I”m off on a weeks biking holiday to Scotland, it’ll be about a 7 hour journey in a pick up to get there with 2 bikes in tow. Usually we just throw the bikes in the back with front wheel hanging over the tailgate to shuttle to local trails, but I’m thinking that may be too much pressure on the downtube for a full stint up to Scotland??

Anyone else shuttled bikes in a pick up for 7hours plus, and how did you find was best to do it?

Other options are to take both wheels off and transport them flat in the bed, which would minimise room for other luggage/bike stuffs. Or, as we have a tow bar, getting a tow bar rack. Don’t really want to fork out hundreds for one though as we’d probably only use it once a year, so if this is the best option, has anyone tried hire companies for bike racks?

The old L200 had bars going across the top of the bed near the cab, I used to bungee rubber the stem to that with the bars turned 90 degrees (bikes facing direction of travel). The bikes would be at the edge of the bed with space for luggage in between, front wheels crossing in the middle.
Either that, or I’d use top cover (like a MountainTop) with bars and put a standard bike carrier on it with the front wheels in the bed. It’s a bit expensive though.

Ah thanks for the advice, the bungee of the stem actually sounds like a great option, might give that a go this weekend. We’ve got an L200 as well with the chrome side bars, makes getting any tops to fit the bed a bit difficult, so unfortunately can’t use any bike racks with it. It has a tow bar but the racks for those are so expensive for a once a year use, can’t really justify the price! So stem and a bungee cord it is

Back in the day we just squeezed them in the back of the mini until they wouldn’t wobble out. I think I did 30000 miles in a couple of years like that all over Scotland.