Subject: DIY bike rack for inside SUV Got a new RAV 4 SUV, partially so I could carry my bike inside the car instead of on a rack on the back. The problem was that the bike could not sit upright even with the front wheel off, so I built a fairly simple bike rack for the back that would allow the bike to sit at about a 45 degree angle completely freeing up half the back for gear, suitcases, etc. Took less than $50 of parts and went together in a few hours. Basic design used 2" PVC pipe. The frame rests on a tee joint cut in half on the long axis. The wheels are in a 5' section bisected by a tee joint with the top half of the PVC cut out where the wheels go. Frame and wheels are held to the mount with Velcro wrap, and the mount itself is secured to the body of the car with a Velcro wrap in the rear and a bungee cord right by the front wheel. I took an old towel and cut it up to use for padding between the mount and frame and mount an wheels. Drove around all afternoon to see how stable it was and it is solid as a rock. Thought I'd share in case anyone else was in the same position of wanting to be able to get better space utilization out of their SUV when hauling their bike. Here's what it looks like: |