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Sully151

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My bikes might barely fit.
My gravel bike is a little shorter.
My hardtail a little longer.
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petemill

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I wonder why rivian suggest to use the Yakima HighRoad instead, which doesn't even fit facing forwards.
 

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Hello! My first post, but I wanted to share this: I think I found a good solution for mounting bikes on the racks over the Rivian truck bed. I used a Yakima Frontloader (which I've had previously and is a very durable bike mount) and placed the front of the bike mount facing the cab. The Frontloader mounting mechanism is very close to the center of the front wheel, so it allows my 29'er bike to fit if the mounts are in the widest position on each side. I don't think this bike would fit in the middle. Smaller bikes, or maybe 26/27.5" bikes would fit in the middle if you wanted to load more than 2 bikes.

Some numbers: my bike has a 45.5" long wheels base (wheel center to center) and is 74" from the furthest from rubber to the back of the rear tire. There is about a 1-1.5" gap to the roof of the cab. I'm pretty excited that I found a solution- I was not looking forward to bikes on the roof or a hitch mount. Am I missing something?

rear full.jpeg


angle rear_45.5 in wheel to wheel.jpeg


gap-1.5 in.jpeg


angle front.jpeg


rear.jpeg


angle rear_74 in total length.jpeg
Thanks for posting!

I’m going to need to go 3-wide for road trips if we want to maintain the bed / tonneau for gear. Do you think another rack would fit on the center of the crossbars (since they’re thinner on the extension piece)?
 

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Thanks for posting!

I’m going to need to go 3-wide for road trips if we want to maintain the bed / tonneau for gear. Do you think another rack would fit on the center of the crossbars (since they’re thinner on the extension piece)?
Tire will hit the spoiler, there's not enough room except on the very outer edge of the rails.
 

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Maybe add on something like these fork mounts. I don’t see a reason for the long “tray” for the tires.

Rivian R1T R1S Found good bike mount option for Rivian R1T using Yakima Frontloader D6D3BC03-1D1D-4F1A-AE64-FC7406ED1A3A
 
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thoracle

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Thanks for posting!

I’m going to need to go 3-wide for road trips if we want to maintain the bed / tonneau for gear. Do you think another rack would fit on the center of the crossbars (since they’re thinner on the extension piece)?
Yes, another of the Frontloaders would fit there, but it might be really close to a 29er tire touching the top edge of the cab. The rear top edge of the cab has a curve on it that reduces the space for the front wheel. You could probably fit a 27.5 wheel more easily. You could also just shift the bike in the mount back slightly if it's tight. At that point it really is on a case by case basis based on the bike you have, the wheelbase and type of tire.
 
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thoracle

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I wonder why rivian suggest to use the Yakima HighRoad instead, which doesn't even fit facing forwards.
I bet the people at Rivian that worked on it have shorter wheelbase bikes like 27.5 or a cross or road bike that fits that way. It's the long wheel base 29ers that are the biggest challenge. They should offer the Frontloader as an option too. A lot of these secondary/tertiary features and accessories were probably rushed so they could get the truck into the market, but there will be better options over time. Welcome to the bleeding edge...
 
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thoracle

thoracle

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Maybe add on something like these fork mounts. I don’t see a reason for the long “tray” for the tires.

D6D3BC03-1D1D-4F1A-AE64-FC7406ED1A3A.jpeg
Long tray is just for convenience getting your bike on and off and not having to store your front wheel(s) in the car/truck. If you have 4 riders, the front wheels start to take up a lot of space and after a muddy ride you have to put them on/near the rest of your gear. Taking the wheel off is a legit solution though, I used a rack like that for years when I was riding solo. :)
 

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Yes, another of the Frontloaders would fit there, but it might be really close to a 29er tire touching the top edge of the cab. The rear top edge of the cab has a curve on it that reduces the space for the front wheel. You could probably fit a 27.5 wheel more easily. You could also just shift the bike in the mount back slightly if it's tight. At that point it really is on a case by case basis based on the bike you have, the wheelbase and type of tire.
That’s great info, thanks. We’d be doing 2 29ers and a 24 (for now, until he grows more). Looks like it might work out, at least for a few years until he graduates to a 27/29er.
 

kurtlikevonnegut

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let us know if you take your bike on a longer road trip. I am curious to see what the range impact is when you carry the bike like that since you are messing with the truck's aerodynamics.

I a planning to use a trailer hitch for my bikes just to minimize the range impact.

thank you in advance.
I recently got a Frontloader and mounted my 29" hybrid OTB and did a highway run of 200 miles that I have done several times already to get a decent comparison point for efficiency. I got essentially the same mi/kwh with the bike as I did without it, however I did have a few pockets of traffic that may have inflated my efficiency. Even so, the hit likely is pretty negligible based on this specific instance. I'll certainly continue collecting data to verify.
 
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thoracle

thoracle

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I wonder why rivian suggest to use the Yakima HighRoad instead, which doesn't even fit facing forwards.
Ya, no idea. I think they were just focused on actually getting the truck out. Or maybe the people that spec'ed it aren't real mountain bikers- who doesn't have a 29'er these days? :)
 
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thoracle

thoracle

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Thanks for posting!

I’m going to need to go 3-wide for road trips if we want to maintain the bed / tonneau for gear. Do you think another rack would fit on the center of the crossbars (since they’re thinner on the extension piece)?
Yes, I another rack should fit in the middle, but because of the curved spoiler on the back of the cab, it might have to be a 27.5 or 26" wheel/bike.
 
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thoracle

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Thinking of incorporating bike racks with a tray. Any thoughts on this idea?

CFB2451D-1B5B-481D-98CC-49C8BE5844B3.jpeg


2C9740A0-3131-475C-A874-5E26BD0FA98E.jpeg
Might work, but I'm not familiar with trays enough. The key would be a tray that allows you to put the bike mount further back from the top of the cab.
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