stay in AirBB or in hotels. It's just more convenient (and safe) to keep them in the Telluride since it's so big. I think we'll experiment with both ways and see which one is better is various contexts.

 

[Smaug]

The only trick with storing them inside without being vertical is that when you have TWO bikes in like that, it's awkward stacking them. Pedals get caught in spokes, etc.

Something else you could experiment with would be to just back the bikes in the back with some sort of packing material. Maybe old couch cushions from a couch at Goodwill or from a neighbor's at the curb. Or, really big pieces of foam, if you can find them somewhere. Just like packing a package for sending UPS.

 

[snipechief]

I carry my bike occasionally in the rear passenger area of my crewcab pickup. The bed has my 5th wheel hitch installed, so it's not easy for bike transport. I use 2 big pieces of memory foam from an old bed topper, and wedge those between anything that might poke, or scratch something inside the cab.
I installed some regular mtn bike pedals that make this harder. The folding pedals worked way better for transport, but I didn't like the size (small) for actual riding.