Is your Bike rack rv approved? – Most are not – How to find out if yours is

Written by Jim & Korin

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Featured | RV Accessories

Did you know that many bike racks are not approved for RV use?

Many RVers don’t realize that not all bike racks are approved for use on an RV or a towed vehicle. In this post, we discuss how you can research your bike rack and what type of vehicle it’s approved for. We also discuss the bike rack we chose which was affordable and met all of our needs.

Many bike racks are not approved for RV use by the manufacturer for these reasons:

· Tilting Pin – Many hitches have a tilting pin to gain access to the rear of the vehicle. This creates a major weak point for the rack if used on an RV.

· Movement – Picture a seesaw and that is what happens between your RV’s rear wheel and the bike rack. Your RV moves up and down, front-to-back. Your RV also moves up and down, side-to-side when trucks pass you on the highway. All these movements put a lot of pressure on the rack. It is like bending a paper clip over and over. Eventually, the rack fails. What you want is something that’s very secure and able to withstand all the movements that happening behind an RV or towed or even a trailer.

Some manufacturers will come right out and say that their bike is not approved for RV use. These manufacturers are transfer liability to you in the event that the bike rack fails and someone is injured as a result. Additionally, you have probably invested some money in your bikes and don’t want them damaged. Do you research and find a bike rack that is RV approved and/or towed vehicle approved.

The bike rack we recommend is called the Swagman e-spec. It is approved for all our uses – on our RV, on our towed vehicle and on our car. We can take our bike rack off the RV and put it onto our towed vehicle to transport our bikes different parks and trails around town. It’s interchangeable and it is one of the best bike racks that we found.

Why we love the Swagman e-spec:

· It’s a great all-around bike rack whether you have electric bikes, mountain bikes or road bikes.

· It can be used on all types of RVs include fifth wheels, travel trailers, motorhomes as well as flat-towed vehicles.

· It can be used on all kinds of cars and trucks. It works on just about any vehicle.

· We carry two 70 lb. electric bikes with fat tires and were able to add wider tire cradles (sold separately) to securely transport our bikes.

How to Find Out if Your Bike Rack is Approved

There are too many types of bike rack out there to list them all, but if you want to see if your bike rack is approved for RV use – please watch this video where we show you how to research every bike rack for different types of RV’s : https://youtu.be/LMWY60njRLU

—- ITEMS MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO —-

Swagman Bike Rack: https://amzn.to/3d7CzSE Swagman Fat Tire Adapter: https://amzn.to/3b6FpVc Swagman Bike Rack: https://www.etrailer.com/RV-and-t —-

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