Enough space for two mountain bikes inside Traveler with seats down

[jlrichar]

Look, putting bikes on the roof of really tall vehicles sucks—hard. Having rear spare makes hitch mount weird. It’s still possible, just imagine you have bikes mounted and you need to open the rear to get something. I don’t want to put my carbon mtb on some wonky thing hanging off the spare tire either. In my Scout II I could remove the front wheel of the bikes and use fork mounts on a board to get two bikes upright in the back. Same with my ZJ. Rear seats folded down, front bike wheels removed, seat posts lowered, forks mounted to a board that just rested on the folded down seats. Perhaps a factory solution could offer factory fork mounts near the back of headrests of folded down seats? Might have to stagger due to stupidly wide bars on modern bikes to get two in.

Repeat after me—putting bikes on the roofs of tall vehicles sucks!

 

[R1TVT]

I would agree that loading MTB's on a roof is the worst. Not to mention aerodynamics on road while heading to to trail-head. That specific edge-case may not be a real problem for Scout to tackle with its interior design though. There are already options/solutions that exist for this (and preserve interior cargo and passenger space). What Scout could potentially do is either design the spare tire carrier to more easily accommodate a swing-away rack, OR maybe you could configure your Scout without that spare tire carrier (delete the option) and provide your own tire carrier WITH a rack attachment like these?:

The RIGd UltraSwing Hitch Carrier Multi-Fit Works With All 2″ Receivers

Got a vehicle that needs to carry a spare tire on the back but you've gotta carry a bike rack too? Well, if it has a 2" receiver, the RIGd UltraSwing Hitch Carrier Multi-Fit fits all vehicles now. The original UltraSwing only fit the 4th/5th gen 4Runner but the Multi-Fit works with just about...

theradavist.com

Bike Rack with swing away?

Wait 1, I’ll take some pictures tomorrow and post.

forum.gofastcampers.com

 

[J Alynn]

Look, putting bikes on the roof of really tall vehicles sucks—hard. Having rear spare makes hitch mount weird. It’s still possible, just imagine you have bikes mounted and you need to open the rear to get something. I don’t want to put my carbon mtb on some wonky thing hanging off the spare tire either. In my Scout II I could remove the front wheel of the bikes and use fork mounts on a board to get two bikes upright in the back. Same with my ZJ. Rear seats folded down, front bike wheels removed, seat posts lowered, forks mounted to a board that just rested on the folded down seats. Perhaps a factory solution could offer factory fork mounts near the back of headrests of folded down seats? Might have to stagger due to stupidly wide bars on modern bikes to get two in.

Repeat after me—putting bikes on the roofs of tall vehicles sucks!

Agree though I don’t ride as much anymore. Have you looked to see what Bronco owners have come up with? They may have solved that issue already?

 

[jlrichar]

I would agree that loading MTB's on a roof is the worst. Not to mention aerodynamics on road while heading to to trail-head. That specific edge-case may not be a real problem for Scout to tackle with its interior design though. There are already options/solutions that exist for this (and preserve interior cargo and passenger space). What Scout could potentially do is either design the spare tire carrier to more easily accommodate a swing-away rack, OR maybe you could configure your Scout without that spare tire carrier (delete the option) and provide your own tire carrier WITH a rack attachment like these?:

The RIGd UltraSwing Hitch Carrier Multi-Fit Works With All 2″ Receivers

Got a vehicle that needs to carry a spare tire on the back but you've gotta carry a bike rack too? Well, if it has a 2" receiver, the RIGd UltraSwing Hitch Carrier Multi-Fit fits all vehicles now. The original UltraSwing only fit the 4th/5th gen 4Runner but the Multi-Fit works with just about...

theradavist.com

Bike Rack with swing away?

Wait 1, I’ll take some pictures tomorrow and post.

forum.gofastcampers.com

View attachment 4236

I imagine if Scout doesn’t come out with a good solution that I’d do something like this. Usually on my weekend ride it’s just two of us. For more than two the hitch and maybe even roof (as a last resort) would be needed. For trips with the fam to Moab or Sedona (8 hr drive) I’d want a good hitch solution-as you point out sticking bikes on the roof would kill range. The other reason I also want a good inside the vehicle solution is for security. Great for camping with just the two of us, or stops pre and post ride. For example for “recovery” beverages after the ride.

 

[J Alynn]

I imagine if Scout doesn’t come out with a good solution that I’d do something like this. Usually on my weekend ride it’s just two of us. For more than two the hitch and maybe even roof (as a last resort) would be needed. For trips with the fam to Moab or Sedona (8 hr drive) I’d want a good hitch solution-as you point out sticking bikes on the roof would kill range. The other reason I also want a good inside the vehicle solution is for security. Great for camping with just the two of us, or stops pre and post ride. For example for “recovery” beverages after the ride.

Aaah-recovery beverages are important. HYDRATION!!!
You still have the option of going standard tire mount under vehicle without the spare then you could use a hitch mounted bike carrier.

 

[R1TVT]

Agree though I don’t ride as much anymore. Have you looked to see what Bronco owners have come up with? They may have solved that issue already?

This the the RIGd Supply RambleSwing on a Bronco:

Kuat and others make them too:

 

[J Alynn]

This the the RIGd Supply RambleSwing on a Bronco:

View attachment 4278

Kuat and others make them too:

View attachment 4279

That’s a hell of a lot of steel but that certainly gets the job done and easiest way to access. Even on my A yea wagon it was tough to get bikes in top. I like this solution

 

[Logan]

I posted a longer version of this in response to your comment in the other thread.

Fellow mountain biker here. Fellow ZJ owner as well.

I’ve mentioned a few times already that roof racks suck for bikes, particularly on SUV’s (and I say that as a 6’1” barefoot adult man). And particularly for mountain bikes (which can be 2-3x heavier than some of the super light road bikes).

My ZJ won’t fit modern long travel 29’er bikes inside (at least not in sizes L or XL). I have to do them upside down, with the rear tire between the front seats. What size/genre of bikes are you fitting in your ZJ like that?

But the very first time I saw the traveler my first thought was “crap, I can’t use my bike rack “ (1up super duty single). Because of that, I really hope they offer an in the rear storage area spare tire (like our ZJ’s), or a smaller (but not tiny doughnut) spare under the floor/under the vehicle.

All the biking friends I have either use tailgate pads, vertical racks like the velocirax, or the 1up hitch racks.

Photo (well, screenshot of a video actually) from this weekend when I flew down to visit a friend and ride for a day.

 

[jlrichar]

I posted a longer version of this in response to your comment in the other thread.

Fellow mountain biker here. Fellow ZJ owner as well.

I’ve mentioned a few times already that roof racks suck for bikes, particularly on SUV’s (and I say that as a 6’1” barefoot adult man). And particularly for mountain bikes (which can be 2-3x heavier than some of the super light road bikes).

My ZJ won’t fit modern long travel 29’er bikes inside (at least not in sizes L or XL). I have to do them upside down, with the rear tire between the front seats. What size/genre of bikes are you fitting in your ZJ like that?

But the very first time I saw the traveler my first thought was “crap, I can’t use my bike rack “ (1up super duty single). Because of that, I really hope they offer an in the rear storage area spare tire (like our ZJ’s), or a smaller (but not tiny doughnut) spare under the floor/under the vehicle.

All the biking friends I have either use tailgate pads, vertical racks like the velocirax, or the 1up hitch racks.

Photo (well, screenshot of a video actually) from this weekend when I flew down to visit a friend and ride for a day.

View attachment 4283

Nice picture! Looks fun! When I had my ZJ it was before 29” wheels were mandatory. Back then most bikes were 26”. And were fun! So flickable, and just a blast to rip down twisty single track. 29ers are fun too, but they are different. All about going over stuff and efficiency. At any rate my 26” xc mtbs fit easily in my zj with front wheel off, rear wheel on, and seat lowered. I could get three bikes in the back mounted on fork mounts—two facing front, and one facing back. Though not that useful to get more than two since that was the limit for how many seats were left.

Maybe this idea of putting a bike upright in the back only remotely works without the harvester option—assuming some more vertical space would become available.

I think this type of use case is important. Too many giant modern vehicles have so much less utility compared to seemingly smaller older vehicles. If it’s big on the outside it should be on the inside too. You look at modern jgc, bronco, even suburban, and all have really lousy inside space utilization. Seats not folding flat, high floors, excessive plastic cladding. The space shrinks quickly.

I get it, safety and comfort are much better now than then. Those old seats that folded flat in my scout II were probably not up to modern crash test standards. Maybe do what GM does and make whole rear seats easily removable to leave a large nice flat floor?

Some modern vehicles do it right. Dodge caravans, Honda element just to name a few that have high space utilization on the inside.

When I proposed this idea I did not want to ask for a specific solution for the problem. I trust that if the scout engineers accept the challenge of solving this problem then they will do it in a way that works for this unique vehicle. I just hope that I can convince @Scout that what people want to use the vehicle for is very important if they want to have real long term success. Making a vehicle for vehicle engineers was not what Scouts were about. They were made to do stuff other than just drive and evoke a feeling. They were made to get stuff done, and get you there wherever there was—with your stuff. It looks like Scout is on this path—but hard to know for sure when I see a picture of a bike on the roof of a 6-7 foot tall vehicle. Looks cool—not remotely useful.

 

[PhotonMaverick]

Nice picture! Looks fun! When I had my ZJ it was before 29” wheels were mandatory. Back then most bikes were 26”. And were fun! So flickable, and just a blast to rip down twisty single track. 29ers are fun too, but they are different. All about going over stuff and efficiency. At any rate my 26” xc mtbs fit easily in my zj with front wheel off, rear wheel on, and seat lowered. I could get three bikes in the back mounted on fork mounts—two facing front, and one facing back. Though not that useful to get more than two since that was the limit for how many seats were left.

Maybe this idea of putting a bike upright in the back only remotely works without the harvester option—assuming some more vertical space would become available.

I think this type of use case is important. Too many giant modern vehicles have so much less utility compared to seemingly smaller older vehicles. If it’s big on the outside it should be on the inside too. You look at modern jgc, bronco, even suburban, and all have really lousy inside space utilization. Seats not folding flat, high floors, excessive plastic cladding. The space shrinks quickly.

I get it, safety and comfort are much better now than then. Those old seats that folded flat in my scout II were probably not up to modern crash test standards. Maybe do what GM does and make whole rear seats easily removable to leave a large nice flat floor?

Some modern vehicles do it right. Dodge caravans, Honda element just to name a few that have high space utilization on the inside.

When I proposed this idea I did not want to ask for a specific solution for the problem. I trust that if the scout engineers accept the challenge of solving this problem then they will do it in a way that works for this unique vehicle. I just hope that I can convince @Scout that what people want to use the vehicle for is very important if they want to have real long term success. Making a vehicle for vehicle engineers was not what Scouts were about. They were made to do stuff other than just drive and evoke a feeling. They were made to get stuff done, and get you there wherever there was—with your stuff. It looks like Scout is on this path—but hard to know for sure when I see a picture of a bike on the roof of a 6-7 foot tall vehicle. Looks cool—not remotely useful.

I rented a dodge caravan for a trip two years ago. The materials were flimsy (a piece of window molding blew off on the highway). However, I agree about space utilization. The inside was cavernous and very flexible for hauling people or gear.

 

[ohvrider]

I want wife to get Scout, for bikes I want a spinter.

 

[fyiguy]

Look, putting bikes on the roof of really tall vehicles sucks—hard. Having rear spare makes hitch mount weird. It’s still possible, just imagine you have bikes mounted and you need to open the rear to get something. I don’t want to put my carbon mtb on some wonky thing hanging off the spare tire either. In my Scout II I could remove the front wheel of the bikes and use fork mounts on a board to get two bikes upright in the back. Same with my ZJ. Rear seats folded down, front bike wheels removed, seat posts lowered, forks mounted to a board that just rested on the folded down seats. Perhaps a factory solution could offer factory fork mounts near the back of headrests of folded down seats? Might have to stagger due to stupidly wide bars on modern bikes to get two in.

Repeat after me—putting bikes on the roofs of tall vehicles sucks!

There looks to be grooves in the floor perhaps for mounting a bike or two and tires... hopefully an accessory or 3rd party add on for internal bike storage to prevent theft.