I raced mx age 5 to 25 and used either flat open trailer or pickup bed to haul.
Tailgate pads are super easy/fast to pop your bike onto and it prevents scratches to your tailgate. Having to tie down your bike every time seems like a lot of work and I don't want to just throw them in the bed. Trailer hitch setups can get in the way of tailgate operation and they don't really work if you also want to haul things.
I've been eyeing up this one and the Raceface one. Do you know if it works with a soft roll up tonneau?Fox Overland bought in 2021 before I even took delivery of my Maverick.
Today I would 100% buy a new Fox Mission / RaceFace T3 pad instead. (They are the same other than graphics because Fox owns RaceFace, if you weren't aware.)
The Mission/T3 has a top piece that can fold down inside the bed and allow you to fully close a tonneau cover on it. This is not useful to me right now because I have a Ford soft tri-fold which I have to remove to allow MTBs to fit on the tailgate - there isn't enough room for the rear wheel with it folded.
However, if you have a hard tri-fold that either folds flat against the rear glass (Bakflip MX4 etc) or the top piece can be completely, easily removed (Weathertech AlloyCover) then you could store bikes on the tailgate pad, and when done you fold the top of the Mission/T3 down, and close the hard cover.
This is pretty costly, but that's what I would consider the best possible solution right now.
it probably depends on how long your bike is. our bikes are 27.5 but my son's Guerilla Gravity is a ridiculously long, slack beast and it's less than 6" from the front wall of the bed, which my soft tri-fold takes double that space. however, if your soft rollup is under 8" thick it might work.
Agree - I leave my tailgate down, use bungees to strap in my bikes, one on the left and one on the right. Only takes a second. I don't need to lift the bikes as high getting them into the bed vs. to get the fork over the tailgate.
I think you mean tailgate pads don't work if you want to haul things. If you want to tow things, then yes, the hitch rack is a no-go. Since you're 4KT, I see your tailgate pad use-case.
Nope, I meant that some trailer hitch setups are in the way when you want to lay your tailgate flat. But what you've got going on is a good solution for that and some mounts are better than others for trucks specifically. I like to leave my pad on pretty much full time. I couldn't really do that with my old hitch mount if I wanted to haul things.I think you mean tailgate pads don't work if you want to haul things. If you want to tow things, then yes, the hitch rack is a no-go. Since you're 4KT, I see your tailgate pad use-case.
With a Hitch extender, the bike is WAY back there. Much cheaper than a $500 swing-away hitch adapter. Plenty of space for me to maneuver behind the tailgate.
I've had roof racks and hitch racks on other vehicles and it's wonderful to not have the hitch rack in the way backing up, loading cargo, parking or even just walking around the vehicle.
