Surco 501BR Ladder Mounted Bike Rack

This is a great bike rack. It is heavy-duty, mounts to the ladder rails, instead of the steps, so it swings out of the way when you need to use the ladder. It accomodates two bike easily and the rubber fastners for the frame are solid, but you will need more than the one additional strap provided to properly secure it (IMO). Also works great to carry other things, such as lawn chairs, step ladders and other things. It is American made!! I wanted a platform carrier but having a spare tire on the back bumper of my Fifth-Wheel trailer would cause it to stick out too far. I would have had to buy a 4-bike carrier to make it work for my two bikes. The extended distance would have put too much torque on the bumper (which is welded steel like they say you need), especially when hitting a bump. I just feared that over time the bumper would suffer damage. Plus, it would be unsightly by sticking out so far.

this bike rack works. We planned place two adult mountain bikes on it. It was tough finagling the second bike on the rack. Not the best fit as the bikes will rub in certain areas, especially during travel. Overtime, not much time I believe that it will ruin the seat. Anyway it will fit one bike comfortably two bikes awkwardly. Smaller bikes may work better. Still better than throwing the bikes in the back of the truck or inside the RV

As usual easy ordering, great service and speedy delivery by Amazon. The product seems to be well made with heavy aluminum extrusions and stainless machine screws and rivets. The locking pins however appear to be plated steel and may eventually rust. The straps that hold the bikes to the rack are a rubbery material with large holes that fit over a pin - they seemed secure enough but I wonder how long they will hold out after long term exposure to the weather - I have a feeling they may be prone to tearing after a while. The rack arms attached easily and quickly to the rear ladder on my motor home (a hex wrench is provided). As complained about by another reviewer, the fact that the rail clamp screw heads face the motor home was absolutely not an issue for me - perhaps if the ladder rails were say less than 2" or so away from your camper this could be a problem. Two stainless screws fasten each of the four rail clamps via threads cut into one of the clamp halves - these grip the 1" ladder rails securely. I was somewhat surprised though that there was no thread locker or a lock washer provided to prevent loosening. Also, stainless and aluminum will galvanically corrode (dissimilar metals) so it might be a good idea to coat the threads with something to slow down this process. Once installed the rack arms felt secure and operated smoothly, and I was very pleased with the installation at this point. That is, until I tried mounting my two bikes on the rack - they just don't fit right - one arm has to take virtually all the weight of both bikes. BTW, both my bikes are just ordinary standard straight frame traditional 26" mountain bikes, one with a 19" frame, the other with a 21" frame. The instructions included are rather sparse and contain a few grammatical and spelling errors. They are also somewhat contradictory - in one place they say the rear axle of the bike must be centered in the middle of the ladder, in another they say the vertical frame tube of the bike must be centered on the rack arms. I found it impossible to center the rear axle as indicated - on both my bikes it ended up just about over the left ladder rail and there was no room for horizontal adjustments, so this puts almost all the weigh of both bikes on one arm of the rack. If the front derailleur wasn't there I may have been able to slide the bike frames over a bit. Also, in my case, if I mounted the bike wheels to face the outside of the motor home they would stick out farther than my mirrors, so this eliminated the option of putting the bikes in opposite directions on the rack to distribute the weight more evenly. A web strap came in the kit but there was no mention of what to do with it in the instructions - I assume it was for lashing the lower part of the bike to the ladder, and yes it will be necessary to devise some means of securing the lower part of the bikes to the ladder somehow - the trick will be how to do it for your bikes in such a way as to not scratch up your bikes, ladder or camper. I don't see how that 1 strap alone would do the the trick. As for loading/unloading the bikes on the rack it was not ideal. I wanted the bikes up as high as possible to not block the tail light and I was able to mostly accomplish that by mounting the top clamp of the rack just above the top step on the ladder. However, getting the bikes on or off required gripping the bikes by the front of the frame and press-lifting them into position - I can do it but it is a little more than awkward, I also needed a folding step stool we carry so I could get high enough. Then, I needed to break out the step ladder so I could reach the tie downs. So anyway, it was clear these racks were not going to work for me, but they are decently made and they may work for your bikes, just consider some of the things I ran into before you buy. I ended up returning this rack and ordered a hitch for my toad (from Amazon of course), so I can install a standard hitch mount bike rack which holds the bikes in a horizontal position. A more expensive solution to be sure if you don't already have a hitch, but a lot easier to load/unload the bikes and probably a lot more flexible of a solution. Also much less costly than a roof mount bike rack.

This rack works okay. If you have any attachments to your bike, such as water bottle holders, you have to take them off. This is a real pain for kids bikes. If you have adult size it will work okay. Kid's bikes don't fit.

Easy to install on our Timber Ridge with a spare tire on the back bumper that did not interfere with the mounting of the bikes. The nick rack fits great on our ladder and did not have a problem attaching it so that I did not have to reach too high to mount the bikes and gave plenty of room so they were not below the rear bumper of the trailer. I didm't use the included strap but rather a couple of bungie cords to hold the bikes tight and keep the tires from turning. The rubber straps that hold the bikes to the rack are of the same quality as our Thule bike rack that we have used on our car. They are thick rubber and strong. Have used this rack over bumpy gravel roads and smooth highway and it holds the bikes tight.

I bought this a couple of months ago in anticipation of bringing me and my wife's bikes with us when we were camping.I installed it and proceeded to put the bikes on it. When I put the second bike on one of the tubes bent down. It is NOT rigid enough to hold two bikes in your drive way much less bouncing down the road in a RV . Amazon wont give me my money back because I waited to long to try it out. I assumed it would work fine but was I wrong. Another thing is even if it did hold up there is no way to keep the bikes handlebars from slamming into the RV and tearing it up. Very disappointed and feel ripped off.

Very well made. I especially like the solid attachments to the ladder. At first I had trouble mounting both bikes. I finally tried mounting the bikes with one of the support points on the vertical tube down near the gear switching mechanism. I had to then place the second one on the tube that is part of the seat. It worked great. Both bikes fit nicely with no interference between them. The bikes are 26" Schwinn Sidewinder mountain bikes - one men's and one women's.

Holds one bike fine. But, if you have a rear mounted spare tire, as I do, no way will two bikes fit. Also can't hang a bike like the instructions show. Instructions should point out there is a right and left side of the rack. I mounted the first one on the wrong side and had to remove it and switch the rack holders otherwise the pins would be in the wrong position to fold back the arms. You have to use the Allen wrench from the back which is annoying. First time I used it got one bike on, lased it down with bungee cords and made a trip without incident. If I could return it I would except I threw away all the shipping packaging and now it is used. They should point out that you can't use it with a rear spare tire mounted next to ladder. Now I have to mount one bike on the rack and put the other in the RV. Also expensive for the hardware used. There's gotta be a better solution.

The bike holder arrived intact but one we couldn't put the pin in one of the arms. I drilled it out so it would fit, but felt it made the material too thin so I emailed the company. They were great! They sent me a new arm very quickly. The bike rack fits on our trailer and holds two adult bikes securely. I am very happy with it.

A little difficult to install/use since it had to be high enough that my bike was above spare tire at back of RV which I didn't think about. So it's difficult to get my bike on and off for that reason. Otherwise a good product, just consider those things when buying this style.

Easy to install, lightweight and fits ladder perfectly just have to take the bike off to use the ladder

Destroyed one hex screw head during install. Replaced set with stainless steel bolts. Good overall unit as installation was easy and the rack carried the weight.

Mounted easily to the ladder and is totally adjustable to fit all styles of bike.