ATK Bike Shoe - Rear Wheel

[Smit-Dog]

Has anyone secured a bike using the ATK bike shoe on the rear wheel? I've seen it done the traditional way on the front tire, with most people recommending using a tie-down to secure the rear of the bike.

The reason I ask is that it would seem that the bike would be secured better, and possibly eliminating the need for another tie-down point, if the rear wheel was in the bike shoe. Since the majority of the bike is a solid extension of the rear wheel, securing by the rear wheel would provide possibly the only tie-down point you would need.

I really don't want to put holes in the trailer floor to secure the opposite end of the bike w/ D-rings if not necessary.

Has anyone tried this?

Thanks for any advice and experience with this that you can give!

 

[Okiewan]

I'll take a look and let ya know later today, I'm guessing the rear will be too wide? I never secure the back of the bikes. I suppose if you go off-roading or something they could move, but after two years, mine never have.

 

[MX-727]

S-D, your PM is full. I e-mailed you though.

One other thing I left out, if the front wheel isn't secured, I will just about guarantee that it will flop from side to side and with more than one bike in the trailer, you could easily do some damage.

Like Okie said, I've never had the back of my bikes move either.

 

[Smit-Dog]

Okie and Todd - Thanks for the tips. The ATK bike shoes haven't arrived yet, but when they do I'll see if the rear tire even fits. Hadn't consider that as a limitation.

Todd - Thanks for the spacing tips. Even with trying to align the shoe bolts with the floor joists, I think only 1 (or 2) at most would go through the joist. My plan was to get some 1/4" aluminum plating for the underside where the bolts just go through the wood floor.

Based on your experience of not using tie-downs for the rear, I'll save myself the trouble of putting in the d-rings.

Thanks again!

 

[EnsignB]

I think one of the main reasons the back of a bike tends to walk around with tiedowns is that you are, in essence, putting weight on the front of the bike, which tends to reduce the weight on the back of the bike. With a bike shoe, this shouldn't really happen.
-----
Brandon

 

[MX-727]

I drilled a new hole in the bike shoes on one of the legs to hit the floor joist. I think you can see that the left bolt (as you are looking at it) has been moved.

http://www.dirtrider.net/cgi-bin/photopost/index.pl?photo=1360

 

[Smit-Dog]

MX-727...

Good advice regarding drilling an extra hole. Looks like your floor joists are wider than mine. I'll have to try them out at the angle necessary for the bikes and see where I can put in an extra hole.

Looks like you had used angle irons and the tie-down approach at some point - or did they come with the trailer? (I can see the need for them, however, on the little KX65).

- Bill

 

[Okiewan]

I like the way MX-727 (what size trailer is it by the way?) laid his out... may look at that when I get the floor (re)done (checkerd of course :)

My plan was to get some 1/4" aluminum plating for the underside where the bolts just go through the wood floor.

That's how I did mine.

 

[Smit-Dog]

I believe that MX-727 has a 7x14 Pace. He has some pretty detailed pictures of his trailer setup in his gallery. Sure is saving me a lot of time and $ in figuring out how to do it right the first time.

Speaking of the floor....

Mine came painted with some basic grey low-luster paint. I'm going to cover it this weekend using some poly-urethene enamel, with a pouch of that sand/powder mix thrown in to give it some grip for when it's wet.

 

[MX-727]

Yep, 7x14. I've got the vinyl in the garage for the checkered flag layout, just can't bring myself to get to work on it.

I orginally put in the rings and figured I'd just tie the bikes down. Well, the angle caused the front wheel to slip more than I thought it would, so I installed the angle iron to keep the tire from moving. That was actually sufficient, but being a gadgetologist, I wanted the bike shoes. So, I put in the shoes and have been ecstatic with the way it worked out. I do have to use the rings and angle iron when loading anything smaller than a big-wheel 80 or 100. It works out though because I have the option to put any bike at any position.

 

[Smit-Dog]

Rear Tire Is Too Big...

ATK bike shoes arrived over the weekend. Tried them on the rear tire - tire is too big for bike shoe.

I guess that answers that! :think: