Options for carrying pushbikes on camping trips

Carrying bikes on a camping trailer or 4WD is a pain. It seems any option is a pain but when you've got kids having bikes on a camping trip is great entertainment. So what are the options?

There are five main options:

Rear of car

Pros

• don't need a trailer
• easy to load and unload the bikes

Cons

• makes it difficult access the rear door
• may not be enough clearance if you are towing a trailer
• need to make sure lights and number plate is visible

Rear of trailer

Pros

• out of the way of the pull and rear door of the vehicle
• easy to load and unload the bikes

Cons

• affects rear access to the trailer if you have a kitchen in the rear door of the trailer
• increases overhang of trailer if you are using it off road
• need to make sure lights and number plate is visible

Pull of trailer

Pros

• easy to load and unload the bikes
• doesn't interfere with the operation of the trailer lids or doors

Cons

• most pulls are not set up for it as they often have a box or spare tyre on it
• easy to load and unload the bikes
• rear door of vehicle may interfere with the bikes when open
• stones flicked up from the vehicle may cause damage

top of trailer

Pros

• Not as high as the roof of the vehicle

Cons

• makes access to the trailer more difficult
• more difficult to load and unload
• need to unload bikes to get access to the trailer unless a mechanism can be made to swing the bikes out of the way (see pic)

top of car

Pros

• doesn't interfere with operation of trailer

Cons

• hard to get bikes up there
• makes your vehicle very high - can't get into shopping centres and 4WDing can get tricky with such a high vehicle