DIY Interior Bike Rack

[SBGrad]

Didn't want to pay or use points for the official Ford bike carrier. One Amazon order, visit to a buddy's scrap wood pile and 15 minutes later, and I was all done.

I've got a Badlands with a Pirelli Scorpion spare, and I'm not planning on removing the passenger seat cushion. That means even with the safari roof, I have to drop the seat.

The fork holder (on left) was less than $20, the wheel holder was $27 or so. Wood was free. The wheel holder is offset because the wheel needs to clear the bike handlebars.

See why there's an offset?

You can skip the wheel holder if you just want to toss the wheel back there somewhere, I like it to know it isn't moving around while I'm driving.

Bike in the Bronco, it'll fit on either side with one car seat up. Seat has been lowered-- I've got a quick release lever on the seat tube.

The wood base is large enough that the bike doesn't need to be be tied down, it won't tip over in turns or even on a rutted dirt road.

Fits in with a couple inches clear front and back. The rear tire is 100% behind the passenger seat, it doesn't intrude between the 2 front seats.

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[Mark S.]

Nifty! You might consider a means to secure the base. It appears the handlebars might contact the liftgate window if the bike shifts.

 

[Dude]

Didn't want to pay or use points for the official Ford bike carrier.

Fits in with a couple inches clear front and back. The rear tire is 100% behind the passenger seat, it doesn't intrude between the 2 front seats.

Your design is the best for that bike!

 

[Escape2Bronco]

Nice job.

Here is my inside bike rack. Requires 4 large bungees, 4 small bungees, and a 3 ft. 5/16 threaded rod and 4 5/16 wing nuts. It all stores under the back cargo mat.

 

[Oso Fell]

Nice job.

Here is my inside bike rack. Requires 4bungees, 4 small bundgees, and a 3 ft. 5/16 threaded rod and 4 5/16 wing nuts. It all stores under the back cargo mat.

MacGyver couldn’t have done any better. Cheers to ingenuity.
Are your front wheels “quick-release”? All my the MTN bikes I had used quick-releases. None of the bikes I own now have quick-releases and one of them happens to be a Cannondale that has a “Lefty” fork. Can’t use an axle based holder with that one. Besides, I don’t like loosening/tightening axle nuts too much so I’m relegated to an outboard bike rack.

 

[Escape2Bronco]

MacGyver couldn’t have done any better. Cheers to ingenuity.
Are your front wheels “quick-release”? All my the MTN bikes I had used quick-releases. None of the bikes I own now have quick-releases and one of them happens to be a Cannondale that has a “Lefty” fork. Can’t use an axle based holder with that one. Besides, I don’t like loosening/tightening axle nuts too much so I’m relegated to an outboard bike rack.

Still old school quick release. I bought one of the Yakima versions but this stores easily and sets up in no time. I use the small bungees to hold the rear tires to the child seat tethers and the other two to hold the front wheels to the frame. She ain’t pretty but she works well. We can get a weeks worth of food and gear still between everything.

 

[Goodland]

Nice. Seems like a modern FS just doesn't really fit to me. I have a stumpjumper, and the distance from the bottom of the fork to the top of the bars is too tall to set the bike upright on the floor. Maybe with the full sized spare removed and the floor in the lower position it would work, but as it is, back to the hitch rack for me.

 

[SeaJay]

Nice job.

Here is my inside bike rack. Requires 4bungees, 4 small bundgees, and a 3 ft. 5/16 threaded rod and 4 5/16 wing nuts. It all stores under the back cargo mat.

That is a minimalist marvel. It looked insane at first and then when I understood it I was pretty impressed. A single threaded rod and some bungee cords. Wow.

 

[Escape2Bronco]

Thanks. It works way better than it looks. I used it for years with my Escape. I bought a Yakima insider rack when I bought the Bronco. I found my homemade version was way better in actual use. Super fast to install and easy to undo the bungees to get access to stuff in the back. We normally have two suit cases,two coolers, several collapsible crates, folding chairs, a case or two of beer and god knows what else stuffed in there on our trips.

One thing I learned early on was to use wing nuts and arrange the bungees to prevent the nuts from coming loose.

The OP’s looks way nicer than mine, that’s for sure!

 

[SBGrad]

You might consider a means to secure the base. It appears the handlebars might contact the liftgate window if the bike shifts.

Part of the reason for this design vice the official Ford solution is that it is very easy to remove it when the bike is not back there. I accept the ease of use vs risk trade off. If I want to, I can always add bungees (always carried in spare tire space) for tie downs.

 

[Escape2Bronco]

Part of the reason for this design vice the official Ford solution is that it is very easy to remove it when the bike is not back there. I accept the ease of use vs risk trade off. If I want to, I can always add bungees (always carried in spare tire space) for tie downs.

I found the Yakima solution to be a PITA too. I thought it would be better than my DYI but sadly it wasn't IMO.

 

[CactusBS]

Nice. Seems like a modern FS just doesn't really fit to me. I have a stumpjumper, and the distance from the bottom of the fork to the top of the bars is too tall to set the bike upright on the floor. Maybe with the full sized spare removed and the floor in the lower position it would work, but as it is, back to the hitch rack for me.

I have a FS and mine does fit if I drop the seat, I also flipped the mounting bracket at the fork so it's inverted. It gave me that little bit of extra clearance for the bars (see pic below)

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